Edith Varga’s (1931–2020) private collection

Abstract

The study explores the history and contents of Edith Varga’s (1931–2020) private Egyptian collection, focusing on the artifacts acquired during the 1959 research trip to Egypt. This journey—undertaken with her husband László Castiglione and fellow Egyptologist László Kákosy—not only enriched the Egyptian and Classical Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, but also marked the beginning of private collecting activities among young Hungarian scholars. The acquisitions included crucial predynastic and First Intermediate Period objects, as well as items connected to funerary cults and magical practices.