Historical Monuments in Hungary [antikvár]

PREFACE "It is imperative that we preserve and collect the relics of our past before they perish once and for all, or else our past will be the emptier, our present the poorer and our future the less stable." These wiords were written in 1878 by Arnold Ipolyi, who in Hungary is considered as the first art-historian. Man is of necessity bound to his past. But as his memory is limited in time and space, he must inevitably resort to national traditions, archives and monuments to discover the meaning of the community he derives from, to carry on the work of his forbears and to set his children's future on a solid foundation. To conserve the local traditions of a family, village, province or nation, or to preserve the written records relating to the history of a country is a perfectly feasible aim often involving little expense. To preserve historic monuments is an altogether more complex and protracted undertaking, involving detailed planning, but it is nonetheless indispensable, since in themselves traditions and records give only a partial idea of what the nation's life was like in the past. Historic monuments have in fact a multiple value, the constituent parts of which vary from one to the other. Each represents a particular age, a moment of artistic creation; the finished work, and often Individual parts too, can be dated. In studying its historic monuments separately and comparatively,one can followthe evolutionofacountrystage by stage. Its hesitations and its advances, its defeats and its victories—thereby we are confronted with the living forces which have moulded the destiny of a nation. Thus the siting of a castle like that at Diósgyőr for instance will show us how insecure the region was in different ages, while its position betrays the origin of the invaders it was designed to hold up and Its architectural development the importance attributed to it. The richness of its fabric shows the power of Its owners and its present condition the political evolution of the country. It Is In fact almost a "page" of history, illustrating and complementing data furnished In records and archives. The walls of a monastery or church abound with similarly precious information on the art and history of Hungary. Every monument surviving to bear witness to an irretrievable past must then be safeguarded; but If necessary it must be restored too, made "articulate" and accessible to all those who feel bound to them by forces which are uncontrollable or difficult to analyse, forces which give a man the feeling of belonging to a well-defined community whose unity has been forged by a common language, artistic traditions and politico-economic interests. It is thus a national duty, one which Hungary has been aware of for more than a century but particularly in the last two decades, to safeguard the monuments and restore them with the help of the most modern scientific techniques. The country may justly be proud of the results obtained, as they are described in detail in this book.