A Közlekedési Múzeum Évkönyve 11. 1996-1998 (1999)

IV. RÉSZ 407 - Előzetes közlemények és rövid tartalmi összefoglaló a Közlekedési Múzeum XI. Évkönyvéhez (magyar, angol, német nyelven) 429

In part HI we provide a review on the material and report about the renewal and restauration of the museological vehicles. In part IV we disclose the activities concerning special literature of the employees of the Museum, the list of names of the employees and furthormore we publish selections from journals. Dr.István Berta - Dr.András Katona: "Museums At The Turn Of The Century". The paper is a brief summary of the establishment and development of the Hungarian museums from the 18th century till our days. The age of the enlightenment and the awakeing of the nation to consciousness inspired the Hungarian aristocracy at the end of the 1700s to commence the conscious collection in connection with cultural history. As the result the National Museum - the third of such in Europe - could be established already on the 25

th November, 1803. The basis of the collection was the gift of count Ödön Széchenyi offering his library, maps, engravings, manuscripts and other antiquties concerning the history of the country. Till the completion of the final building of the National Museum in 1847, the collection was moved several times. Due to the generous gifts the collection and the profile of collecting expanded continuously, and the crowdedness increased requiring to start the organisation of specialized museums, museums of church history and furthermore provincial scientific and art museums. So the Museum of Arts and Crafts could be established as the first one in 1872. The Museum of Fine Arts had been established in 1896, its building was completed in 1906. The Museum of the Capital was founded in 1887, the Aquinkum Museum was built by 1894. The Hungarian Agricultural Museum and the Transport Museum were established in 1896, in the year of the celebrations in connection with the Millennium. At the turn of the century the number of the provincial museums exceeded the hundred. In this period there were several more attempts to establish specialized museums, but that could not be fulfilled because of various reasons. The War History Museum has been opened in 1918. The Transport Museum - like the Agricultural Museum - has set up a significant, national-wide network of exhibitions. Dr.András Katona: In the introduction of his paper "The Work Of The Museum Between 1996 and 1998" the Director-general of the Museum presents a general picture of the activities of the institution in the last three years. He declares that despite of the decreasing financial resources more and more periodic exhibitions were organized and - due to the praxis of the previous years - the activities concerning research and infrastructure renewal and extension have been continued. As a result of the great number of periodic exhibitions the decrease of the number of visitors not only stopped, but started even to increase. Because of the earning possibilities of the civil servants it is a problem to keep and increase the staff. Despite of the difficuties the arrangement of exhibitions, the modest increase of collections, the improvement of storing, the renewals, the fulfilment of investments and the functioning of the Museum are assured. In the yearly detailed summaries the paper reports about the activities concerning exhibitions arranged in the given year, the results of the scientific researches, the enlargement of the collections and the widening of the computer aided registration. Furthermore the paper informs about the allocation of the sums received by competition. A significant part of these sums have been used for restauration of objects (e.g.: the locomotive named "András", the Steyr motor vehicle, the aeroplane "Lloyd"). Progress took place even in respect of public education. The sums received by competition have been used for the establishment of the Internet connection of the Museum, for the issue of 60000 three-language, coloured liflets and furthermore for the improvement of the activities concerning press and propaganda. As a result of the competition "The Museum Of The Year" conducted by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Education and the professional organisations the Museum received a special acknowledgement concerning its professional activities in 1996. 438