Restaurátor akcióban: Rendhagyó értékmentés a déli végeken
Conservator in action. Unusual value-rescue in the Municipal Museum of Subotica

Author(s): Zsuzsanna Korhecz Papp
Subject(s): Visual Arts
Published by: Pécsi Tudományegyetem Művészeti Kar Művészettörténet Tanszék
Keywords: Baroque painting; restoration; cultural heritage; Vojvodina; church art; monument preservation; travelling exhibitions; art conservation; Catholic heritage; museum restoration
Summary/Abstract: The study presents an unusual and highly personal monument preservation initiative carried out by the restoration workshop of the Municipal Museum of Subotica between 2011 and 2023. The author describes how she independently researched, restored, and exhibited the forgotten works of several Baroque painters connected to the Catholic heritage of Vojvodina and the southern regions of the former Kingdom of Hungary. The paper explains that the Catholic ecclesiastical artistic heritage of the region suffered severe neglect after the political changes following the First World War and during the socialist period in Yugoslavia. Many churches lost their congregations, artworks disappeared, and no institutional Catholic museum system developed in the region. In response, the author organized seven international travelling exhibitions dedicated to artists such as Sebastian Stetner, Mathias Hanisch, Franciscus Falconer, Paulus Antonius Senser, Mathias Schervitz, and the Schöfft painter family. The exhibitions combined restoration work, art historical research, multilingual monographs, and public education programs focused on Baroque iconography and painting techniques. The restoration projects also enabled scientific investigations into the materials and techniques used by eighteenth-century Central European painters. The study emphasizes the importance of involving the public, especially children, through interactive educational tools such as puzzles, memory games, touchscreen applications, live restorations, and documentary films. Several restored altarpieces were later officially protected as state monuments, confirming their outstanding art historical value. Overall, the article demonstrates how individual dedication, cross-border cooperation, and museum-based restoration practice can successfully rescue endangered cultural heritage in regions lacking institutional support.

• Details
• Contents