Ferenc Kazinczy Museum

The Ferenc Kazinczy Museum was founded in 1984 in Sátoraljaújhely, and since 2013 has operated within the organizational framework of the Petőfi Literary Museum in Budapest at 11 Dózsa György Street. The headquarters of the Ferenc Kazinczy Society is also located in the museum building.

The collection and the museum moved in 1990 to the present building on Dózsa György Street, where in 1991 the permanent natural science exhibition titled “The Natural History of the Zemplén Mountains” opened, and in 1993 the grand permanent city history exhibition titled “The History of Sátoraljaújhely from the Granting of Town Privileges to 1849” opened.

The Ferenc Kazinczy Museum belonged to the Board of the Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Museum until 2011, and from 2013 it has operated as a department of the Petőfi Literary Museum, together with the Hungarian Language Museum of the Parliament.

Building

The museum is housed in one of the most beautiful historic monument buildings in Sátoraljaújhely. Its main façade faces a busy road, its entrance gate is adorned with a pair of Tuscan columns and a projecting balcony above. The building was erected in 1827 by Sennyei Károly in classicist style. From 1834 the Zemplén Casino Society, which united the reform-era noble opposition, operated within its walls. In 1894 it was expanded and transformed in eclectic style, at which time its inner courtyard was also created. Until 1950 it served as the Town Hall, then it was used as a Slovak-language primary school. In 1990 the Ferenc Kazinczy Museum took its place there.

According to the commemorative plaque on the building’s wall, “Petőfi Sándor stayed in this house on July 10, 1847 as a guest of Gábor Kazinczy.”

Activities, Collections

The Ferenc Kazinczy Museum in Sátoraljaújhely is classified as a regional museum. The museum of the small town, which was the centre of the former Zemplén county, plays a decisive role in the cultural life of the settlement – it conducts active scientific organization and research activities in natural science and local history. The museum’s profile has also been expanded to archaeology; the institution took over and coordinates the scientific research program of the medieval castle of Sátoraljaújhely, which began in 2007, and undertakes the final collection placement, scientific processing, publication and museum presentation of the archaeological finds uncovered from the castle excavation. The museum’s activities include collecting the material memories and documents of city history, mapping and presenting the natural history of the Zemplén Mountains and the Bodrog region, as well as regional literary-historical research.

Biological collection

In the Ferenc Kazinczy Museum Biological Collection more than 180 000 plant, fungus and animal specimens are preserved. Among them, insects (beetles, butterflies, moths, true bugs, etc. – about 5 500 species) constitute the largest proportion by species and number, followed by the mollusk (snails and shells) collection unit. The oldest prepared insect specimens date from the 1940s and the 1950s–60s. In the museum the collection has been expanded by the successive collection managers, in Miskolc from 1978 to 1991 Gyulai Iván, and the collection‑handling preparator Kiss László, and from 1992 to the present in Sátoraljaújhely Hegyessy Gábor. These specimens became data‑bearing, evidential collection items through their own field research and independent preparation. Scientific processing proceeds in detail, with the involvement of external specialists.

Historical collection

Since its foundation in 1984, our museum’s historical collection has been formed mainly through purchases and donations of artworks, and to a lesser extent through collections, and it continues to grow today. The main aim of collection enrichment is the preservation and museum presentation of the material heritage of the former Zemplén County, especially the 18th–20th‑century objects of the city of Sátoraljaújhely. The processing and digitisation of the mixed historical collection, which consists of about 6 000 items, is ongoing.

The museum also possesses archaeological, fine‑art and numismatic collections.

The Beautiful and the Good – Kazinczy and the Arts

The permanent exhibition “The Beautiful and the Good – Kazinczy and the Arts”, opened in 2013, presents the thoughts of Ferenc Kazinczy, known primarily as a language reformer and literary organizer but also active in various literary genres, on different areas of the arts and on artworks he considered outstanding. Objects displayed in thematic spaces covering sculpture, painting, book design, music, theatre, architecture, garden design, interior design, lifestyle and clothing are accompanied by Kazinczy’s commentaries. Among the 150 objects are paintings and sculptures that the passionate collector and art lover once admired. Portraits of distinguished contemporaries, family photographs, cityscapes, furniture, relics, periodicals, first‑edition books, as well as the writer’s drawings and autograph manuscripts can be viewed. Visitors can become acquainted with Kazinczy’s literary and artistic taste and cultural programme while gaining an overview of the era’s defining literary and public‑life events. In the exhibition space the writer’s study has been reconstructed, a cutting‑tool shop and a projection room have been installed. The view is made special by the 3D‑technology‑enabled, walk‑around Kazinczy house on the edge of the exhibition. Interactive language games, computer quizzes and projectors developed for the language‑reform theme help create a colourful, visual and audiovisual world that satisfies the curiosity and thirst for knowledge of both students seeking interactivity and adults desiring deeper insight.