Many people ask this question nowadays, as the István Szőnyi Memorial Museum was closed for more than four months last year, and has been closed since mid-November.
The museum continues to operate despite the closed doors, with most of the colleagues working from home, but there are some colleagues who visit the museum on a daily basis. But what has been happening behind the closed doors since the closure on 13 November?
In November, we created a drawing competition, which we announced on our website, facebook and instagram. Despite the upcoming holidays, this competition was the most successful, with nearly 90 students submitting entries. The winners were chosen by public vote and rewarded with a book and museum souvenirs, which will be sent to them by post. We also took part in the Advent Story Calendar, and those who walked past the museum windows will have recognised the little match girl as Szőnyi's "Little Girl in the Cold".
We decorated the museum's Christmas tree (donated by a colleague, which we thank!) with the printed versions of the drawing competition in the museum garden on the first Saturday of Advent. The gate was open every Saturday until the Epiphany, and visitors were able to admire the artwork live.
In addition to this, internal repair work was also taking place. In one of the museum's exhibition spaces, the wall had started to water, which was repaired by the local authority. Naturally, no objects were allowed in the exhibition space during the repair work, so we had to move them back and forth and clean the room.
There is still a great deal of professional work going on in the museum, as we can now carry out the very demanding work that cannot be done during the museum's opening hours. Thus, we are currently in the process of clarifying the inventory, adding photographs to the descriptive cartons, and registering and photographing the Bartóky-Sőnyi family library. In addition to this, we are preparing to welcome school groups, offering a full-day programme for visitors, and we have been the filming location for several tourist programmes that will be broadcast in the near future.
The opening of the museum in spring is still to be expected, while the museum staff are working on a new website and a new temporary exhibition!
Kinga Csibi, István Szőnyi Memorial Museum
