Gábor Téglás (Braşov, March 30, 1848 – Budapest, February 4, 1916)

In the 19th century, the need to understand the past became increasingly prominent. However, archaeology as an independent science was not yet established. This is important to emphasise because the literature often describes Gábor Téglás as an “enthusiastic dilettante” in archaeology, as there was no such training available at Hungarian colleges, and it was still in its infancy at foreign academies. Flóris Rómer studied humanities, while Henrik Finály studied engineering, mathematics, physics, and ancient literature at the University of Vienna. Arnold Ipolyi also did not start his archaeological work as a trained archaeologist. However, Ipolyi, Rómer and Finály did everything they could to educate themselves as soon as the opportunity arose. Téglás, on the other hand, rigidly refused to do so and did not keep pace with the methodology, scientific results and broader context of discoveries in the now independent science of archaeology. As a result, the new, now professionally trained generation of archaeologists took his work less and less seriously. Téglás made lasting contributions with his geological and mining studies, as he also obtained a qualification in geology alongside his humanities studies. Nevertheless, he contributed to the establishment of Hungarian archaeology with his 355 writings on archaeological subjects.