Mentényi Klára szerk.: Műemlékvédelmi Szemle 2003/1. szám Az Országos Műemléki Felügyelőség tájékoztatója (Budapest, 2003)

VITA - Rostás Tibor: A műemlékvédelem a magyar millenniumban

Following the Trianon Peace Treaty closing World War I that third of the country has remained - except the southern part -, which was worst ruined by the 150 years of Ottoman rule.So the basic task was the reconstruction of ruins. The classical period of monument protection gave excellent examples of it (the southern great hall of Buda Castle), of the preservation building (Veszprém, St. George chapel), still the most important method was conservation. This cannot be followed in the case of ruins which contain important carvings because of the ruining effect of acid rains. The question of how to go on is not answered by monument protection, only insecurity and the lack of strategy is evident. The three important investments discussed in the study were concerning basic monuments of medieval history and architectural history in Hungary: the provostal church of Our Lady in Székesfehérvár, the royal palaces of Esztergom and Visegrád. All three are basically different show three different ways. The wall remains of the basilica in Székesfehérvár are reach hardly above the base. A protection building was built above the ruins with a concrete path. The idea of the protection building is good but the building itself is an example of dilettantism. It does not fulfil its task (does not protect from rain and snow blown under it and does not cover the whole field of ruins, not mentioning that it is actively damaging it, as the concrete pillars holding the steel construction and the path are based in the remains of the southern aisle and its buttresses, and those of the south-western tower. The building was started before ending the excavation and made impossible the further investigation of certain places this way lost forever for research. The protection building was pulled down four years after the millennium. In September, 2004, as a result of the protest pf the citizens. Tons of concrete paths have remained however together with the concrete bases damaging the ruins, as they could have been removed only with their further damage. As no new building is planned the ruins are open again for the damages of acid rain and winter weather. The palace of Esztergom is the victory of contemporary architecture above the work of the ancestors. The southern wing of the palace complex on the southern part of the castle hill was excavated during the 1930s and then reconstructed. In the course of the excavations of the sixties the remains of the western wing were identified together with the adjoining parts of the northern one. The former was called „Vitéz-palace" the latter „small Romanesque palace". On the occasion of the millennium an independent modern building was born using the still existing ruins of the main centre of the Hungarian Kingdom in the Árpád period. The best preserved "Vitéz-palace" was decorated with post-modern details, on the remains of the "small Romanesque palace" a post-modern building was set and finally on the first storey of the southern wing and by the castle walls closing the court from the north, where no original remain has motivated planning a basically new building was erected. The new construction ornamented, increased the ruins forming it a kind of structure well sold for the public without understanding and caring the values of the monument. Beside the deliberate ruining of original parts happened here also for the purpose of making possible the one direction visiting of the