"Rome in Aquincum is an exhibition capable of presenting and connecting everything that is both Hungarian and Roman at a European level," Hiller said at the opening of the exhibition.
The 400-square-metre exhibition space is in a converted transformer station which the museum acquired in 2005. The purchase of the transformer station and the building's conversion was financed by the City Council of Budapest. With the opening of the new space, Aquincum, which is mainly an outdoor museum, is expected to prove a big draw for visitors even in the winter.
The permanent exhibition shows the museum's two highlights: the ruins of a Roman-era palace and an ancient organ.
The mosaic floor of the palace can be seen for the first time in 56 years. Additionally, the exhibition presents some of the objects found in the palace: bronze broaches, glass dishes and statues of the Caesar and Fortuna.
The archaeologist Zoltán Havas said the mosaic floors were uncovered in 1951. Eight mosaics were found in rooms in the palace's eastern wing as well as in the northern bath wing. The black-and-white geometric floors in the eastern wing were probably laid in the 2nd century A.D., while the color figural mosaics in the bath area were laid in the 3rd century. The mosaics were placed in storage for years because of a lack of exhibition space, he said.
Mosaic restoration expert Miklós Balázs said the mosaics were placed into reinforced concrete basins after they were discovered in 1951. Since then, the mosaics have fallen into a severe state of disrepair - just three-fifths of the originals have remained. But they have been reconstructed using the same technology used by the Roman craftsmen who made them.
"We were able to acquire stone material which was geologically the same as the original...not exactly the same, but very similar to the original," Balázs said. Of course, one is aware of where the mosaic has been substituted for, but the mosaic nevertheless shows a "completely coherent picture."
A development programme at the site is to be completed by 2008, making the museum accessible to the physically disabled.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Múlt-kor
