Kovács Petronella (szerk.): Isis - Erdélyi magyar restaurátor füzetek 3. (Székelyudvarhely, 2003)
Erdélyi - romániai magyar vonatkozási múzeumi restaurátor publikációk
Introduction Interest in the annually organized Transylvanian Hungarian restorers' conference, organized every October, has not decreased over the years. In the year 2002 we had the honor of welcoming not only Hungarian and Transylvanian speakers but also Aurel Moldoveanu, the "doyen" of Romanian conservation who has trained nearly all Transylvanian restorers the theoretical basics of artifact conservation. In honor of this year's conference an exhibition containing the diploma works of students attending the Department of Restoration of the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts was opened in the Rezső Haáz Museum, which also served as the conference venue. The study tour connected with this extended education program usually encompassed Csík, Gyergyó and the Moldavian monasteries in 2001, and also included the picturesque landscapes of Máramaros in 2002. During the course of the three day study trip, the Romanian and Armenian monuments and museums of Régen, Herina, Beszterce, Bethlen, Dés, Költő, Nagybánya, Dióshalom, Krácsfalva, Máramarossziget, Desze, Szaplonca, Barcánfalva, Sajómező, Jód and Szamosújvár were visited. It is to our great satisfaction that besides the habitual participants, young colleagues eager to acquaint themselves with the intrigues of the field as well as restorer students of the Nagyszeben University are also showing interest in the extended education program. It is their eagerness that further strengthens our conviction to pass on our knowledge acquired from our predecessors and through experience. Petronella Kovács Wood and furniture restorer MA Head of the faculty for object conservation Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts Hungarian National Museum András MORGÓS - Levente DOMOKOS The emergence of Hungarian museum restoration work in Transylvania. Famous Hungarian restorers in Transylvania Museum restoration work in Hungary as well as Transylvania began during the last quarter of the 19th century. Viktor Molnár, a laboratory assistant (restorer) in the Hungarian National Museum was employed in 1864. József Kemény, a technician worked in the museum since 1876, restoring iron objects and weapons. Both of them were active in this institution for half a century. In comparison, the British Museum established in 1753 as the first museum in the world, employed its first restorer, J. Doubleday since the 1840s. Prior to that time, excavating archaeologists curated and restored their own find materials and collections themselves. As for the employment of chemists, the establishment of chemical restoration laboratories, and the analysis of components in works of art, Hungary has reached the highest international standards by the late 19th-early 20th centuries. Material investigations by the chemist, Dr. József Loczka deserve special mention here. His first article discussing this topic was published in 1885. Internationally, similar analyses were first published by E. Bibra in 1873. The restoration laboratory of the Royal Prussian Museum in Berlin is regarded exemplary all over the world. It was established by the chemist Dr. F. Rathgen in 1888. The restoration laboratory of the British Museum, founded by the chemists Dr. A. Scott and Dr. H. Plenderleith has existed only since 1924. As regards Hungary, the only eight years long museum career before the untimely death of dr. Géza Elemér Gasparetz, chemist and restorer at the beginning of the 20th century, deserves mention in particular. During his short working life, he studied the layer structures of paintings and carried out microscopic chemical analyses of paint pigments and binding media, using pioneering techniques at the time. He also restored significant archaeological artifacts in several proivincial museums. In addition, Gasparetz introduced new restoration techniques, such as the electrolytic cleansing of metals and the use of synthetic cellon (nitrocellulose) instead of paraffin in impregnating and solidifying artifacts. In terms of museum facilities, the restorers' laboratory established in Kolozsvár in 1900 by Béla Posta, and the Debrecen restorers' laboratory designed and arranged by Zoltán Hegyi, a chemistry teacher in (1937-1940) must be mentioned here. The latter facility included X-ray equipment and fumigation chambers for desinfection of the objects. Hegyi was also the editor of the first restorers' handbook published in Hungarian. The first article written in Hungarian, discussing the restoration of museum objects was published in 1891 by Sámuel Fenichel, who had studied in Transylvania and worked in the [Romanian] National Museum in Bucharest. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th 110
