Boros István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 5. (Budapest 1954)

Boros, I.: The new exhibitions of the Hungarian National Museum - Museum of Natural History

Our Botanical Department had four such »demonstrative collections« : 1. the systematical collection completing the main herbarium, with 6 distinct groups : Algae, Fungi, Lichenes, Bryophyta, Pteridophyta and Spermatophyta ; 2. the tree collection with the tree groups of Hungary and a world-wide collection, 3. a teratological collection with 8 groups of irregularly developed vegetative and reproductive organs of plants, and 4. the picture collection of dried plants., from the material of oecologically interesting and rare plants. The greater part of the demonstrative material consisted of dry or glassed preparations in preserving fluids (alcohol, formaline), of desiccated conservations, of wax, plaster or clay samples, of slides, snapshots, wooden lamelles, seeds, etc., and of framed dry plants under glass sheets, grouped from various points of view. Only a portion of the exhibited objects were supplied with explaining texts. As a collection for the use primarily of professional scientists, amateur botanists and university students, it was placed in б communicating rooms on the second story of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences ; it was far from being an establishment for the general public as a museum in the modern sense of the word but rather a botanical »Raritäten Kabinet«. It is, however, indubitable that it disposed of a very valuable material, with outstanding treasures from the science-history point of view, too. It can only be regretted that, during the siege of Budapest and the unreasonable resistance of the fascists, it was almost completely destroyed in the last monthsof the war, in 1945. Even if it hadremained, its radical alteration would have been necessary. In the circumstances, however, we had to attend to a new solution and to bring into existence a new botanical exhibition which is modern not only in its installations and material but also in its whole structure, thematics, and the aims of its principles concerning display methods. We had few examples to turn to. With regard to starting points and funda^mental principles the notions of the Botanical Department of the »Neues Museum für darstellende und angewandte Naturkunde« in Salzburg, that is, of E. P. Tratz, stood nearest to ours but we could not choose this route because of the silvicultural, hunting and agricultural displays, that is : the exhibitions of the expressedly practical applications of natural history of the independent Agricultural Museum. Besides, our sentiments, concerning the exhibitions of the Natural History museums, discussed in Volume III of our Annales in the last year, deviates in some major points from the respective views of Tratz ; though they meant in their time an indisputable progress in the very backward territory of natural history museology. Nor could we apply, however noteworthy and valuable should they be, the suggestions of Plavilyscsikov and Yakovlev in their methodical guide for the soviet areal museums concerning the display of the flora for the exhibitions of the first and largest Natural History Museum of Hungary ; so we decided, using every relevant experience and innovation, to build, according to modern requirements, on ways untrodden, our new botanical exhibition in the renaissance building of Vajdahunyadvár in the Városliget, the new home of our Botanical Department. First of all, we have cleared up the fact that in the general museological display of our flora, and adjusted to the respects of theory and practice, we have rather to endeavour to lay the scientific foundations and to expand the theoretical and biological knowledge of those interested, resting on the display of inland plant forms. Starting from this point, we grouped the material to be exhibited around the following five main themes : I.The Flora of Hun-