Folia archeologica 7.

Idegen nyelvű összefoglalók

I. Fejős : ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM The first plans for the building of the National Museum were made in 1836 by Michael Pollack, an architect from Pest. The most complete set of these early plans have been preserved in the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. The final plans of the building are in the National Széchényi Library in Budapest. The author intends to show that the views made by small engravers of Pest while the constructure was going on (1837—1844), faithfully render the various stages in the evolution of the building. The drawings being faithful representations, they clearly point to the fact that the building as it rose affected the immediate neighbourhood and changed it from a poorish petty-bourgois environment into the modern town-picture of the Museum district. The series of changes commence with the views by R. Alt. From the outset the building of the National Museum was intended not only to house collections, but also to serve as a hall for public events of national and cultural significance. This accounts for the fact that since 1848 a considerable number of the pictorial representations with the building commemorated important national events showing thus the part the Museum played in Hungarian history. On the 15th March 1848 the most outstanding event of the Hungarian revolution took place in front of the steps leading up to the entrance, with the great Hungarian poet Petőfi as its leading figure. It was at the same place that the delegates of the Vienna University were officially received in April of the same year. The modern reproductions show the building in its form as it was when restored after the Liberation in 1945. The catalogue of the present study professes to be complete up to the year 1870.