Műtárgyvédelem, 2005 (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum)
Összefoglalók
before his title appears in the archives as restorer. He was responsible for the restoration of paintings, and organized the Pyrker Gallery which opened in 1846. The restoration of articles other than paintings began in the Museum’s Medal and Antiquity Collection. At the beginning of the twentieth century the leading Hungarian restorer was Dr. Géza Elemér Gasparetz. By profession he was a chemist, but it was during his short seven-year tenure (until his premature death) that the Museum rose to enjoy an international reputation. His workroom was a mixture of restorer’s workshop and chemistry laboratory, for he built his own facilities in order to undertake a range of specialist activities including microchemical analysis, cross section examination and electrolytic metal cleaning. He wrote his thesis in 1911 entitled „Microchemistry in the Service of Art History,” and in consideration of this diversity he is still regarded today as both a prominent chemist and restorer. In conjunction with the Technical University he conducted experiments on samples of wood in order to familiarize himself with the advantages and disadvantages of the various wood strengthening techniques that were popular at the time. Armed with this information, and once permission had been obtained, he intended to proceed with work strengthening the wooden structures of a high altar in Lőcse in Upper Hungary (today Levoca in Slovakia). This was the first time that restoration procedures had been devised in Hungary as a result of a genuine collaboration between museologist, restorer and scientist. That Gasparetz was a man ahead of his time, and one of whom we can therefore justly be proud, is evidenced by the fact that this degree of cooperation between different disciplines really only reappeared when it became a criterion of modern restoration techniques some sixty and more years later (in the 1970’s and 1980’s). The inter war economic crisis had a direct effect on restoration work at the Museum, halting development and threatening the jobs of the restorers. A contemporary report shows that virtually every object in the Museum’s Antiquity Collection was in need of cleaning, and this unfortunate situation lasted well into the 1930’s. There was a series of administrative changes introduced between 1926 and 1944, with the Medal and Antiquity Collection being divided into three separate units - a Coins and Medals Department, an Antiquities Department and a Historical Department. The Historical Department was responsible for staging the majority of exhibitions. The Metal Conservation Workshop was founded after 1926, principally to meet the requirements of the Weapons Collection. In 1935 the mechanical engineer János Kalmár was studying in Germany. As part of his studies he worked in the State Museums Chemistry Laboratory in Berlin, and here he was able to master conservation and restoration techniques applicable to bronze, iron, wood, leather, lead and clay, as well how to prepare and use the necessary materials. The Engravings Restoration Workshop was set up at the beginning of the 1940’s. In the postwar period one of the Museum’s foremost figures was Győző Baki. He worked in the Museum from 1942 until his retirement in 1968, and from 1952 194
