Technikatörténeti szemle 27. (2005-06)

Múzeumi épületek - Fábián Éva–Próder István–Vargáné Nyári Katalin: Műszaki múzeum egy történelmi épületben

ÉVA FÁBIÁN - ISTVÁN PRÓDER - KATALIN NYÁRI-VARGA: A TECHNICAL MUSEUM IN A HISTORICAL BUILDING During the measures taken in order to improve the Hungarian chemical industry - in the course of switching from coal base to a petrolchemical base - the thought arose to present the development of the chemical industry of historical Hungary. It was for this purpose that the Ministry of the Heavy Industry founded the Hungarian Museum of Chemistry in 1961, and, at the same time, provided for the maintenance and supervision of the institution. As site of the museum the historic building in the main square of the town of Vârpalota was allocated. This decision was in keeping with the ideas of the leaders of the town of the time. The disclosure of the historical building - an earthwork transformed from a 14th-century mansion - and its restoration as a monument according to the requirements of the institutions established there started in the second half of the 1960s. The Hungarian Museum of Chemistry transferred from Budapest presented itself in Vârpalota for the first time in 1969 with its exhibition located in the lounge. Following the first permanent exhibition in 1970, a number of permanent thematic exhibitions as well as chamber exhibitions presenting life stories took place there as a result of the museum's processing activities. The exhibitions were located in the freshly restored rooms of the castle. The offices, the library, the objects' store, the store of the archival documents, the store of photographs, the restoring workshop, the conference rooms etc. were restored one after the other. The development of the museum outlined above was always dependent on the pace of the monument building's restoration. The paper presents - without aiming at completeness - the multitude of problems arising from the building's monument character, which hampered the museum's work, and questions the decision of placing the museum in a monument castle.