Palóc Museum

The Palóc Museum is a museum in Balassagyarmat. Its collection encompasses the entire peasant culture of Nógrád County (including the Slovak and German minorities).

History

The museum can be classified among association‑founded museums. However, its founding was made possible primarily through the financial support of the historian and genealogist Nagy Iván (1824–1898). The scholar not only contributed monetary donations but also laid the foundation for the museum’s establishment with his extensive collections (archaeological, ethnographic, medal and coin collections), as in the last years of his life his activity centered on museum affairs.

In 1890, the newspaper Nógrádi Lapok published a call: “Let us gather even the smallest historical crumbs of the past, which can serve as additions and sources for the knowledge of our country, our nation and especially the past and history of Nógrád County… Let us establish a local museum! Let us establish a local society that will grow into a substantial tree and found the planned Museum.” In the next issue of the paper the Society’s statutes, prepared by Nagy Iván following the model of contemporary societies, could already be read. On 15 March 1891, as a result of his efforts, the General Assembly convened and founded the Nógrád County Museum Society. The association’s purpose was to collect the ethnographic, archaeological and historical relics pertaining to Nógrád County. The Society had 27 founding members, 4 perpetual members, 89 regular members and 14 supporting members. The president elected was Count Lajos Degenfeld.

The work began, and the collected material was made available for visitors in a spacious classroom of one of the city’s schools in the same year, so the exhibition could be visited from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. every Sunday and Monday. Encouraged by this, the association sent a circular to the intellectuals living in the villages, asking them to collect and donate to the association. The rural intelligentsia’s awareness in this direction is shown by the fact that the clerk of Rimóc, the priest of Cserhátsurány, and the priest of Őrhalom all replied that there was no folk‑art object in their settlement, although these settlements proved to be excellent field sites for folklorists even in the decades after World War II, and many excellent items were collected from these villages. Nevertheless, within a year, thanks to 172 donors, the museum’s material collection rose to over 3 500 items. Among these were archaeological and ethnographic objects, material souvenirs from various historical periods, minerals, portraits and books. In 1891, politician Szontágh Pál (1820–1904) offered his library to the society. By then the room had already become too small, and further premises were required from the school. However, finally in 1894 the Society was able to purchase a building into which the collection was soon moved.

Over time enthusiasm waned, the now superfluous items somehow reached the museum, but the pledged membership fees became much harder to collect. The new building could also only be purchased with the contributions of Nagy Iván and Lajos Degenfeld. The enthusiasm of the general assemblies also declined. However, thanks to Nagy Iván the museum society did not cease to exist. It gained new supporters again and again. At the age of 73, besides the secretary position of the Society, he also performed the director’s duties. In his speech in Székföld, he raised the idea of constructing a new museum building. In his will he donated all his property to the Nógrád County Museum Society, but stipulated that it could be used only for the new museum building. After his death his wife Csathó Mária (1837–1908) offered her scholarly library to the museum. In 1904 Ferenc Jaskovics (1860–1914) took on the director’s tasks and cared for the collection. In 1905 the society applied for admission to the National Supervision of Museums and Libraries. This was a great advance both professionally and in terms of regular financial support.

With the help of the county they managed to settle the society’s financial problems, and Director Jaskovics and Vice‑President Ignác Vannay – who was also the director of the savings bank – began work on the new museum building. Through the Supervision’s intercession they received a state grant from the Ministry of Religion and Public Education and a plot of 1000 square fathoms from the city. In 1910 a competition was announced for the design of the museum palace, which was won by the capital city architect Gyula Wälder (1884–1944). However, the foreseeable construction costs exceeded the available amount, so the original plan was revised and one wing of the building was not erected, a lack that the museum still feels today, causing office shortage and storage problems.

Construction began in the spring of 1914, and already during the summer they started moving in to the still half‑finished building. After the outbreak of the world war, however, the building was taken from the association and operated as a boarding house and then as a hospital. The war caused the greatest damage to the collection, with nearly 80 % destroyed. It is now impossible to say what values this collection might have represented, but it is likely that it would have been unparalleled in its kind, as can be inferred from the minimal material that survived.