Tibor Kovács (archaeologist)

Tibor Kovács (born February 10, 1940 in Kalocsa , Hungary , † November 19, 2013 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian archaeologist and museum director.

Live and act

Tibor Kovács passed the matriculation examination at the Jesuit high school in Kalocsa in 1958 . He then studied at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and received degrees in archeology and as a history teacher in 1963. He then began working in the Archeology Department of the Hungarian National Museum and mainly dealt with the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age in Hungary, especially in the Carpathian Basin and the Mediterranean . In 1966 he received his doctorate . He then taught archeology and art history at the Eötvös Loránd University.

From 1965, he participated in several excavations, including in the period 1965-1972 to Tiszafüred with finds the Bronze Age. He published the results in 1977 in the book A bronzkor Magyarországon , which was translated into several languages ​​and published in German under the title The Bronze Age in Hungary . From 1977 to 1994 he was curator of the permanent exhibition Bronze Age of the Hungarian National Museum. In 1981 he became Deputy General Director of the National Museum and in 1986, after the death of Ferenc Fülep , he became Managing Director General for a few months.

In the second half of the 1980s he took part in excavations around Fehérvárcsurgó with finds from the Iron Age. From 1991 he also taught restorers at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts .

From 1999 to 2010 he was General Director of the Hungarian National Museum. During his tenure, a new permanent archaeological exhibition was opened in 2000 and the building was restored according to the original designs by Mihály Pollack and completed in 2006.

Tibor Kovács was the editor or co-editor of several scientific publication series of the Hungarian National Museum as Inventaria Praehistorica Hungariae , Catalogi Musei Nationalis Hungarici , Opuscula Hungarica and Monumenta Germanorum Archaeologica Hungariae and he was a member of the editorial board of the journals Archaeologiai Értesítő the Hungarian Society of Archeology and Art History and História the Hungarian Historical society. From 1986 until his death he was editor-in-chief of the Folia Historica yearbook of the Hungarian National Museum.

He was a member of the Hungarian Society for Archeology and Art History from 1966, Secretary General from 1981 to 2004 and President from 2004 until his death.

Awards

• 1985: Flóris-Rómer Medal of the Hungarian Archaeological Association
• 1987: Ferenc Móra Medal from the Ferenc Móra Educational Association
• 1999: Arnold Ipolyi Medal from the Hungarian Fund for Scientific Research
• 2002: Knight's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit
• 2003: Ferenc Széchényi Medal from the Hungarian National Museum
• 2008: Culture Prize of the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute
• 2009: Officer's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit

Fonts

• Tumulus Culture Cemeteries of Tiszafured. Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest 1975, OCLC 3858749 ( Régészeti Füzetek. Ser. II, no. 17).
• A bronzkor Magyarországon. Corvina, Budapest 1977, ISBN 963-13-0490-6 .

• English: The Bronze Age in Hungary. Translated from the Hungarian by Franz Gottschlig. Corvina, Budapest 1977, ISBN 963-13-4492-4 .
• English: The bronze Age in Hungary. Translated from Hungarian by Mária Telegdy-Lenkei. Corvina, Budapest 1977, ISBN 963-13-4490-8 .
• French: L'age du bronze en Hongrie. Translated from the Hungarian by Éva Szilágyi. Corvina, Budapest 1977, ISBN 963-13-4491-6 .

• Õsi kéziszerszámoktól az ipari formatervezésig. In: História. 1, 1990, pp 4-5 ( online ).

editorial staff

• Eszter Aczél et al .: From the end of the Turkish wars to the millennium celebration. The history of Hungary in the 18th and 19th centuries Century. Helikon, Budapest 1997, ISBN 963-208-416-0 .
• Katalin T. Bíró: On the border between Orient and Occident. The history of the peoples on Hungarian soil. 400,000 BC Chr. - 804 AD Helikon, Budapest 2003, ISBN 963-208-842-5 .

Editing

• More recent data on the settlement history and chronology of the Copper Age of the Carpathian Basin. Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest 1995, ISBN 963-7421-94-7 .
• Szuzsa Lovag: Medieval bronze objects from the Hungarian National Museum. Fekete Sas, Budapest 1999, ISBN 963-9046-36-1 .
• Tamás Gesztely: Ancient gems in the Hungarian National Museum. Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest 2000, ISBN 963-9046-42-6 .
• Edit D. Matuz, Gyula Nováki: Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age earthworks in northern Hungary. Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest 2002, ISBN 963-9046-69-8 .
• László András Horváth, Katalin H. Simon: The Neolithic and the Copper Age in Southwest Transdanubia. Settlement history and research status. Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest 2003, ISBN 963-9046-43-4 .
• Pál Patay : Copper Age settlement of Tiszalúc . Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest 2005, ISBN 96-3706-1150 .
• A túlélés rövid évszázada. Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest 2007, ISBN 978-963-7061-38-7 .

Web links

• Tibor Kovács on the website of the Hungarian National Museum (with picture)
• Elhunyt Kovács Tibor, a Nemzeti Múzeum volt főigazgatója , obituary for hvg.hu (Hungarian)