Just a week has gone since the Dedication Ceremony of the Greek Catholic Museum the hall of the citadel of Greek Catholic culture is filled again.
In the presence of Bishop Ábel, the professors and colleagues of the Greek Catholic Institute of Theological Studies , its students, office colleagues of bishopric, guests from educational and social institutions, representatives of cultural and professional organisations, representatives of the rusin minority, donators and the contractors of the facility the Greek Catholic Museum opened ceremonially on 18th April 2023.
The event started with the performance of the Saint Ephraim Male Choir, when the audience could listen to church music in different languages.
Registrar of the Greek Catholic Metropolitanate, dr Sesztak Istvan made a speech. „This building not only collects, presents, explains, but also strengthens our belonging to God” was the leading idea of his speech.
The director of the museum, dr. Szabó Irén said that Timkó Imre, the bishop of the Greek Catholic Church founded Collection of Greek Catholic Ecclesiastical Art exactly 40 years ago, and now this collection expects the visitors within the walls of this museum.
She said: A special artistic tradition evolved in the Carpathian Basin far away from the religious and secular centres in the 17th and 18th century and it was a local version of the Byzantine rite tradition. The artworks in the exhibition are representatives of this style.
In the end she introduced the thematic units of the exhibition and the topics the interactive and audiovisual devices deals with. She spoke about the artworks, written and printed materials, the touchscreen device which tell us about the world of the wooden churches, and the interactive cantor stand which introduces us to the Greek Catholic musical heritage. We can get an insight to the objects presenting the mystery of the Eucharist, we can see the world of objects related to the sacraments and sanctification and the most important feasts, we can learn about the iconostasis, lithurgical music, and can have and experience about the church history of the Greek Catholic denomination in the time tunnel.
At the end of the opening ceremony the short film was shown which presents and explains the history of the Greek Catholic Church until today.