A kiállítás a Dunántúlt egykor benépesítő népek viseletét és arcvonásait tárja a látogatók elé. A tudomány lehetővé teszi, hogy alapos anatómiai ismeretek és tehetség birtokában a képzőművészek hiteles arcrekonstrukciókat készítsenek az egykor élt emberekről.
The exhibition presents the attires and facial features of peoples that once populated Transdanubia. Science provides an opportunity for visual artists to carry out, in possession of thorough anatomical knowledge and talent, authentic facial reconstructions of people who once lived.
The western parts of the Carpathian Basin were occupied by Germanic peoples from the beginning of the 5th century. The finds from the cemetery which was unearthed next to Mözs in Tolna County can be linked with them. The skull of special shape, which is a typical example of artificial cranial deformation, comes from this site. The Langobards occupied Transdanubia from the beginning of the 6th century; on the surface of the skull of the man buried in one of the graves of the Langobard cemetery which was unearthed in Vörs, next to Keszthely, the traces of symbolic trephination can be observed. This peculiar custom had health reasons or may have been part of an initiatory rite.
After their stay here for some decades, the Langobards were followed by the newly arrived Avars. The man with the Mongoloid facial features, which can also be seen in the exhibition, belonged to them. The Avar rule continued to exist until the end of the 8th century. Then, the territory of Pannonia was part of the Carolingian Empire until Árpád's conquest of Hungary.
The Hungarian conquest did not bring the great migrations in Central Europe to an end as the Cumanians – who were threatened by the Tatars – obtained admission to Hungary. Changes in the burial customs of the Hungarians, who were a pagan people and became Christians, the peculiarities of the burial customs of the Cumanians and the building history of the church to be found in the settlement, which is well comparable with sacral buildings which can still be found in Southern Transdanubia, can be followed closely through the cemetery excavations at the site Perkáta, Nyúli-dűlő.
Bones tell a story of human destinies in this era too. One of the individuals the face of whom has been reconstructed suffered from bone cancer and had an outgrowth on the face. Another man is also worthy of attention as his broken skull reminds us of his death by violence.
The statues have been modelled by Károly Árpás, Gyula Skultéty and Ágnes Kustár
Creator of the facial reconstructions by drawing: Frigyes Kőnig
Items to the exhibition have been lent by the Hungarian National Museum, Balatoni Museum of Keszthely, Rippl-Rónai Museum of Kaposvár and Mór Wosinsky Museum of Szekszárd.