The centenary of the First World War has mobilised historians, art historians and museologists in all countries to re-examine the events of this period, to uncover the documents and to present to the public the known or hidden relics. Numerous exhibitions and conferences have already taken place, and key publications have been published throughout the world, and more narrowly in Hungary and Transylvania/Romania. The Szekler Museum of Ciuc now joins this, continuing the high quality of the organisation of the exhibitions that has been expected so far.

Two eminent researchers, Jenő Murádin (Cluj) and György Szücs (Budapest), have undertaken the task of compiling an impressive list of artefacts and a representative catalogue. In addition to the visual material, the studies and documentary excerpts are intended to complement the dramatic works, which sometimes capture everyday moments, by conveying the emotions and mentalities of the people who were forced into an exceptional situation and dragged out of their personal lives, thus promoting a more nuanced approach to the visual material. The selection focuses primarily on the wider Transylvanian region, with Ferenc Márton and István Nagy as the main protagonists of the exhibition, who, in addition to portraits of heroes, witnessed and recorded real battle scenes. Particularly interesting are the grenade explosions captured by Ferenc Márton, which resulted in unprecedented impressionistic images of atmospheric conditions and flickering colours. Of course, soldiers and war painters were 'deployed' on various fronts, with one or two works evoking locations in Galicia, the Balkans or Italy. Jenő Remsey's Transylvanian refugees or Valér Ferenczy's hospital scenes depict moments of war in the hinterland. There is also a large number of pictures by Aurél Papp, who, in an almost unique way in the region, tried to process the horrors he experienced, the helplessness of man and the fragility of life in his own expressive style even after the World War. Hans Eder's work is characterised by a similarly powerful expression. János Vaszary, who was not born in Transylvania, went to the battlefields of the Carpathians with the artists and correspondents of the Press Headquarters and made numerous drawings of Miercurea Ciuc, which was destroyed in 1916. The works, deposited in the War Museum, were then exhibited at war exhibitions in Budapest, Vienna and Berlin. The poster for the Transylvanian exhibition on Margaret Island in 1917 was drawn by Mihály Biró. The current exhibition is also a lesson in the question of whether the art of the First World War can be regarded as a new, emerging phase of historical painting, or whether the aesthetic qualities of each work, rather than the subject matter, are the basis on which it is placed on the pages of art history.