Technikatörténeti szemle 7. (1973-74)

MŰSZAKI SZAKMÚZEUMOK - Pál Vajda: Industrial Museums in Hungary (in English)

Law-decree No. 9, 1963, on the protection of museum pieces, orders that: "outstanding material, written and other relics of history, science, literature and arts, those reflecting the events of production on the upgrade should be protected, scientifically processed as ordered by the law, and made accessible for the whole population." The enacting clause of the Law-Decree says: „Objects, written and other relics of importance from the aspect of industrial history ... and the history of sciences shall be considered as being museum pieces under the protection of the law. It is ordered furthermore, that „every governmental or social body, co-operatives, as well as other legal bodies and citizens being in ownership or posession of museum pieces or collections defined by the law-decres are obliged to ... report on it. The obligation to report covers primarily objects of home and foreign origin of the following character: technical objects (establishments, equipment, works of art, machines, structures, devices, tools, instruments, experimental apparatus, models, photos, designs, etc, that may be of importance on development, technical history or engineering education." In the course of its eighteen years of activity the Group of Registration and Collection of Old Technical Values has collected enough material to fill a whole museum, saving this stock from damages and deterioration. The Group, however, could not substitute a museum, and the establishment of a technical museum has turned out to be a social necessity. Initiated and organized by several bodies, specialized collections and museums have been set up in a number of industrial fields. By the end of 1973 a total of 18 industrial museums have opened their gates to the public. (In addition several factories are engaged today in collecting material on their own history; factory histories are published and collections gathered in considerable numbers.) The earliest of this museums, the Museum of Transport was established in 1896. Any technical museum in the world might have been proud of its large collection of fine and technically accurate engine and railway carriage models (one-fifth scale), and of the collection on Danube, Mediterranean, and Adriatic navigation. Unfortunately both the building and the collections were almost entirely destroyed during the Second World War. Fully reconstructed, the Hungarian Museum of Transport was opened in 1966. Thus 20 years were needed to plan a museum of richer contents, completed by material on motor vehicles, urban transport and aviation, and in an up-to-date form for the visitors interested. The material of the museum covers all branches of communication. The steam engine models following the hundred-year development of Hungarian railways deserve special attention. The collection of motor vehicles includes, in addition to old motor cars and motorcycles of foreign make, the Csonka motor car made in 1909, side-by-side with his small motor car of 1908, which was one of the most modern and most beautiful cars of the time. The collection on aviation displays old type gliders and airplanes in their original form, to gether with the experimental models of the first helicopters. In the museum the visitor may get an insight to the technology of contemporary communication and its main problems, to the trends of development, and a view on the spacecraft models reconnoitring other planets. Technology, however, is not the only concern of the Hungarian Museum of Transport as it aims at making progress in communication techniques contact sociel-economic advancement from the possibly greatest number of aspects. Several short-term exhibitions have been and are devoted to open wide vistas on communication history and culture before the visitors. Another endeavor of pri-