Object of the month – Chain of the rector
It has been a tradition at universities for centuries that institutions have been endowed with various insignia, coats of arms, and ceremonial robes (ornatus). Insignia include, among others, the pedum, also known as the scepter or ceremonial staff, the seal, the ring, and the chain. University officials wore these insignia on ceremonial occasions, thereby emphasizing the privileged position of universities in their respective countries. These objects became an integral part of university traditions and played a role in the history of an institution for centuries.
This is no different in the case of Eötvös Loránd University. The university's predecessor was founded in 1635 by Péter Pázmány under the name Jesuit University of Nagyszombat. In 1769, Maria Theresa took the university under her "royal patronage" in her letter of donation and renamed it the Royal Hungarian University. In 1777, it was moved to Buda, and then during the reign of her son, Joseph II, it was relocated to Pest, on the other side of the Danube, in 1784 and it took the name Royal University of Pest.
At that time, university insignia included the pedum, the seal, and the robes, about which we have precise information. Based on Joseph II's decree, monastic orders were dissolved in 1784, and as a result, the use of robes and cloaks was abolished at universities throughout the monarchy. In 1785, the ceremonial robes of all four faculties had to be sent to Buda, where they were auctioned off.
The chain, which was worn by senior officials until 1949, was donated to our university in 1819 by Emperor Francis I of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia. The University of Vienna received chains for its rector and deans from the monarch in 1792 and 1805, while the University of Lviv received theirs in 1817. Similar chains were awarded to the University of Innsbruck in 1826, the University of Graz in 1827, and the University of Olomouc in 1837.
In his book Traditions and Material Remnants at Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, 1982), József Papp describes the circumstances surrounding the request for the chain as follows: “In 1816, the rector of our university, János Láng, celebrated the king’s birthday more lavishly than before, not without a certain purpose, and on this occasion he also organized a successful collection for war invalids. Counting on the favorable outcome of this, Rector Láng decided with the Council to ask the monarch to grant the University of Pest the same "rank" as the other universities in the empire, that is, to award them chains for the offices of rector and dean similar to those in Vienna. The requested chains were completed in 1819, but it was not until May 18, 1820, that the University's praesese ceremoniously placed them around the necks of the rector and deans in the presence of teachers and students. The medals, together with the openwork chains, were made of gold by Johann Baptist Harnisch, a Viennese "Kammermedailleur".
A gold crown hangs from each link of the 1.4-meter-long openwork gold chain, on which is an octagonal, red-enameled gold star with a triple red-white-green national color border running along its inner edge. This encloses a gold medal bearing the portrait of Emperor Francis and the inscription "Franciscus I. Imp.Aust.Rex. Hung." on one side. In this respect, the rector's and dean's chains are identical, differing only in that the other side of the gold medallion bears different inscriptions: on the rector's chain "Rectori Scientiarum Universitatis Pestiensis", on the dean of the Faculty of Theology "Facultati Theologicae Scientiarum Universitatis Hungaricae Pestiensis", on the Faculty of Law "Facultati Juridicae ... ", on the Faculty of Arts chain "Facultati Philosophiae ... ", on the Faculty of Medicine chain "Facultati Madicae ... ", and on all of them, the inscription "Munificentia Augusti P.P.MDCCCXIX" can be seen.
The gold chains of office were placed in the vault of the National Museum on May 31, 1949. However, silver replicas of the chains remained in the rector's safe. These were re-gilded in 1977 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the move to Buda, and are used during inaugurations and other ceremonies. Based on these, six additional chains were made by goldsmith László Marosi when new faculties were founded (in 2000, 2003, and 2021).
Of the original chains donated by King Francis I, the chains of the rector, the dean of the Faculty of Humanities, and the dean of the Faculty of Law have been loaned to the University by the Hungarian National Museum for exhibition purposes since 2016. With the permission of the Director General, the rector's chain will be used at the rector's inauguration ceremony on August 29, 2025, when Prof. Dr. László Borhy, the outgoing rector, will transfer the chain and thus inaugurate the new rector of Eötvös Loránd University, Dr. Lénárd Darázs.
Sources:
Papp József Hagyományok és tárgyi emlékek az Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetemen (Budapest, 1982)
Szögi László Az Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem története képekben (Budapest, 2015)
Written by Bianka Kovács-Molnár
Source/author of illustration: Bianka Kovács-Molnár