Postai és Távközlési Múzeumi Alapítvány Évkönyve, 1996

Rövid tartalmi összefoglaló angol nyelven

ok (Token Alternatives). The several hundred coins displayed were lent by Lajos Gergely, a private collector, and the Banknote and Coin Collection of the National Bank of Hungary. The second section of the exhibition lined up the countries of the world by continents and in alphabetical order, with maps beside them. Each was represented by a telephone card and coins. The next section showed the fronts and backs of all the telephone cards issued in Hungary up to May 1996. Then came tableaux of cards arranged thematically (landscapes, townscapes, plants, animals, transport, Santa Claus, Christmas, fairy tales, toys, paintings, signs of the Zodiac, sports and calendars).

An illustrated guide booklet was produced. This ended with some questions about the telephone cards exhibited, for visitors who like competitions. Unfortunately, only 32 entries were received. They received telephone cards in exchange. While the exhibition was showing, the Sopron Directorate of Matav (HungarianTelecom) made computers available. One was used to demonstrate a telephone-card catalogue on CD-ROM, and the other to present the Matav Internet service.

To gauge the success of our efforts and the reactions of visitors, people were asked before leaving to fill in a questionnaire containing six questions. The results were reassuring. The exhibition was worth organizing, for it fulfilled the expectations of visitors and managed to convey something new. As concrete evidence of their appreciation, gifts were received of 50 foreign telephone tokens.

The exhibition was seen by 3962 visitors in five weeks. The sequel was not long delayed. The Postal Museum’s collection of telephone cards went on display again on February 17, 1997 for two weeks in Sopron.

Mrs Gergely Kovács: The 1100th Anniversary Exhibition at Ópusztaszer

The Postal Museum first contributed an exhibition to the Ópusztaszer National Historical Memorial Park in 1987. This permanent display opened on May 17, on the street side of Tömörkény Village Hall, which had been transferred to the park and re-erected. The 1100th anniversary of the Hungarian Settlement made it all the more imperative to renew this display.

Restoration of the famous 19th-century cyclorama by Árpád Feszty was completed in 1995. The chance to view the vast picture again attracted hundreds of thousands to Ópusztaszer, just as it had in Budapest in 1896. The memorial park displaying the life of market-town peasants at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries suddenly turned into a national shrine.

The Postal Museum also wanted to enhance the park’s attractions by presenting a tum- of-the-century telecommunications advance of world importance. A competitive funding application was submitted to the National Cultural Foundation in March 1995, for ‘a new permanent exhibition at the post house and museum post office in the Ópusztaszer National Historical Memorial Park’. HUF 3 mn was requested. In the event, the Adjudication Committee awarded a non-returnable grant of HUF 500,000 at its meeting on May 30, 1995.

Restoration of the building was organized in conjunction with Dr József Lovászi, Károly Tarcsi and Károly Bús, from the Szeged Directorate of the Hungarian Post. The restorer Antal B. Szűcs of Makó did an outstanding job on the building. He carried out the decorative painting of the walls and stripping of the furniture, and designed and made the protective railings for the exhibition rooms. A shelter was built in the centre of the courtyard to

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