Boros István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 8. (Budapest 1957)

Boros, I.: The tragedy of the Hungarian Natural History Museum

Collection also suffered significant damages by water. In the wake of extinguishing operations and a burst main-pipe, about one-third of the Hemipterological Collection was destroyed and no small injuries were incurred from the same cause by the Coleopterological Collection, that is, by a collapsing ceiling, the Anthropological Department. The rooms and premises where our research workers knew up to now only the delights and ardour of creative scientific work, became white-hot furnaces and in the course of a few hours the materials of collecting and scientific labours of 150 years, treasures acquired by the assiduty of an ant, were completely annihilated. More than one million inventoried objects were burnt to nothing, among them the collected materials of L. Bíró from New Guinea, of J. X á ntus from southeastern Asia, of B. Széchényi, J. Zichy and G. A 1 m á s s y from Central Asia of. Gy. Madarász from Ceylon and the Near East, K. Kittenberger from Africa, further the dipterological collections of Kertész and T h a 1 h a m m e r, with their thousands of types, as well as the Adria material of the Hungarian marine expedition by the ship Najade ; extinguishing water wrecked a significant portion of the worldfamous Hemipterological Collection of Horváth. And, the same as in the Mineralogical and Paleontological Dpartments, the special libraries were also burnt down, — together with the collecting equipments, microscopes and other indispensable instruments of research work with the maniscripts of our zoologists. Our losses are therefore enormous, as evident also from the above short enumeration, and, on the spur of the moment, I could hardly tell whether a similar blow had ever befell another museum as large as ours. I am well cognizant of the fact that bombings during World War II destroyed many a large museum building in the several areas ravaged by the war and has also annihilated materials invaluable from scientific, historical and artistical points of view. Yet a significant portion of them, indeed their most valuable and larger part were still saved and put into safety, anticipating the turn of events. In our case, there was no possibility to do so. Events took a tragic turn so unexpectedly and with such an unforeseen rapidity, that the necessity of securing our collections was never even thought of. Tragically enough, the main building of the Museum is the next but one neighbour of the starting point of the events, the broadcasting studio ; whilst the building of the Zoological Department in the Baross Street is situated in the center of the area between the Studio and the Kilián barracks, the other focal point of the fights. So, in the undivined and incalculable course of the events, a cultural institution fell also a lamentable victim, one that is outstanding not only in Hungarian relations but known all over the world by its international connections. Consequently, I feel that let it be ever so saddening, — having related of but or results in several volumes of our Annals (1952—54, 55, 56) up to now, — I am under obligation to the world of science, and primarly to museum workers, to give an account as detailed as possible even of our losses. The Mineralogical and Geological Department The oldest Collections the Natural History Museum. Already in 1802, in the year of the establishment of the Museum, minerals represent, aside of the Numismatic and Antiquity Departments and the Library, the natural history collec-