Műtárgyvédelem, 2005 (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum)
Összefoglalók
he was the first Director of the fledgling Restoration Department. He patented several of the conservation and storage techniques he developed, for example his vacuum-ceresine procedure and vacuum treatment of infestation in museum and library exhibits. The Metal Restoration and Goldsmith’s Workshop was established in 1946. The administration of the Museum was transferred in 1949 from the Public Collections National Supervisory Board to the newly created National Centre for Museums and Monuments (MMOK). When this body itself was dissolved just three years later the Restoration Department formally came into being. Happily, this Department is still very much in existence. With the sole exception of the former premises on Egyetem utca the Department and the scope of work it undertakes has undergone a process of continual development ever since. Reflections on thirty years of university LEVEL TRAINING OBJECT CONSERVATORS Petronella Kovács Writing at the time of an anniversary which has Europe-wide significance, this article will not however be concerning itself with the general history of training object conservators, nor with the figures who were instrumental in introducing the discipline to Budapest and who guided it through its early stages, but rather with the developments that have taken place since it has become established and particularly those further changes that are expected to be needed now the twenty-first century is well and truly under way. This is not to undervalue the enormous achievement of those who, in conjunction with the Centre for the Conservation and Methodology of Museums and the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (now the Hungarian University of Fine Arts), drew up plans for and in 1974 established the Object Conservation Department with full university rank under the auspices of the recently-founded Institute of Conservation. From its inception this new body had enabled art conservators working on paintings, sculptures, frescoes and murals to study for their relevant degree. But it was also open to museum assistants working with archseological artefacts and works of applied art who did not usually otherwise have a higher education qualification. To be fair, some did have college diplomas or university degrees, but these tended to be in subjects such as biology, chemistry and history rather than vocational qualifications specifically tailored to their work as object restorers. Until that time, the majority had to make do with refresher courses in basic restoration skills run first by the Hungarian National Museum and later by the Central Museological and Technical Department of the Central Museum Directorate. In the absence of a specialized university degree the ranking of object restorers amongst both museologists and their own peers was notably inconsistent. The object conservator's M.A. degree course started, then, in 1974. It was correspondence based from the beginning with approximately one week’s class 195
