About the collection
This collection of up to 1000 pieces was brought about as a result of special objectives of conservation. The pieces prepared from various kinds of raw plant materials can only be conserved under special circumstances.
Function wise, they contain artefacts for foddering, chicken coops for guarding hatchlings; others to pick, weigh and carry agricultural products, such as fruit and potatoes; baskets for holding produce on people's backs; tools for conservation methods: baskets for drying as well as doormats for interior furnishing. We can also find some special pieces here, such as the 'ox hat' (ökörkalap), which protected the animals' neck in rainy weather from chafing, or various boots, which were worn in heavy frost.
More than 50% of the basket collection was prepared from matting and hay, more than one third from wattle, and only an insignificant part from reeds, barks, roots or cornhusks. Objects of newer origin, prepared from metal and plastic, represent a special group. Baskets are significant parts of modern households as well. They are practical, cheap and represent a special part of past that survives even today.
The curator of the collection is Dr. Zsuzsa Szarvas.