Reconstructing the Gyulay and Kuun Families’ Collection of Roman Antiquities, Marisia. Archaeologia-Historia-Patrimonium 7, 2025, p. 77–102.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.63509/MrsAHP.2025.7.07

Abstract:

Before the inauguration of today’s museums, the archaeological finds discovered during ploughing and
other works usually ended up in the property of noble families and antiquarians. The majority of these
collections consisted of inscriptions and the fragments of funerary monuments, which later on would decorate the courtyards of their mansions and castles. The most prominent private collections in the 19th century of Hunedoara County all belonged to noble families. Many of these have been lost to the turmoil of history, some items never resurfacing. However, thanks to the published and archival material of contemporary travellers and antiquarians, one can try to reconstruct them and even put them into context. This paper would like to reconstruct and present the antiquities collection in the possession of the Gyulay and Kuun families, housed at their castle in Mintia (Marosnémeti, Hunedoara County, RO).