Hírközlési Múzeumi Alapítvány, Évkönyv, 2005
Rövid tartalmi összefoglaló angol nyelven
Mrs. Gergely Kovács Postscript to the Foreword In the 14th year-book of the Communications Museum Foundation it is the last time I report on the achievements of the foundation and its museums. On December 2, 2005 it was exactly 20 years that I had been appointed director of the Postal Museum. Thank God, those that were present that time are all in good health and we could celebrate the 20* anniversary together. In October 2005, having worked almost 49 years, I applied for retirement. The creative part of my life is closing this year. The busy days will be over, there will be no new responsibilities each week or the hassle over issues which seem to have no resolution. However, I will miss the satisfaction over the achievements of work, and the shared joy of serving public purposes as well as the holidays celebrated together with colleagues. My three great excursions into the realms of tourism, nature protection and museology have been completed. I will now embark on the greatest, the one which Sándor Márai described as: “Learning ourselves is the greatest journey, the most fearful discovery and the most educational encounter. ” This will help to tell if we have been able to leave something lasting to posterity or our best efforts only yielded consumables. Now is not the time for evaluation but for saying good-bye and thanks. The sadness and dignity of farewell has accompanied the whole year. When in July we gathered in the Benczúr building to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the foundation and to honor those that had worked with the foundation for five, ten or fifteen years with Honorarium Fidelitatis certificates, my address focussed on fidelity and cooperation. I was confident to say that all that happened in the care of the relics of telecommunications history during the fifteen years of the foundation, could be considered of historical importance. Fifteen years ago foundations were as unfamiliar as it had been for Magellan and his crew to sail through a strait to the Pacific in 1520, and for the foundation the belligerent winds were not blowing from a single direction! At the end of the celebration, by way of saying good-bye and to reassure my colleagues uneasy about the changes, I qouted a poem by Illyés: “Existence is beauty itself, To proceed is to be faithful To new shores On Magellan ’s ocean. Captain! Tell us how to proceed? Hope is the greatest courage. ” 236
