Laczkó Dezső Múzeum

The Laczkó Dezső Museum is the most important museum of Veszprém and Veszprém County. The institution, which preserves about 260 thousand objects, 250 thousand documents and photographs, 24 100 books and 12 800 periodicals, and presents the history of the city and Veszprém County, was initially called the Veszprém County Museum, then from 1951 the Bakony Museum; since 1 March 1990 it bears the name Laczkó Dezső.

The museum’s two‑storey building is located on the edge of the city centre, in Erzsébet Park. In the ground‑floor entrance hall the statues of Imre Csikász can be seen, in the stairwell Gyula Rhé’s archaeology plaque (work by Lajos Orr) and numerous other statues are present. The famous Bakony stone‑toothed turtle, the discoverer of the placoderm Placochelys, geologist and Piarist teacher Laczkó Dezső was the museum’s first director.

History

The idea that Veszprém County should have its own museum first arose in 1873. However, the thoughts of the time did not develop into a museum organization or collection, and only about thirty years later did they return to public interest.

Precursors to the museum’s founding

The idea of an independent museum resurfaced in connection with the excavation of the large quantity of Roman‑period finds of international significance at the Balácapuszta excavations.

The matter of the independent building was influenced by three significant factors. On the one hand, the era’s drive to encourage the creation of various public cultural organizations and institutions. This was accompanied by a specific local circumstance aimed at carrying out urgent urban planning tasks – primarily the development of the city’s main square, street openings, etc. At the turn of the century, the main proponent of this was Ferenc Óvári, one of the wealthiest citizens of Veszprém and director of a savings bank, and the idea was supported by the city’s leaders and wealthy citizens. The third circumstance is somewhat related to the previous one, because the termination of the National Casino located on Piac Square, which had been selected as the city’s main square, its repurposing, and the construction of a new casino elsewhere were linked to urban planning tasks. The question of establishing the new casino became connected with the construction of the theater and the museum.

Founding of the Museum Association

On November 30, 1902, the Veszprém County Museum Association was established, with Dr. Ferenc Fenyvessy elected as its president. The events accelerated: two days later the county legislative committee decided on the establishment of the museum, and on March 10, 1903 it regulated the institution’s status. Geologist Dezső Laczkó, a teacher at the Piarist Gymnasium, was chosen as director. On March 24, the minister of religious and public education also acknowledged the founding of the museum.

In 1904, the museum collection placed in ten rooms on the second floor of the county house and the adjoining corridor, as a result of the tireless work of Dezső Laczkó and Gyula Rhé, quickly grew, consisting of prehistoric archaeological finds on the one hand, and mainly numerous finds from the Roman excavations at Balácapuszta on the other.

Museum placement disputes

The theater establishment program was linked to the museum establishment issue in such a way that the Theater Support Association, founded in 1905, dealt with the idea of purchasing the casino (they intended to build the new theater on its site). In 1906, however, the theater’s location was not designated there.

In 1907 the casino purchased by the Színpártoló Egyesület was sold at a discount for museum purposes.

In 1908 a wide‑range collection was started to financially establish the museum, and the first ideas were born: at the end of 1908 Laczkó Dezső, for example, requested the plan for the Szombathely museum. That year local builder Csomay Kálmán prepared a plan.

When the first draft sketches were made it turned out that the designated area was not suitable for a building with larger capacity. This ultimately played a major role in the museum being placed not in the city centre but in the Erzsébet‑liget, which at that time was still considered the outskirts of the town.

At the Museum Association meeting of 30 October 1908 the commission of designer Medgyaszay István was approved.

While debates over the museum location continued, the fate of the collection housed in the County Hall became increasingly untenable: wall cracks appeared in several rooms, the library material packed in crates was placed in the vestibule for load relief, the geological and paleontological material could not be collected, and even the Balács finds were moved to the cellar.

Design and construction of the main building

Even after the final site designation the events did not accelerate. Several modifications were ordered to Medgyaszay’s plans. Finally, at the 1913 competition hearing, local builder Csomay Kálmán won the commission with a budget of 162,000 crowns.

The laying of the foundation stone took place in early March 1914. The outbreak of the World War halted the construction, which had finally gotten underway, once again. The execution works were placed under the direction of the State Architectural Office and continued with a few workers at a very slow pace between 1916 and 1918. Only from 1922 did the work gain new momentum.

Meanwhile the collection slowly began to move to the building approaching completion. The ceremonial opening took place on 24 May 1925, in the presence of the governor, the bishop, the minister of culture. (The dedication plaque of the opening is still visible today in the basement of the museum building.)

In 1935, under the leadership of László Nagy (director of the institution from 1936), the country's first rural open-air museum, the Bakonyi House, was created next to the museum.

Architectural design

Regarding the building it must be noted that its planning was fundamentally marked by the initial idea that it should be erected on the site of the old casino building – initially considering its conversion, later on the space to be freed by its demolition. In Medgyaszay's final design he could not depart from the original floor‑plan organization concept aimed at building conversion, and this did not become an advantage for the building at all. The multiple renovations carried out in the time since have only been able to correct this somewhat.