Technikatörténeti szemle 21. (1994-95)

TANULMÁNYOK - Bartha Lajos: Az első magyarországi Meteorológiai és Csillagászati Múzeum

LAJOS BARTHA: THE FIRST MUSEUM OF METEOROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY IN HUNGARY The collection of the relics of astronomy and meteorology, of pertinent ancient books and instruments was established from the exhibition material of the National Institute for Meteorology and Geomagnetism In the last 30 years of the 19th century. The astronomer Miklós Konkoly Thege (1842-1916), director of the Institute for Meteorology from 1890 on, added his own collection (ancient optical and astronomical Instruments) to the above. At the Budapest exhibition organized 1896 in commemoration of the thousandth anniversary of the Magyar conquest of Hungary this collection of about 300 objects was shown in a separate pavilion. Encouraged by the great interest in this exhibition M. Konkoly Thege appealed to schools, institutions and factories in Hungary and later also to observatories of other countries as well as to private persons, calling for help to enrich the collection. His appeal proved to be a success, and as a result the Museum for Meteorology and Astronomy came into being. The collection was located, from 1900 till 1908, at the Central Observatory in Ógyalla (today Hurbanovo, Slovakia). Then, between 1910 and 1920 it was placed in the Centre of the Budapest Institute of Meteorology. It was actually one of the first public collections of astronomy and meteorology in the world. The collection was given a new residence at the new observatory on the Svábhegy (Budapest) In 1921. However, after World War II it got scattered in different places.