A collection titled Historical Relics in Veszprém County was
published in 1980. We trusted that we had provided a good
supplementary material - despite its deficiencies - for those who
wanted to know more about the history of their own settlements.
Time has justified the optimism of the people who participated in the
work of collecting the data. Besides students preparing for quizzes
and competitions adults could also make good use of the volume.
Memorial places came into the limelight in every settlement after
the change of regime in the 1990's. There were quite a few cases
when the unwanted symbols and inscriptions were removed amidst
heated disputes. At the same time the settlements had memorials
erected in honour of the heroes who had died during the world wars
and if they had already had them they were renewed and
supplemented. Wooden headboards and memorial tablets were set on
tombs in order to pay tribute to the victims of our modern
history.Taking the above mentioned facts into consideration we
thought that the millecentennary festivities in honour of the 1100th
anniversary of the Hungarian conquest, - together with milleneum
celebrations - could provide an excellent framework for the revised
and enlarged edition of the book.
The present collestion of data started more than a year ago. Soon it
was clearly visible that the registration of about 1400 marked
memorial places makes it impossible to explore the unmarked ones.
Area editors of this volume were asked to classify all the monuments
and memorial signs among the ones to be collected that had been
erected to remind future generatoins either by themselves or by their
inscriptions. Memorials erected at the time of the events
commemorated or erected on their anniversaries were chronologically
differentiated in our editing work. Places connected to personalities
were arranged alphabetically and subnumered continuously under the
headings of particular settlements. There was another criterion to be
met: the monument should be located in a public domain or
visiblefrom there. Alternatively it might be erected at a public
institution and it should be prepared of a durable material that could
not be removed. Because of size problems we were forcedto dispense
with the publication of relics not connected to specific events.
Memorial tablets of similar texts that can be found in Calvinist
churches were only published in Pápa and Veszprém. Lines of poetry
from the tablets were separated by / - signs.
We considered it an important task to record the exact text found on
the tablets, some of which were hardly legible at times. Texts with a
different orthography from our spelling today were quoted under the
headings of "notes" where we also called our readers' attention to
mistakes. We followed a similar method when we found no allusion
to the major merits of the person commemorated on his memorial
tablet. Data not published will need further research work.
The greatest difficulty with the recording of memorial places was
the acquisition of photos. Due to the costs of publication we could
only afford to print black-and-white or amateur photographs. We
intended to use photos primarily as a useful way of demonstration to
gather information. From them we can still deduce the form, the
style, the material and the technical condition of the memorial in
question. Actually, we wanted to make up for the detialed
descriptions by including photos instead. Unfortunately we were
unable to take publishable photos after repeated attempts. The
distortions caused by the distance and the inadequacy of lighting
could not be eliminated in a few pictures. Pictures taken in winter are
included since the compilation of the material could not be suspended
during that time either.
Out of 214 independent settlements in Veszprém County there are
only 6 ones where we could not find any memorial places. Following
the alphabetical order we have also indicated the names of parts of
settlements in the table of contents. Special attention was paid to the
collection of the relics of the participants from the 1848-49 war of
indipendence. When we disclosed the names of the victims of
the world wars we could still witness the family and
community tragedies the repercussions of which can even be felt
today. Sorrow and tears become real when reading these names!
During the compilation of the material there were a lot of people who
pointed out their grandfather's, father's or brother's names making us
aware of the painful memories still in their souls and hearts. Similar
anguish was palpable when spelling the list of names from the
immigration crosses or those carried off from the ghettoes. Let me
confess that I also felt some sort of pride at the same time when I did
this research into the memories of the greatest personalities of our
county. How much mental and physical effort, wise humanity, noble
wills and endeavours for home and county are reflected by their
memorial stones? We must learn from their examples.
Let me thank the Veszprém County Council and its president,
together with the representatives of the local communities for their
firm mental and material support in the publication of this historical
collection. I am grateful to the leaders and their colleagues from the
Educational and Cultural Institution of Veszprém County for their
economic assistance in the publication of this book. Thanks to the
leaders of companies, churches and enterpreneurs for having
supported us financially. Special acknowledgements are due to the
members of the editorial staff, the lector, the area editors, the local
goverment officials, local researchers and their helpers, the computer
specialist and the photographers!
| Veszprém, 20. June 1996. | |
|
László BÁNDI general editor |