On the 200th anniversary of the birth of Flóris Rómer, the National Heritage Institute, the BHM Aquincum Museum, and the Hungarian Archaeological and Art Historical Society organised a memorial event on 10 April at the memorial plaque of Flóris Rómer at the Aquincum Museum.
200 years ago, in 1815, next week, on 12 April the Benedictine teacher, archaeologist, historian, museum founder, writer, and naturalist, Rómer Flóris was born; a true polymath in the strictest sense. Due to his role in the revolutionary war of 1848-49, in which he reached the rank of captain as a field engineer, the Austrian authorities sentenced him to eight years in prison, of which he served five. Following the amnesty, he returned to teaching. From 1868 onwards he was the head of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Pest, and in the same year he founded the scholarly journal, “Archaeological Reports” (Archaeologiai Értesítő) with Arnold Ipoly. Between 1863 and 1865 he began the survey of visible Roman ruins in Old Buda, and continuously published his discoveries in, among others, Brigetio and Aquincum. The artefacts to be sent for the World Fair of 1872 in Paris were selected personally by Rómer himself. He also played a key role in organising the 8th International Congress of Anthropology and Prehistoric Archaeology of 1876, during which participants visited the Roman ruins of Old Buda. The excavation and presentation of the ruins around the present museum in 1875 greatly facilitated the development of planned and scientific archaeological excavations in Aquincum. He can truly be called the father of Hungarian archaeology. His memory lives on through his enormous body of work, consisting of several hundred publications, the highest Hungarian archaeological award and the numerous streets, plaques and other memorials that bear his name.
On the 200th anniversary of the birth of Flóris Rómer, the National Heritage Institute, the BHM Aquincum Museum, and the Hungarian Archaeological and Art Historical Society organised a memorial event on 10 April at the memorial plaque of Flóris Rómer in the Aquincum Museum.
Speeches were given by the Director of the Aquincum Museum, Dr Paula Zsidi, the Vice President of the National Memorial and Funerary Committee, Dr István Gedai, the President of the Hungarian Archaeological and Art Historical Society, Dr Anna Jávor, and the Director of the Flóris Rómer Museum of Art and History, Bernadett Grászli.
The speeches were followed by a wreath laying ceremony, accompanied by music played by Mátyás Bolya, faculty member at the Franz Liszt University of Music.
