Museum of Hunting & Forestry - Budapest, Hungary
Early last year I was on my way to a hunting trip in Slovakia. I was flying into Budapest airport and decided as this was my first visit I would spend a few days wandering the city, explore some of the historical sites and soak up the Soviet-era architecture. Although it was a while ago since I took this trip, I've since mentioned the museum to a bunch of fellow hunters. All of which had never heard of the place. It seems to be a bit of a hidden gem and it's not something that comes up that often on google or social media. The museum its self is actually called The Museum and Library of Hungarian Agriculture and has several sections, one being the hunting and forestry museum. I think what was appealing to me about this place and why I decided to write a blog post is the sheer fact that this museum is dedicated to the two specific areas of natural sciences that I am involved in both professionally and recreationally. The museum's display of rural working history and the records that relate to historic land management are some of the details that you don't necessarily find in modern museums.
The Great Hall displays an incredible selection of hungarian trophies
The Museum is located in Vajdahunyad Castle that is found in the City Park of Budapest. The castle is more of a pseudo castle built in 1896 and its architectural design was taken from several landmark buildings of Hungary, such as that of the Transylvanian Hunyad Castle built in the 1400's. The Vajdahunyad Castle has an interesting style and has many representations of architecture including Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. As I previously mentioned The Museum of Hungarian Agriculture houses many sections besides hunting, forestry, and agriculture including a history of fishing, viticulture, botany, the domestication of animals, natural values and nature conservation.
The apse displaying current and former world record red deer heads.
The museum houses an incredible representation of the history of hunting in Hungary. This is visually shown in timeline information regarding the arrival of our mesolithic hunter gather ancestors from the Carpathian Basin to the traditional and modern hunting we know today. At the beginning of the exhibition there is a roe deer fossil dating back to 1 million years and an 8000 year old red deer. I think from this part of the exhibition I got a sense of why the Carpathian Basin was such a hot bed for prehistoric culture, an incredibly fruitful area with a seemingly unlimited supply of game and forage.
Gold medal red deer
Throughout the exhibition I got a real sense of how deep seated hunting is in the Hungarian culture. Amongst the artefacts are many image depictions and paintings from the 18th century that capture the memories of days gone by. Digging amongst the archives I found copies of old hunting records alongside a detailed history of hunting weapons. It was also interesting to see the last of some of the lost species of the area including a Bison and brown bear mount. The brown bear is considered a migrant species to Hungary occasionally appearing in the far northern borders. The range of the brown bear has been dramatically reduced over the last several hundred years due to change in forestry practice, loss of habitat, increased agriculture and persecution. There are only around 8000 brown bears in the wilds of the Carpathian area of Slovakia the Ukraine and Romania although modern land management is attributing to the increase of the species.
Gold medal tourism
Throughout the museum there are incredible examples of game species from across the region: roe, fallow, red deer, wild boar, and mouflon are proudly presented. In the apse there are Hungary's current and former record red deer. The dioramas are well positioned through the centre of the main hall and display beautiful recreations of habitats throughout the seasons. My favourite had to be the red deer display. Flawless taxidermy with a well thought out representation of the regions woods and fields. For me this is the most important part of any diorama. Its great to see such attention to detail, with the use of dried and well positioned flora and fungi from the local area.
Much of the other parts of the hall display some outstanding trophies of wild boar, mouflon and deer, grouped by species. It was fascinating to see many examples of asymmetrical heads, trophy roebuck and fallow heads that I can only dream of seeing when hunting at home in the UK. The grandness and attention to detail of the displays was jaw dropping and the modesty and sensibility that the exhibition evokes gives the viewer a real historical insight.
As I left the hunting section of the museum I was excited to see that the exit guided me to a permanent forestry exhibition. Forest management in Hungary, similar to that of many parts of Europe is deep seated in history. It has always been a reliable resource and is integral to wildlife management. Modern forest management in Hungary conforms to the notion of triple-use management. Tree planting and timber production, conservation including protective measures against soil erosion and flood control, and recreation. These modern practices are communicated through the exhibition and it can be clearly linked to the history of forest management in Hungary.
Display of tree species with ecological importance
Similarly to that of the UK, Hungary has a somewhat early romanticised version of the management of woodlands. To the cultures that lived through these times (similar to present) the non commercial (mechanical) forest or woodland management was essential to day to day life. Firewood, lumber, and plant based food sources were almost symbiotic with these cultures. Along with the romanticised notions comes greater human pressures. Expansion of agriculture and clearance of forest for grazing combined with mining led to large scale deforestation.
Traditional Amadou hat made from horse hoof fungi Fomes fomentarius
A legal basis for commercial forest planning had been around in Hungary since as early as the 18th century. As this predated a scientific understanding of ecology, forest exploitation continued to increase. IN 1879 the forestry act was passed as with the notion of creating a continuous legacy of positive and productive forest management. Looking through the hand documented record books displayed at the museum it was interesting to see the positive effects that cam from the forestry act. Strict record keeping keeping of forest mensuration, planning and production has led to the well managed forests that can be seen in Hungary today.
Model of charcoal kilns depicting the traditional process of charcoal manufacturing
I have to say that this was one of the highlights of my trip to Budapest. The entire city is bountiful for any traveller wishing to be immersed in history, tradition, architecture and culture. The visit to the Museum of Agriculture gave me a revealing insight and was conducive in the build up to the hunting trip I was about to embark on.