Petercsák Tivadar: Várak és múzeumok - Studia Agriensia 29. (Eger, 2010)

Az észak-magyarországi megyei múzeumi szervezetek működési feltételei

THE WORKING CONDITIONS OF MUSEUMS IN NORTHERN HUNGARY

The county museums have been struggling for survival over the past few decades. Museums in northern Hungary vary in museum structures, institutional networks, the number of staff and economic circumstances.

The Borsod-Abaúj -Zemplén Museum Service has the most institutions and employees, their numbers are decreasing. The most significant changes have affected the number of skilled workers.

Heves is a relatively small county with an accordingly small museum network. Most of its institutions are under the control of local authorities.

Museums in Nógrád County lost the most employees in the 1990s. 1996 was the worst year, when skilled museum workers completed several maintenance and operative tasks.

It is usually the local government who maintains the museums of a county. Since local authorities have a low income and museums depend on subsidies from the state budget, they are usually under-financed. Involving outside sponsors is inevitable. Heves county is a special case: it is very attractive to tourists and lots of visitors come year after year, which raises local incomes.

One of the major problems is that in general, museums have had to fall back on survival strategies. Now the situation is more hopeful: both the museums’ own incomes and budget subsidies are slowly increasing. Although working conditions are not really favourable, good or even outstanding scientific and professional work was possible in all three counties over the last few years.

Possible solutions could involve financing in cooperation with local governments, seeking possible sources for increasing the museums’ own incomes and establishing the ground rules for subsidising and working conditions.

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