The Museum in Zlaté Moravce is a local history museum focused primarily on upper Požitavie.
The beginnings of the museum go back to 1892, when the idea of the Tekov Archaeological and Historical Commission was born in the most important center of social life – the Casino Club, presided by Artur Odescalchi, the earl of Skýcov. The Count Viliam Migazzi was also the leading figure of the club.
As a result of the commission’s initiative, the Tekov Capital Museum was founded on the occasion of the thousand-year anniversary of the Hungarian state on May 12, 1896. The baroque chateau of the Migazzi family, where the museum is currently located, went through various stages of development in relation to the owners, architecture, or purpose of use.
In 1925, the Zlaté Moravce estate was inherited by Dr. Viliam Erdödy and his aunt Ilona, widow Hardegg. The estate was sold gradually in the years 1927-1935. For a million crowns, the District Office became the new owner of the estate and the manor building.
Various institutions moved into the so – called District chateau – the 11th border battalion (from 1933), offices of the notary’s office, officials’ canteen, officials’ apartments, the Vocational School of Economics (1937), the District Education House (1946), the Municipal Library and the District Museum of Local History (1947 ), District archive, as well as the food company Zdroj. Museum activities during these periods were subdued. The collections were temporarily placed in the county archive, not developing for many years.
In the years 1924 – 1945, together with the library of the Regional Museum in Bojnice, they were transferred and made available in the County Museum in Nitra, from where they reached the Regional Local History Museum in 1951, located in the Bojnice Castle. After a major reconstruction of the building, which began in 1949, cultural and educational institutions such as the municipal house of culture, the municipal library, and museum of local history eventually settled in the building.
The revival of museum activities in Zlaté Moravce occurred with the establishment of the District Museum of Local History on October 11, 1947, with the arrival of PhDr. Anton Točík, along with numerous local enthusiasts and patriots. PhDr. Štefan Rakovský, a high school professor, was entrusted with organizing and later leading the museum. In 1953, the Municipal National Committee offered to use the right wing of the mansion for the museum’s use. Thanks to PhDr. Štefan Rakovský, the museum‘s longtime director and a passionate collector, the collection and museum activities of the District Local History Museum flourished.
PhDr. Rakovský actively collaborated with the director of the Regional Museum in Bojnice, Florián Hodál, and with the director of Institute of Archeology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Nitra – PhDr. Anton Točík. On August 29, 1955, the District Local History Museum was ceremoniously opened in the premises where it still operates today.
On April 1, 1957, expositions presenting the collection fund from the field of natural sciences were made available to the public – exhibits of inanimate nature were presented, including collection of items from paleontology and mineralogy, but also from the field of history, such as topics from the period of feudalism, capitalism, the construction of socialism and development of the local labor movement.
Since 1960, the District Local History Museum has been under the administration of the city of Zlaté Moravce and was called the Municipal Museum in Zlaté Moravce. On October 2 in 1963, the Migazzi chateau was included on the list of National Cultural Monuments of the Slovak Republic.
Starting from January 1, 1985, the Municipal Museum in Zlaté Moravce came under the administration by the Regional Nitra Museum in Nitra, which manages it to this day as an exposition of the Nitra Regional Museum in Nitra under the updated name Museum in Zlaté Moravce.
The following exhibitions are open to the public:
- Natural Science Exhibition – consists of paleontological findings and a mineralogical collection that come from collections in the upper Požitavie and as donations from other locations,
- Social Science Exhibition – consists of archeology, history, numismatics, ethnography collection items, which primarily present Požitavie, but it also includes items from other regions.