Treasures of the Hungarian Bronze Age

Should we superimpose on each other the ethnie and political maps of East Central Europe we would find a whole mosaic of original civilizaüons that succeeded each other; and no less amazing would be the kaléidoscope of changes indicating once again that the cultural heritage of the peoples that once inhabited this region can only be truly understood if set into a proper historical perspective. This alsó holds true for the over three thousand years old surviving relies of the Bronze Age, independendy of the identity of the peoples and populations groups that bequeathed them, of the persons who collected or excavated these relies, and of the muséums in which they are presently housed. They constitute the heritage of European and, to a more modest extent, of universal humán culture, to be cherished and protected.The present exhibition has been organized in response to the appeal of the Committee of Cultural Heritage of the Council of Europe, calling for the promotion of commonly shared historical values and, alsó, to encourage joint efforts in the préservation of this heritage both now and in the future. The theme of this exhibition has been ultimately determined by the surviving remains of the Bronze Age, as well as by prac-tical considérations: the one-time distribution territory of the Bronze Age populations that extended over several countries. Aside from a few articles from the Janus Pannonius Muséum of Pécs, the István Király Muséum of Székesfehérvár and the Wosinszky MórMuseum of Szekszárd, the current exhibition is predominantly based on artefacts írom the collections of the Hungárián National Museum, founded in 1802. The exhibition has also drawn exhaustively from another exhibit, built around a similar theme, that has recently toured Europe.

The present exhibition also features quite a few objects from the storerooms of the museum that have rarely or never been prcviously exhibited.This exhibition is largely based on varipus bronze assemblages - hoards or treasures - of ornaments, weapons, tools and implements that have been a constant source of fascination not only for the generál public and for learned collectors and antiquarians, but also for archaeologists. The reason for this fascination is obvious: containing several dozen, or even several hundreds of objects that were buried or sacrificed for some reason or other, these hoards offer a reliable basis for a fairly accurate reconstruction of the day to day life, of the battic tactics, as well as of the religious beliefs and practices of population groups that lived in this area. This, then, is the main objective of this exhibition: to recapture as many facets of the past as possible by enlisting also finds from Bronze Age settlements and cemeteries, and by building, to a large extent, on the findings of previous research, for no discipline can afford to ignore the efforts of previous générations of scholars. This is especially true of archaeology in which new advances can only be hoped for if previous investigations and results are incorporated into modern studies.