Varga Benedek szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 149-157. (Budapest, 1996)

KRÓNIKA / CHRONICLE - I. A Semmelweis Orvostörténeti Múzeum, Könyvtár és Levéltár kiállításai és rendezvényei - (3) Haláltánc és gyógyítás. Kiállítás a düsseldorfi Heinrich Heine Egyetem Orvostörténeti Intézetének „Ember és Halál” c. grafikai gyűjteményéből. 1995. május 19—szeptember 30. (Mohos Márta)

MÁRIA VIDA WELCOMING SPEECH Professor Schadewald, Mr President, our distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen! I am delighted to welcome you to Budapest and to the opening of the 'Medicine and Danse Macabre' art exhibition. I do apologise for being unable to stay with you this evening but I will be here in spirit. I am sure that my colleague Dr. Károly Kapronczay, the Deputy Director General of our institute, will make your visit to the Semmelweis Medical Historical Museum most enjoyable. This splendid series of graphics and etchings has been thoughtfully selected from the unparalleled 'Tod und Mensch' collection of the Institute of Medical History in Düsseldorf. It gives us great pleasure to be able to accommodate the collection and to contribute to its introduction to the participants of the World Hospital Congress and to the Hungarian public. First of all I must express our gratitude to Professor Hans Schadewald, who conceived the idea of presenting these etchings to the Congress and thank Frau Eva Schuster, for her professional display. I would also like to thank several of my colleagues who played an important part in the organisation and display of the works, Márta Mohos, head of the museum department; Mrs Ágnes Újszászy, head of the Conservator Department and Gábor Barkó, a chief Conservator, all of whom have been indispensable. We are very grateful to the many benefactors of the exhibition, especially to Professor Klaus Prössdorf, the President of the International Hospital Federation, who has been an ardent supporter. The presentation of death, the subject of these engravings and graphics, may look surprising, or even extraordinary, for a hospital congress since hospitals are associated with curing and healing. There is probably no need to remind you of how many lives end in hospitals and in order to provide psychological support, it has always been essential for the physician to understand his patient's attitude towards death. From the historical or medical historical point of view, we must also consider that, in common with other elements of the 'mentalité' of various ages and their civilisations, the perception of death has also gone through many changes. The typical anxiety associated with our departure from this world, was perhaps, less common in earlier times. A further explanation of this subject and its importance in medical history will be given by Professor Schadewald. Among the recent exhibitions by the Semmelweiss Medical History Museum, Library and Archives, we have already investigated the changing attitude in medicine and in curing. After the unfortunate death of Dr. József Antall, the former Director General of our institute, we presented an exhibition entitled 'Devotional and Votive Mementoes for Curing'. With regard to the subject of this exhibition, our museum also owns several interesting medals and etchings on Danse Macabre and some of them are presented in our temporary exhibition which, hopefully, you will visit. I trust you will find your stay in Budapest inspiring and I wish you a successful congress. Please enjoy your time in this city. I would now like to hand you over to Professor Schadewald who will present some enlightening observations on the art of the Danse Macabre which will introduce us into this special world of medical and art history. Thank you Professor Schadewald. (Translation by Benedek Varga)