User's Guide

Main PageEssayGallerySearch
MapsPlace-namesBibliographyAbbreviations and Dictionary

MAIN PAGE

Entering the web site, choose on the Main Page one of the four languages: Hungarian, Slovakian, German or English. A short introduction is displayed, and links are supplied to the bibliographical data of this web site and to the Guest Book. Further sections of the web site are available from the menu.

A screen resolution of 800 × 600 or higher is recommended. The size of JPEG image files is about 100 kB. Choose an appropriate - not too large - font size in your browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape etc.).

ESSAY

Choose this menu item to find an essay on the life and works of Thomas Ender, the relations of Count János Waldstein to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Waldstein Collection and the landscapes themselves, with references to the literature.

GALLERY

In this section or menu item, we invite the visitor for a walk through the picture gallery and for a journey: we are going to view the pictures and their accompanying texts in a sequence that corresponds to an imaginary journey through the landscapes depicted. We have divided the route into 18 sections, and also suggest a certain sequence of pictures within each leg. Thus, e.g., first we have a look at a ruined castle from a distance, then we approach it, walk around it, and eventually enter the area within the walls. Accordingly, we have assigned serial numbers to the legs as well as to the individual pictures within the legs.

You may want to classify and view the pictures in a different way and sequence: give appropriate search conditions to choose some of the pictures; or, you may select a leg and the pictures assigned to it by clicking on one of the maps (see below).

To walk through the Gallery or some parts of it, follow this operating sequence:

  1. Click on the menu item "Gallery": the "List of Legs" is displayed with the numbers and names of the legs and the roman numeral of the related map.

  2. Click on the menu item "Gallery": the "List of Legs" is displayed with the numbers and names of the legs and the roman numeral of the related map.

  3. Select an item from the List of Pictures by clicking on the image: you get to the "Picture and its Description" window. Here the picture is displayed in a larger size and with more data, i.e., those mentioned above, and the inscriptions on the watercolour and on its backing, the signature by the artist (only on two of the pictures), and finally, the picture or sketch and inscriptions on the verso if relevant. Following these data, in a new line, the number of the map is given where the landscape: the river, mountain, town etc. depicted can be located. Then a short description of the subject follows, and the history and sights of the landscape, the town, village or castle in addition, with references to the Bibliography. For the sake of usability, this additional information has been given on a separate page for about two thirds of the items. (This solution was preferred if the text seemed somewhat lengthy, or included more topics, or was repeated at several pictures.)

  4. Click on the word "More…" in the last line of the Picture and its Description window in order to display the Additional text. The Back button of the browser (Netscape, Internet Explorer or other) brings you back to the Picture and its Description window.

  5. Click on the image in the Picture and its Description window: the picture is displayed in a full window, without accompanying text. You can change the size (in predefined percents) of the image, adjust its size vertically or horizontally to the window, and choose the shade of the background (white, grey, black). You get back to the Picture and its Description window by clicking on the Close button.

  6. To view the sketch or watercolour on the verso (back), click on the word "Verso:" among the data of the item. The verso image, too, can be displayed in the full window. (Some of the verso sketches, which seemed to be too faint, have not been reproduced.)

  7. Beside the Picture and its Description window, in the left half of the screen, the List of Pictures remains visible, so that you can choose another item of it as described in paragraph 3. above.

Notes to the Picture and its Description and the Additional text

The data of the pictures are given according to the usual forms in gallery and exhibition catalogues, with conventional abbreviations. (See the list of Abbreviations.)

Equivalent geographical names in different languages are usually given at their first occurrence. Language equivalents of more important names are listed under menu item "Place-names". A short glossary of common nouns in Slovakian and Polish geographical names is given in menu item "Abbreviations".

Heights of peaks and lakes were taken from different books and maps, and their sources could not be established in all cases. Most of the data originated from the 1896-1897 maps of the military institute in Vienna and were measured from the Adriatic Sea; newer Slovakian and Polish measurements are based on the level of the Baltic Sea (see Komarnicki).

The history of towns, smaller settlements, castles and mansions and the relevant literature was usually traced until the end of the 19th century. First of all we seeked for the literature in Hungarian, and even here we did not strive for completeness. At the end of the Description of the Pictures and the Additional text, we refer to the sources. Their data are accessible through menu item "Bibliography". This list also includes other reference books on the subject area.

SEARCH

Pictures satisfying certain search conditions can be selected. The search is based 1. on some characteristics (descriptors) of the items; 2. on words or text fragments found in the accompanying text. Four types of characteristics were assigned to the items: the subject of the picture, a person related to the subject, the leg, and the number of the item within the leg. Text may be searched for in the title of the picture or in its full text material.

The List of Pictures obtained in a search is - with small differences - analogous to the list displayed at the choice of a leg, and it can be used similarly. The list will be deleted by a new search, when the new list comes available.

In the Search window, choose the list elements to be searched for in the four pull-down lists: subject, person, leg, and number. You can choose one element from each index list; where you do not make your choice, the list element at the top: "all" is valid. In the search condition, the elements from the four lists combine by the operator AND. Examples: Mark in the list of subjects "mansion": you get all pictures representing as main subject a mansion, owned by any family, in any section of our journey. Mark "leg no. 6", and "river" from the subject list: you find pictures assigned to leg 6 AND representing a river. You get an individual watercolour - referred to e.g. in the text of another picture - by choosing its leg and serial number. We included in the subject index only the main subject represented in the picture, e.g., river, mountain, town, view (of a town); and in the persons' list only the owner of a mansion, disregarding persons and subjects mentioned in texts on the history of a town or a castle. These, as well as geographical names, can be found by searching for text fragments.

There are two boxes in the Search window for entering text you want to find. Type the word or phrase in the "Word in the Title" and the "Word in the Text" box, respectively. Two character strings may be combined by operations AND, OR and NOT (meaning "and not"). Enclosing such expressions in parentheses ( ) allows the construction of more complex search conditions. A space between two words is equivalent to the operator AND. Text within quotation marks (" ") is treated as one character string including embedded space characters. Examples: Searching for "pear OR green" gives you all the pictures with their text containing either fragment "pear" OR "green" (or both), e.g., in the words pear, appear, Shakespeare, green, Greenwich etc. Searching for "Kriv NOT Tatr" results in items which contain Kriván or Kriváň but do not have in their text Tatras or Tatry etc. The search system makes no difference between capital and lowercase letters and between corresponding Hungarian letters with and without an accent. Searching for texts with special letters may give - owing to their different encodings - unexpected or erroneous results.

MAPS

The places represented in the watercolours are shown on four maps (I-IV) and on a survey map (X, because 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10). Towns, villages, castles and ruins are equally denoted by a small circle. We have included in the maps, just for the sake of orientation, a few towns (e.g. Košice) which are, however, not shown in any of the pictures. These are marked by a black dot. The number of the map is enclosed in parentheses in the description of the pictures if the place lies on the area of the map but its name is not indicated (e.g. Spišská Sobota, which is now a part of Poprad). Names on the maps are written in their present official form in the language of the country.

Clicking on the maps brings you to other pages. On the survey map (X) you can select one of the maps I-IV. Click on the map on an appropriate area to select the desired leg: the List of Pictures assigned to the leg is displayed. Leg 1 can be selected on the survey map X.

PLACE-NAMES (GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES)

The list contains the more important geographical names featuring in the titles and descriptions of the pictures. The language (or historical) equivalents: the Hungarian and Slovakian names in most cases and - if existed or is used - the German, Polish or Ukrainian names, respectively, are put side by side in one line in different sequences in turn. In the common alphabetical order, digraphs are considered as separate letters, e.g. the Slovakian ch has been placed as c and h, the Hungarian cs as c and s. The roman numeral for the corresponding map is given in the same line.

The list of Geographical Names fulfills, in part, the need for a geographical index. Locate in the list the desired name and click on the number of the map in the same line: the map is displayed. Then click on the appropriate area on the map to display the List of Pictures assigned to the leg requested.

The language equivalents of less important geographical names are given in the text. These can be found by a search for text fragments.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

We included here the sources we used in compiling the texts for the pictures. There are some general works in the list which we do not cite but they may give useful information for the interested reader. Preceding the bibliographic description of the book, paper or map, we give its abbreviation we use in the text references.

ABBREVIATIONS AND DICTIONARY

You find two kinds of help under the menu item "Abbreviations": 1. the explanation of abbreviations and symbols used in the data of the pictures or elsewhere; 2. the Dictionary, i.e. translations of some common nouns as parts of Slovakian and Polish geographical names (e.g., dolina - valley). Of course, there is no need for the Dictionary in the Slovakian version of this web site.

(RB)