Kecskés Péter (szerk.): Ház és ember, A Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum Közleményei 3. (Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 1985)

Vargha László (1904—1984) - FILEP ANTAL: Vargha László tudományos munkássága

tracing the actual architectural history processes and at the same time taking into account the social and material situation of the builder and the decisive role of the production system. He also enriched ethnographic studies by being essentially the first in the Hungarian literature to elaborate the aesthetic and architectural history of peasant architecture, thus bringing this branch of research up to the same level as folk art studies. His research also attracted the attention of historians of architecture and art. From 1952 when he began his lectures in the Budapest University of Technology (where he was assistant professor of the Chair of Architectural History from 1954 to 1976, even after his retirement), he created a school and always had architects, ethnographers and art historians among his students. An important part of his work dealt with the protection and study of historic peasant buildings. He played an important pioneering role in founding and launching Hungarian practice in this area. He initiated the supplementing of historic monument topographies with ethnographic material. He began the organization and construction of skansens. He transmitted international experiences and results in this field. He presented the practical and experimental work that could serve as a methodological guide and help in the establishment of Hungarian practice. From 1940 to 1947 he worked in the central supervisory body for Hungarian museums. Between 1947 and 1949 he was chief director of the Museum of Ethnography (Budapest) and from 1952 held the post of director of the Ottó Herman Museum in Miskolc. In these posts he made a major contribution to the renewal of Hungarian museological organization and practice and to the development of theory. As a lecturer at the University of Technology he continued theoretical work on the planning and construction of museums.