The exhibition, entitled "The Habaner Myth 1593-1734 - Treasures from Hungarian Private Collections, includes almost 150 objects never before seen in public.
Habaner was the Hungarian name for Hutterites, the Austrian branch of the great Anabaptist movement of the 16th century. The Habaner were famous for their ceramics, and their dishes, jugs, pitchers, basins and bowls - covered with simple motifs, so as not to offend users' religious sensibilities - were much sought after by the nobility in the region.
The forerunners of the Hutterites emigrated from the Austrian province of Tyrol to Moravia in the 16th century in order to escape persecution - which distinguishes them from other Anabaptists such as the Amish and the Mennonites. There, under the leadership of Jakob Hutter, they developed a communal form of living based on the practices of the first Christians as described in passages in the Bible such as "All the believers were together and had everything in common" (Acts 2:44).
The exhibition runs from May 22 until November 25, 2007.
Source: Gabriella Valaczkay / Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
