Postai és Távközlési Múzeumi Alapítvány Évkönyve, 2001

Tartalmi összefoglaló angol nyelven

The two estimates totalled 9,270 forints and 75 krajcárs. The German-language, faded, and hard-to-read documents suggest that this was a large and prestigious building. The appraisals were certainly influenced by the starting price of the postal building at auction. That auction transferred ownership of the structure to Károly Reviczky, administrative chief of the County of Esztergom. A decree, issued by the Regional Council on August 27, 1844 in Latin, orders the transfer, and was delivered to Károly Reviczky from the Imperial and Royal Chief Postal Authority as an enclosure to letter No. 550, dated Pozsony (now Bratislava), October 6, 1844.

The letter makes mention of auction costs, which receipts show were transferred by Károly Reviczky to Pozsony on December 2, 1844 and January 8, 1845. He probably delayed the payment, for the following day, he turned over 7,355 forints and 47 krajcárs, part of the price of the post office purchased by himself and his wife, Anna Arganer, to official receiver Mátyás Visnyei. This is documented both by a receipt and a detailed bill of sale.

Károly Reviczky leased the premises and hired transporters to handle postal operations. In a communication dated July 15, 1845 he documented the fact that the meadow set aside to provide feed for postmaster needs, located next to the archbishop’s property, was so uneven that several hundreds of wagonloads of soil, and major levelling operations were required before it could be used. The report was confirmed by the local judge, judicial witnesses, and the administrator for the property of the Archbishop of Esztergom, Ferenc Peyrl.

The new Nyergesújfalu postmaster attended a conference of postmasters on November 15,1845, which briefed the Main Post Office on the status of postal operations in Hungary, on the poor road conditions, and on the high costs of transport, requesting effective remedies. Although a rail line connecting Pest (the forerunner of Budapest), Vác (N Hungary), Pozsony, and Vienna was still under construction, they officially noted the damaging effects the locomotives and railway would have. Minutes of the meeting are a valuable document illustrating how the postmasters were evolving into a separate organisation.

A payment of 60 forints and 54 krajcárs was effected to the publications office of the Chancellery of the Hungarian Royal Court of Vienna prior to the postmasters’ meeting, to cover the costs of a lavish postmaster certificate valid in perpetuity.

The certificate was issued with the signature of Emperor Ferdinand on December 4, 1845. The lavish document, written on parchment, was exhibited in the postal hall of the millennium exhibition in 1896. Károly Dürr, chief of the Budapest Post Office Administration had borrowed it from the administrative chief of Esztergom County, Gábor Reviczky, Károly’s grandson. After the exhibition closed, Károly Dürr returned the document with a letter of thanks, asking that the family consider transferring it to the Postal Museum. The transfer was not effected at that time. One hundred and two years later, in 1998, the widow of a late descendant contacted the museum. She offered to sell the family heirloom to the Postal Museum, together with Károly Dürr’s original letter of request. Later, the museum was able to purchase the rest of the documents related to the purchase of the Nyergesújfalu post office, from private collectors. This seems to underline the validity of the Latin saying, “Sic gloria perlat mundi” - Thus does worldly glory end. But a great measure of glory may be retained if the manifestations become housed in a museum and made available to all.

199