Description
The Ancient Hungarians / Exhibition Catalogue
Edited by István Fodor, László Révész, Mária Wolf, Ibolya M. Nepper / Photographs by József Hapák / Hungarian National Museum
English Summary:
The preparations for the 1100th anniversary of the Hungarian Conquest were begun several years ago. Local governments, social and political organizations, scholarly institutions and associations, as well as successive governments all agreed that this decisive event in Hungarian history should be commemorated in a fitting manner. Obviously, scholars engaged in the research of this period also partook in the preparations. Since the bulk of the sources on the Conquest period has, for the past few decades, literally been 'unearthed' by archaeologists, the idea of mounting an exhibition from the vast amount of finds for all those interested in the past was naturally first conceived by the scholars working in this field. We had two basic objectives in mind in the staging of this exhibit. First, to give an account of our work, to show how we have tended the past of our ancestors of the Conquest period, and to present the results, as well as the historical reconstructions and interpretations that we have formulated in the course of our work. The other was perhaps more scientific in nature: together with the settlement finds, the bulk of the grave goods from the burials of this period lie hidden in museum storerooms, unbeknownst even to the students of this exciting period. And although some of the more spectacular and splendid finds are from time to time published on the pages of books intended for the general public, they are rarely accompanied by a description of their find context and associations, in spite of the fact that such data are indispensable for any modern, complex analysis.
