Idyll in Cserszeg – The Life and Legacy of Aurél Vajkai
Thanks to the Balaton Museum in Keszthely, our digital archive preserves hundreds of photographs documenting the life and work of ethnographer Aurél Vajkai. These images transport us to the tranquil, almost pastoral landscapes surrounding Lake Balaton - evoking a deep harmony between people and nature. They capture candid moments on the scholar’s veranda, fruit-picking in the summer cottage yard, working in the vineyard, or tending to his vegetable garden. With this curated gallery, we offer a glimpse into the life and visual legacy of a remarkable figure in Hungarian ethnography.
Aurél Vajkai was born in 1903 in Kolozsvár, and completed his secondary education in Kassa at the Premonstratensian Gymnasium. Even in his youth, he was an avid traveler, exploring the world with curiosity, open eyes, and an open heart—almost always with a camera in hand. This love for photography later became one of his most valuable tools as an ethnographer. After earning his medical degree in 1927, he briefly practiced as a neurologist and psychiatrist. However, he eventually turned away from medicine and became a leading figure in Hungarian ethnography, renowned for his knowledge of peasant culture and lifestyle. His background in psychology proved to be a strong foundation for his ethnographic work. Influential scholars such as Gertrúd Palotay, István Györffy, Zsigmond Bátky, Károly Visky, and László Keszi Kovács played a key role in shaping his career.
His research focused mainly on ethnomedicine and vernacular architecture. He conducted fieldwork in regions like the Bakony Mountains, southern Veszprém County, and the Lake Balaton area, becoming intimately familiar with their landscapes and communities. Through photographs and drawings, he preserved for posterity the tangible expressions of rural life. He began his museum career in Veszprém and Keszthely, and during the 1940s, he worked at the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest, the Transylvanian Scientific Institute in Kolozsvár, and the Hungarian Institute of National Studies. He also lectured at the Pázmány Péter University and at the Institute of Folk Sciences.
In 1949, he settled permanently in Veszprém County and played a major role in founding the Bakony Museum (now the Laczkó Dezső Museum), serving first as its director until 1955, and then as department head until his retirement in 1965. At the time, he commuted daily by train between his home in Balatonalmádi and Veszprém. He often hosted artists in his home or visited others who spent time along Lake Balaton. He even met with poet Lőrinc Szabó shortly before the latter’s passing. His beloved summer house in Cserszeg, built in 1961 and surrounded by fruit trees and a vegetable garden, was frequently filled with guests—many of the photographs featured in this exhibition capture these joyful, carefree moments.
Aurél Vajkai’s diverse talents extended to music—he played the violin and published music critiques. He also compiled a collection of over 5,000 jokes and anecdotes from his travels. Beyond this, he enriched ethnographic museum collections with tens of thousands of original photographs and countless objects—often rescued from rubbish bins—that he diligently preserved. His scholarly output includes numerous studies, articles, and books, most notably his two-volume monograph on the village of Szentgál, written during a two-year residence there, undertaken so that he could observe and document local life as closely and authentically as possible.
Excerpt from Aurél Vajkai’s Ethnomedicine in the Transdanubian Pilgrimage Sites:
“Pilgrimage - a major spiritual experience within the peasant way of life - plays a significant role in ethnomedicine. Often, the very founding of a pilgrimage site is linked to a miraculous healing...
The origin of such a sacred place is undoubtedly rooted in the strength and collective will of the rural community. While one site may gain renown, another may fade into obscurity, leaving scarcely a trace. Sacred places are not permanent fixtures—they are expressions of belief systems, of the spirit and moods of the age...
Pilgrimage is a way of life. There are always passionate pilgrims who, as soon as their humble means allow, embark on the journey. They collect pilgrimage sites as collectors do rare works of art.
Take, for example, the G. sisters of Keszthely: two widowed cemetery caretakers in their sixties. They have been visiting pilgrimage sites since childhood. Their dedication stems from both inherited traits and environmental influences, particularly their parents’ worldview. For them, pilgrimage is not merely travel - it is the pursuit of a higher, more complete experience of life.
Though poor and burdened by life’s struggles, they manage to save enough to journey to the Great Mariazell Pilgrimage. While peasant life typically focuses on tangible assets - land, tools, homes - could such individuals make the same sacrifices for immaterial, spiritual experiences as they do for an arduous and expensive pilgrimage? Unlikely.
And yet, no matter how far or demanding, pilgrimage - though born of individual initiative - ultimately manifests as a communal expression. It begins with the individual, but it becomes real only through the shared faith and presence of the community.”
TEJ
translated by László Gönczi
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