Cserni Conference Report

My apologies – this should have been posted on Friday, not sure what went wrong there.

The international conference organised between 15-18^th April, 2016 in Alba Iulia, Romania dedicated to Béla Cserni (known also as Albert or Adalbert Cserni) and the pioneers of urban archaeology in the Belle Époque (1867-1918) was the largest gathering of scholars focusing on the history of archaeology in Central-East Europe. The 48 papers given by historians and archaeologists from 6 countries presented not only the life and rich activity of the pioneers of archaeology in Austria, Hungary, Romania, Russia, France or the United Kingdom, but also analysed the main ideological currents and influences, which shaped their discourse, excavation techniques and endeavour as museologists and archaeologists.

The papers presented in four intensive days presented the heritage and the new results regarding the work and life of Béla Cserni, the rich academic network and the surprisingly, identical correspondence of various scholars from the Belle Époque, the beginnings of modern museology and the first professional collections of this area of Europe, the methods and techniques of urban archaeology in this period and finally, the main ideological currents (such as nationalism, sexism and imperialism) which influenced the discourse and the struggle of numerous scholars.

The four days event offered the opportunity to shape and form the idea of a Central-East European HARN Group, which hopefully will meet regularly from now on and will collaborate in the future in various projects. As part of the event, the book of Csaba Szabó on the work and life of Béla Cserni was also presented and the participants visited the beautiful castle of Sancrai and the biggest Vauban fort of Central Europe too.

Csaba Szabó