A Veszprém Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 23. (Veszprém, 2004)

Bevezető

PREFACE Our institute has welcomed the 21

st century with the celebration of several prominent anniversaries. In 2001, millennial events commemorating the foundation of the state and the acceptance of Christianity were still in full swing, also involving our museum, and in 2003, the one hundred years anniversary of the establishment of Veszprém County Museum was dignified with a series of outstanding events lasting throughout the year. This year was also made particularly lovely by the fact that we commemorated the 100

th anniversary of the birth and the 84

th of the death of Aurél Vajkai, the doctor who became a famous ethnography scholar, and onetime director of the museum. 2004 added a new colour to the variegated palette of our museum life. The first finds from the Baláca Roman period villa farm at the edge of Nemesvámos were uncovered in 1904, when sections of wall were disturbed and fragments of frescoes turned over by a plough, creating a great sensation in the county and in the highest professional circles. This scene soon became a centre of national interest, and archaeological excavations producing invaluable finds were begun in 1906, though the impetus for these was interrupted by the 1

st World War. With short gaps, the first phase of the excavations lasted until 1926. Undying merit for the occurrence and successfulness of these is due to Gyula Rhé. Following lengthy and arduous organisational work, re-excavation was begun in 1976 by archaeologist K. Dr. Sylvia Palágyi, and she has succeeded in keeping this excavation work constant up till the present day. 1984 represented a milestone in her manifold labours, now carried out here for almost thirty years, when the reconstruction of the villa farm central building was completed, and the Roman period archaeological park could be opened for experts, and for interested visitors from at home and abroad. This present year, however, is not only the anniversary of the discovery of the first finds and the opening of the garden of ruins. We can also congratulate our highly esteemed colleague, Candidate of Science K. Dr. Sylvia Palágyi, whose work is enveloped in honourable recognition from the domestic and international scientific community, on the occasion of her 60

th birthday. Wishing her continuing great strength and good heath, we thank her for the extraordinary professional achievement which she has obtained for Hungarian archaeology, and thank her also for the divergent, high standard work which she has carried out over the last almost forty years for the sake of her institution, the Museum „Laczkó Dezső"(formerly „Bakony" Museum). This diversity and untiring creativeness typical of her work is the reason why, as a feted person, she has once again undertaken to edit the latest issue of our institute's most important publication, Veszprém County Museums Communications, thus making the custom anomalous, that is, that a honoured person celebrates by taking on more work. In order, volume 23 starts with articles in appreciation of the far-flung life's work of our jubilarian colleague, in a series of writings by co-workers representing various museum study fields. Our publication is given a new level by a résumé presenting the history of Révkomárom museum, written with great precision by Mihály Mácza, the deputydirector of the Museum of Hungarian Culture and Downstream Danube. A contract of cooperation was signed between the two institutions in 2003, making this communication possible. Future volumes of Veszprém County Museums Communications will include still more works by authors from other countries. After all, our membership of the European Union, which became a reality on 1 May 2004, prompts us to create further similar precedents. Veszprém, 2004 V. Dr. Zsuzsa Fodor director of county museum 8