MaNDAHungarian National Digital Archive

While fashion and literature go their separate ways nowadays, the 19th century was dominated by a specific type of periodical, the fashion magazines of the reform era. This type of magazine had nothing to do with today's fashion magazines, of course, but could be understood more as a kind of fashion and fine art magazine. The fashion magazines got their name from the copper-plated or lithographed fashion pictures attached to their issues, and their intended audience was clearly female readers.

While walking on the yellow carpet of fallen leaves and tasting the flavoury grapes of the autumn, what else can come to one’s mind than the vine-harvest? Although grape-stomping and tamping are hard work, the harvest itself was and is considered a feast. It is about celebrating the fruit of a whole year’s work, which can be consumed later on. The date of vine-harvest used to be attached to an illustrious day in the 18th and 19th centuries: from Michaelmas (29 September) to the day of Saint Simon the Zealot (28 October).

It is said that confessing your love and swearing feel the best in the mother tongue, but there are situations, when there would be a demand for them in a foreign language as well. When it comes to language learning, many people still think of memorising grammatical rules. Fortunately, nowadays you can easily make yourselves understood with the aid of your smart devices. What is more, the era when you can use a speech-to-speech translator such as the universal translator of the Star Trek universe is not far away either.

Almost everyone has memories of the school feeding and cafeterias: of favourite dishes whose longed-for flavour is still unreproducible, or of dishes that we never want to taste again in our lives. The queues, the plastic trays, the waxed linen tablecloths, the mixed essence of food in the air all evoke nostalgic feelings; the pictures in our exhibition are an attempt to evoke them, with a little canteen history in addition.

The witch is one of the best-known figures in Hungarian folk belief. She did not inhabit some distant realm of fairy tales: she could be an acquaintance, a neighbour, or an eccentric villager thought to possess supernatural powers. When illness struck, livestock died, or some other misfortune occurred, people might suspect her of harbouring malicious intent. Suspicion could then lead to witness testimony, a witch trial, and even a death sentence. Our present virtual exhibition offers a glimpse into the world of these beliefs and trials.