Conservation around the Millennium (Hungarian National Museum, 2001)

Pages - 64

5-6. Restored helmet from the side and from the back

the solution on brass we did not experiment with it. It is well known that brass behaves in many ways different than bronze, and the method was developed especially with regard to the tinning technology of bronze used by the Avars. We rather chose the classical method: the meticulous mechanic cleaning. The polishing of the tinned surfaces was followed by yet another cleaning and neutralising then conservation was made with Paraloid B 72 (acrylate- methacrylate copolymer) diluted in acetone-xylol-toluol, (figs 5, 6).

HELMET FROM THE ESKÜ SQUARE

The re-restoration of the other, Intercisa III type helmet has just been completed. (Inventory number: 10.1951.252. First it was registered under the number 110.1899.) The helmet type was named after Intercisa16, a Roman military camp and settlement17 where many similar helmets were found in 1909,18 1967, 1974 and 1983. The helmets unearthed during the first excavations in 1909 lay “in one heap” among the remains of a burnt down Roman period building. They clumped in a block in the great heat, Antal Heckler wrote: “It was an even more difficult task to separate the elements when we tried it after having transported them into the laboratory of the National Museum. Fire and rust made iron brittle and crumbling, it fell apart to the slightest blow or pressure.

Regarding that all the characteristic elements of the helmets were present among the fragments, we could hope that we would be able to reconstruct from the ruins at least some helmets in their original forms. The reconstruction, which demanded great patience and care, was carried out with praiseworthy zeal by József Kemény under the permanent direction and supervision of the author of the these lines. The solidity of the close helmets could be ensured only with gypsum filling and the application of a wire mesh. In the reconstructed helmet we left each filling in the white colour of gypsum, so that they can instantly be recognised. Our main endeavour was to secure the possibility of verification of our work for the future.”19

Here I have to mention that later the fillings left white were painted black together with the surviving fragments so that at present it is very difficult to differentiate the fillings. Three other helmets from Pannónia belong to the helmets from Intercisa. At present we have altogether 14 helmets or helmet

64