Endless Journey... [antikvár]

Eszter AczélForewordThe exhibition 'Endless Journey - Highways and Byways in Space and Time' bears witness to the meeting of ancient and modern roads. It has been organised within the framework of the HERITOUR Project, with the support of the European Union. Hungárián and foreign project-members present their 'thematic routes' (archaeological/historical, traditional, natural, and industrial), in terms of cultural tourism. Visitors can travel in time and space on the roads to cas-tles and mansions, on the routes of spring campaigns or on the itineraries of wandering crafts-men. Then, going back in time further still, they can travel on prehistoric, Román and medieval roads. The exhibition deals with the role of roads from the Palaeolithic Age until the Age of European Discovery.In the Carpathian Basin there is only secondary evidence for the movement of prehistoric peoples. With the help of archaeological finds, we show how prehistoric peoples travelled and traded with each other. Material remains evoke Román roads, trade and culture. The Rome-cen-tred network of roads extended over the entire Román Empire. The infrastructure connected with diese roads - an example is the Román way station along the Amber Road (Sorokpolány) shown in the exhibition - was unique in Europe until the 19^ century. Medieval Europe utilised the legacy of the Román Empire, including its road system. The medieval system of tolls, how-ever, discouraged traders from using well-known routes and did not promote the building of paved roads. Roads were most often made of hard clay.Archaeological finds, itineraries and rare maps and books demonstrate the routes taken by mis-sions, ecclesiastical organizations, Crusades, pilgrimages, and trade, as well as by knowledge and motifs. The most popular Hungárián invention, the light, swift cart (kocsi) of the 15th century, enjoys special importance in our exhibition. It was named after a horse-changing post called Kocs on the route between Buda and Vienna. The Hungárián word has entered many European languages, including English (as 'coach').Nowadays the word 'road' has many interpretations, from material roads to the virtual super-highway of the World Wide Web, which allows incredibly fast flow of information without the movement of people.Multimedia applications widen the scope of our exhibition. Achievements of the modern world, e.g. new means of transportation and communication, make their appearance. We can thus follow the creation of new channels of communication. We can do all this in a historic building that shows valuable pieces of our material culture, in accordance with the development of régiónál cultural tourism.