Körmöczi Katalin szerk.: Historical Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum 3 - From the End of the Turkish Wars to the Millennium - The history of Hungary in the 18th and 19th centuries (Budapest, 2001)

ROOM 11. Reform in Hungary in the First Half of the 19th Century "We Must Extricate Ourselves from the Morass of Decaying Feudalism" (István Széchenyi) (Katalin Körmöczi)

27. Memento for Archduke Joseph, to mark his golden jubilee as palatine, 1846 Presented to him by the Israelites of Pest Rock crystal, silver sympathy with the economic liberalism of Count István Széchenyi and supported the economic endeavours of the Reform Movement. His portrait and the other items commemorating him deserve their place among the relics which recall the great figures of the Reform Age. In 1825, after thirteen years of absolutist rule, Francis I restored feudal constitutionalism in Hungary by summoning the Hungarian Diet, and by subsequently convening it every three years. A compromise was struck between the House of Habsburg and the Hungarian Estates. The dynasty hoped for stability, while the Hungarians - principally the liberal elements which had already acquired a bourgeois character - hoped for constitutional forms and institutions which would enable them to implement their reforms lawfully. The Diet of 1825-27, and subsequently the Reform Diets, operated in a bicameral feudal form finally established by Law I of 1608. The Upper Table of the Diet was reserved for aristocrats who sat there by virtue of their birth or of the office they held. The Lower Table consisted of delegates: two were sent by each of the noble counties, and delegates were also present from the royal free towns and from the chapters of the cathedrals and collegiate churches. Nominees of absent aristocrats could also attend the Lower Table. Participation in politics at both national and county level was a prerogative of the nobility. THE HUNGARIAN LESSER NOBILITY The interior placed opposite Metternich's desk presents the political role, lifestyle and environment of the Hungarian lesser nobility, now acquiring a bourgeois identity, not remote from liberal thinking yet preserving national traditions. The man s ceremonial attire, made from dark-blue cloth and embellished with silver braiding and black fur, typifies the national dress which developed in the 19th century. Furniture and fittings from the manor-house of Dániel Csapó (1778— 1844) at Tengelic, in Tolna county, faithfully recall the Empire and Biedermeier interiors of the Classicist manor-houses built during the boom years of the Napo-