Kalla Zsuzsa: Beszélő tárgyak. A Petőfi család relikviái (Budapest, 2006)
Zsuzsa Kalla: The history of the Petőfi relics
visitors decreased, donations became less frequent and there were fewer and fewer people with actual recollections. The House closed between 1919 and 1922, and three years later became a state institute as the Petőfi Society could no longer maintain it. Its fate mirrors that of the Society: founded through public contributions it ended life as a state institute. FROM THE PETŐFI HOUSE TO THE PETŐFI MUSEUM During the war, the Petőfi House suffered bomb damage but was rebuild in time for the centenary celebrations on 15th March 1948. The pre-reconstruction exhibition had received a scathing review in Magyar Nap, ‘[...] the inspirational spirit of the poet of the people and of freedom was missing within the decorated walls, his writings were covered in dust, everything was shrouded in indifference and misunderstanding’ (K.M. 1948) but ‘the shrine to the poet of the revolution’ now underwent a total transformation which included the removal of the ‘superfluous neo-Gothic decorations’. The main hall, where important guests were to be welcomed, was stripped down and painted white: everything had to be ‘simple and reserved’. The new style of the cult had turned away from personal memorabilia, focusing instead on the revolution. This was reflected in the single, enormous daguerreotype of Petőfi on the main wall of the hall and in the accompanying enlarged manuscripts of his revolutionary poems, the aim being to create a dramatic effect. By the following year, the Petőfi House had been entirely redesigned and was renamed the Petőfi Museum. By the centenary of the poet’s death the Museum had large, smooth, coloured surfaces, stage scenery-like furniture, decorative drapery, and larger-than-life photographs of the poet. It was this new cultic object, the photograph, which now effected the exaltation and ‘deification’. For decades, in fact until the beginning of the 1970s, the main theme of the exhibition was 15th March: quotations from the revolution were mounted on the walls in huge letters and visitors could follow hour by hour the events of that day. A reporter from Magyar Nemzet writing about the installation still under construction said: ‘On the whole, even in its unfinished state this exhibition is a wonderful, reverential conjuration of spirits.’ (B.J. 1949) Although the new exhibition centred around the revolution, the curators had shown good judgement in retaining certain items from before the reconstruction, and the journalist was especially taken by the Kiskőrös room, which had been left unaltered. There was at the same time another poet with a cult following. This was Attila József (1905—37), and in 1949 the Petőfi Museum replaced the Jókai exhibition on the first floor with a memorial exhibition to this outstanding lyric poet. 1948 saw the establishment of the Attila József statue committee, which wanted to see a statue to the poet erected in a public place. Prime Minister Zoltán Tildy’s donation set the process in motion. The potential conflict in having simultaneous cults surrounding two poets was eased by the many biographical similarities essential to the formation of a cult: lowly birth, poverty, rebellion, social awareness, great love cycles, and an early, tragic death. In 1954 the building which had housed the Petőfi Museum was given over to other purposes and the relic collection was taken to the newly established Petőfi Literary Museum in Budapest’s Károlyi Mihály utca. Most of the relics were packed away in boxes and gradually forgotten, but one or two of specially interest remained with museologists. These objects continued to appear in Petőfi exhibitions, proving the indispensability of the power of the cult and the emotions relics stirred, since most museum visitors - contrary to popular belief - are interested not in the poetry but in the life of the poet. The exhibitions also had an ‘educational’ aim: to persuade visitors to read some of Petőfi’s works. THE PETŐFI CULT TODAY Today, the best known part of the Petőfi cult is the legend of the poet’s exile in Siberia and his death, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the general awareness of the recurring appearances of the legend. As they had about the Petőfi House, many people also voiced their doubts concerning the expedition to find Petőfi’s grave: How many volumes of Petőfi could have been financed out of that? What have those anthropological disputes about his reputed corpse to do with the poet? The traditions of the Petőfi cult are more faithfully reflected by the work of the Petőfi Society in Kiskőrös. Founded in 1984 with Miklós Hubay, 202
