Kalla Zsuzsa: Beszélő tárgyak. A Petőfi család relikviái (Budapest, 2006)

Zsuzsa Kalla: The history of the Petőfi relics

ics mounted in glass cases on the wall. The other object in this category is Berta Mednyânszky’s bou- quet. Gyula Kéry, the relic collector, had heard the story in 1901 in Pozsony from the lady herself and writes: ‘She also mentioned that the handwritten poems which Petőfi had composed for her and which she kept in a cabinet disappeared during the particularly harsh administration of Alexander von Bach, Minister of the Interior, when she and her parents left Gödöllő. It seems likely that she kept only two relics. One is a presentation copy of Szerelem gyöngyei [Pearls of Love], which Petőfi had made for her in 1845. Written in broad gold letters on the faded, red silk cover of the sixty-page book is the inscription

SZERELEM GYÖNGYEI BERTÁNAK [PEARLS OF LOVE FOR BERTA]

The other is a bouquet of dried flowers tied with a red, white and green ribbon. The story goes that Berta and Petőfi were walking in the garden one Sunday afternoon talking about the homeland, among other things. While they were talking, Berta picked some flowers and gave them to Petőfi in a bouquet tied with a ribbon in the national colours. The poet was greatly touched, and it is this bouquet which is referred to in the poem which begins A bokrétát, melyet [The Bouquet which...]

The bouquet which you gave me Is tied with a tricolour ribbon.

You love the homeland colours, maiden,

For you love the homeland.

In exchange, I, too, shall give three colours: Take the green as my hope,

The white as my pale face,

The red as my bleeding heart.

When they met later, Petőfi told Berta that in addition to the poem he was also keeping the bouquet pressed in his book. To which Berta remarked sceptically: ‘Who knows where that flower, too, will fade. Somewhere at the side of the road?’

The poet’s response to this remark was included in the special copy of Pearls of Love he sent to Berta. He had put the flowers in the book at the page where the poem was, as proof that he had indeed kept them and not let them fade in the dust of the road [...].’ (Kéry 1908, 70-71)

When Julia’s wedding ring, that symbol of marriage and holy matrimony, passed from a Hrúz relative to the Petőfi House, it was put in an ornate relic holder and placed in the centre of the exhibition room. Not surprisingly, Petőfi also wrote a poem about it, entitled Augusztus 5'dikén [On 5th August].

Petőfi’s martyrdom is a theme central to the cult, and also where life and oeuvre meet. His prophetic poems underline the tragedy of death, while the battlefield at Segesvár where he fell is just as mysterious and enigmatic as the house in Kiskőrös where he was born. Petőfi’s remains were never discovered and neither was there a grave. This proved to be a source of particular tension and objects were sought which could replace the grave, the real shrine. These were found in Mezőberény and Torda, places Petőfi stayed at during his final journey. Julia’s needlework with a skull and cross- bones from 1849 was usually included with these items, as was, later, the table from Biharugra on which Petőfi wrote his last letter to János Arany.

The Petőfi Literary Museum, which replaced the Petőfi House, did not acquire any additional Petőfi relics of importance, just the occasional remnant from descendants of the original owners. Objects of particular interest were kept in other collections belonging to the Church and the capital.

In recent decades the work of local historians has resulted in the emergence of a new group of objects: relics subsequently collected in all the places where the family had ever lived. Items were collected from the descendants of neighbours, acquaintances and other people in the villages of Kiskunfélegyháza, Dunavecse and Szalkszent- márton. Although difficult to authenticate and not classified as inheritance, this material is nevertheless historically, sociologically and ethnographically genuine. Only the items from Szalkszentmárton can be called a collection; an entire exhibition was based on the family’s stay there. In the village of Kohó there is an unusual memorial site, where the ‘relics’ are objects which record the Petőfi family’s visit and which are closely associated with the place.

The final group is of objects which are either not in the catalogue or no longer exist. Towards the end of her life Júlia Szendrey established a close relationship with her son’s friend, József Tóth. It was she who informed the family of his death and to him, without her relatives’ knowledge, that she left her chest of letters. Right up until his death,

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