Hello? Hello!
Today, we can't imagine our lives without our phones - even though the device itself is rarely used for telecommunications in the strict sense of the word. Yet the invention of the telephone at the end of the 19th century brought about a radical change in everyday communication. How was the telephone invented? Did Bell's device answer a real need? How was the telephone network built and what technical and infrastructural innovations accompanied it? How did the public telephone appear in the metropolitan public space? What impact did telecommunications have on society and culture in the 20th century? These are some of the questions we seek to answer in the latest temporary exhibition at the BTM Kiscell Museum.
Schedule
In the exhibition, you can make and receive calls through old telephones that communicate with each other, and you can not only touch the objects, you can also use them. Special films, music, sound effects, telephone ringing and telephone conversations set the mood for the exhibition. A significant part of the exhibition is made up of objects from the Kiscell Museum's Technical Collection, antique devices on loan from private collectors, as well as objects, documents and posters from other public collections (Postal Museum, Budapest City Archives, Szabó Ervin Library, etc.). In addition to the historical material, contemporary artworks and projects featuring telephony and the telephone as a motif will also be presented.
Kiscelli Museum
The Kiscelli Museum and its 15 hectares of parkland are located in the 3rd district of Budapest, between Óbuda and Remetehegy. The 18th century Baroque church and Trinitarian monastery, built by the Zichy family, was used as a barracks by the army in the 19th century. In 1910 it became the property of furniture manufacturer Miksa Schmidt, who later had it converted into a castle, hence the name Schmidt Castle. It is now home to the Budapest History Museum's collection of Modern Urban History and the Budapest City Gallery, the fine arts collection.