Folia Historica 31. (Budapest, 2016)

II. TANULMÁNYOK - Gróf Péter: Görgei Artúr visegrádi évtizedeihez

Móricz along with the ones who portayed him in their writings like Endre Ady, Károly Lövik, Ignotus, István Tömörkény, Aladár Schöpflin, György Sárközy, Géza Féja, László Németh, Gyula Illyés, etc. Besides the writers, his company included chemists like Károly Thán and Lajos Ilosvay, historians like Dávid Angyal or Henrik Marczali, renowned doctors such as Sándor Korányi and Lajos Markusovszky, the famous actress Mari Jászai, as well as polictians and men of puplic life like Imre Mikó, Béla Grünwald, Imre Hodossy, István Tisza and Gyula Andrássy ifj.

The rediscovery of Visegrád, former royal residence and 18th century market-town of the crown lands, happened in the reform era, when it appears as the symbol of the glorious past in literature and fine arts. (Fig. 2.) With the development of ship transport and train servive, Visegrád became a popular holiday resort among the citizens of Budapest and from 1872 it was one of the first places where the protection of historical buildings became an important matter. In the study contemporary photos show 19th century Visegrád, the scene of the General's life. (Fig. 4-6.)

We illustrate the last decades of Artúr Görgei's life with his letters and a selection of the period's press and literature. Numerous pictures were made of the elderly Görgei, which can be found in the Hungarian National Museum's Photographic Collection and the King Matthias Museum. (Fig. 7-11.)

Between the two world wars Tibor Zsitvay deserves the credit for the promotion of Artúr Görgei's memory in Visegrád with erecting a monument on the so-called Görgei-crag in 1933, where a bronze relief made by sculptor János Csiszér reproduces the General's profile of old age. (Fig. 12.) At the time of Artúr Görgei's death not only the political leadership but the majority of the period's media commemorated him with great honour and by the time of the 1930s historians have finally done justice to the life and legacy of the General.

After 1945 it was Visegrád where the first exhibition and conference took place about Artúr Görgei. Domokos Kosáry, Tamás Katona and László Pusztaszeri held lectures at the academic session.

By using selections of historical and literary works along wth photos from the era, the paper's aim is to show that Artúr Görgei did not spend his last decades as the „hermit of Visegrád", but he was a significant figure of the Hungarian intellectual life.

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