Benedek Csaba – H. Bathó Edit – Gulyás Katalin – Horváth László – Kaposvári Gyöngyi szerk.: Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 14. (2004)
The Establishment of a Museum and its Antecedents in Szolnok from Viktor Hild to Béla Balogh
ISTVÁN SZABÓ THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MUSEUM AND ITS ANTECEDENTS IN SZOLNOK FROM VIKTOR HILD TO BÉLA BALOGH Part One Celebrating its 70 th anniversary, in 2004 the János Damjanich Museum enriched its collections that were founded later. The main reason for this might be that although the name "Zounok" occurred in the charter issued by Géza I in which he established the Garamszentbenedek Abbey, and it was a fortified reeve centre under St Stephen, the settlement later did not play a major role in the history of the country. It only had a motte in the Turkish Age, there were no abiding buildings erected here, it was not an outstanding religious or royal town or a university centre. Its civilian development was due to the opening of the Vienna-Budapest-Szolnok railroad, by which, in 1876, it became county town. So Szolnok did not have the cultural traditions, and the number of scientific experts that would have made the establishment of a collection of archives, books and objects necessary. From the 17 th and 18 th century, there were "museions" ("the chancel of the Muse") all over Europe where historical, cultural, scientific and objective materials were kept and displayed. In Hungary, the science of museum did not become an independent study until the 1920s, and in the wake of the life work of a few obsessed people, some large collections were founded like the ones in Sárospatak or Eger. The existence of the Szolnok museum is practically due to two "obsessed" people who were committed to sciences, who sacrificed most of their lives to opening a museum in Szolnok. Viktor HILD (1855—1929) born in Kecskemét, studied at the law faculty of Budapest University between 1872 and 1876, then he started his career as a journalist. He had his scientific and literary writings published in several Budapest newspapers. In 1890, he moved to Jászberény, where, next to writing, he became involved in the history of the Jászság region. Due to his archaeological and archival research, he acted as the official expert of the Jász Museum founded in 1874. He became attached to Szolnok after 1902. His archaeological and historical knowledge, his writing skills, his possibilities as an editor, and his good connections as a scientist and a citizen were devoted to establish a museum in the county town. He based the collection of the prospective museum on the findings from the excavation of the Bronze Age settlement in TószegLaposhalom, which achieved considerable scientific attention around the turn of the century. And when this effort proved to be fruitless, he started to develop his own collection, which he administered, systematised and documented minutely as a most engaged museum scientist. In his "Archaeological Diary" he recorded the place, time and circumstances where, when and how certain objects turned up, he included a thorough descriptions of them, and in some cases he made drawings as well. Unfortunately, we only have the damaged first volume of the diary, in which he registered 331 material items from 116 archaeological sites across the county. It was his precise documentation that made it possible not only the complete reconstruction of his numismatic collection, but due to his exact records, experts were able to draw conclusions about the circulation of money in the Roman age in the region. The second volume, which supposedly contained at least this amount of data, was destroyed alongside with the majority of items of the collection. However, even from this incomplete bequest, it becomes apparent that, apart from the archaeological and numismatic materials, he collected and bought historic objects, books and ethnographic materials. These, at other places like the recorded explanatory date of the 12 volumes of "Notes on Jászság" and Regesták, formed the basic of the collection of the Verseghy Library and Damjanich Museum. He was involved in archaeology, numismatics, emblazonry as well as sigillography, and as honorary and later county archivist, he dealt with the written records of the history of the county. As a journalist and editor, he did as much for the establishment of a museum as a man of scientific research. His house, which used to be known as "Hild Museum" in town, was built in 1902—1903, in the then Katona town in Oskola street, later and today Arany János street at number 238 (after renumbering 19). The entrance of the pitched roof house leads to a porch. The serrated ornaments of the frontispiece and the carved gate draw attention from the outside. The rooms facing the street were for storing the collection. The archaeological findings, the numismatic material, the collection of jewellery, the ethnographic objects, the books and the archives showed a complete museum to the visitor. In possession of this compelling collection, he rightfully expedited that a public institution for collecting cultural 437
