On the 28th and the 29th of September 2023, the ELTE University Library and Archives, in cooperation with the National Széchényi Library, the Institute of History of the Humanities Research Centre and the Archives of the Hungarian Order of the Society of Jesus, organised a series of scientific lectures to mark the 250th anniversary of the dissolution of the Society of Jesus and the 300th anniversary of the birth of George Pray.

As the opening event of the conference, Dr. Kulcsár Szabó Ernőné Gombos, Director General of the ELTE University Library and Archives, welcomed the guests, followed by the opening speech of Dr. László Borhy, Academician and Rector of Eötvös Loránd University. In his speech, the Rector commemorated the very first Jesuit period of the University, and praising the work of the Jesuit scholar György Pray, he emphasised that "we should not forget his huge collection of manuscripts, with which he created the basis for the manuscript collection of the University Library, and it is thanks to him that the manuscripts of the great Jesuit collectors of sources, Gábor Hevenesi and István Kaprinai, also found their way into our library".

For the Jesuit monk Father Zoltán Koroknai, SJ socius provincialis of the Society of Jesus of Hungary, was a special pleasure to organise the event in the building of the library palace, where György Pray once served as second guard. Recalling the serious negative consequences for György Pray of the dissolution of the Jesuit Order in 17773, he mentioned that, despite the hardships, Pray had remained a dedicated and faithful academic and library director.

In his welcome speech, Máté Vincze, Deputy State Secretary for Public Collections and Cultural Development, referred to the foundation stones laid by György Pray in the Hungarian scientific and public collections field, which can be built upon today. The way to pass on our cultural heritage to future generations is to cherish the memory of our ancestors and role models, for which this event is an excellent opportunity and example.

On the first day of the two-day conference, lectures on the educational activities of the Jesuits, the dissolution of the Society of Jesus and the work of Jesuit scholar György Pray were held in the Reading Hall of the ELTE University Library.

On the second day of the lecture series, expert presentations were given at the National Széchényi Library on the Pray Codex, the Funeral Sermon and Prayer, Latin (liturgical) language and vernacular.

On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Budapest University Athletic Club, the ELTE University Library and Archives joined the initiative as a sponsor and donor.

Our library supported the „Books in Hand!” project by donating sixty carefully selected books on various topics related to sport and healthy living. The selection included volumes on the history of the university and a recent biography of Loránd Eötvös. The books are part of the club library of ELTE BEAC Pluhár István Football Club in District 11, which is available free of charge to players using the football pitch. We wish all those interested an enjoyable time and reading experience!

Two hundred and fifty years ago, in 1773, Pope Clement XIII dissolved the Jesuit order, accelerating the process of the university's transfer to the state. Between 1635 and 1773, many distinguished Jesuits of great knowledge taught at our university, leaving a lasting mark on the history of the institution. In September our feature is on the father of Hungarian critical historiography, the former director of our library, György Pray. 

György Pray was born on 11 January 1723 in Érsekújvár. He began his studies at the Jesuit College in Pozsony in 1734 and applied for admission to the Jesuit Order in 1740. After completing his studies, he began teaching in Nagyszombat, where he also wrote his first literary work. In 1758 he began his work on the origins of the Huns and the Hungarians, and in 1761 he asked to be released from his teaching duties because he wanted to write history. The magistrates of the Order granted his request, and from then on his profession was "elucubrator historiae Hungariae", i.e. researcher of Hungarian history. His first historical work on the origins of the Huns, Hungarians and Avars was published in 1761, and he continued to publish his yearbooks on the first period of Hungarian history until 1768. From 1767, the Empress allowed him to carry out research in the archives of the Hungarian Chamber and to make copies of the documents there. In 1770, he published our first Hungarian-language memoir, the Halotti Beszéd (Sermon on Death), in 1773, from a codex found in the Bratislava Chapter Library. In 1777, after the dissolution of the Jesuit order, Maria Theresia entrusted György Pray with the duties of director of the University Library. His presidency was an extremely eventful and important period in the life of the library. The Empress wanted to develop the former library of the Jesuit College in Nagyszombat into the country's scientific centre. The library was moved first to Buda and then to Pest, and the entire library material of the abolished monastic orders was given to the library to increase its holdings. Pray resigned from the library in 1790, when he was appointed canon of Nagyvárad by the emperor. He spent his last years in Nagyvárad and died on 8 September 1801. In 1784, he gave his extremely valuable collection of books and documents to the University Library in return for an annual fee, and in his will he also made a 300 forint endowment for poor university students.

The library intended to draw attention to the protection of our cultural values ​​and the preservation of our built heritage with our event organized in the University Library and Archives of Eötvös Loránd University within the framework of this year's Cultural Heritage Days.

On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of György Pray, the father of Hungarian critical historiography and former director of our library, and the 250th anniversary of the abolition of the Jesuit order, a chamber exhibition was opened with our documents related to the Hungarian Jesuits’ missions in South America. The exhibition entitled Unus non sufficit orbis – One world is not enough: Hungarian Jesuits in South America is open until the 31st of May 2024, and can be visited on weekdays from 10.00 to 15.00. Registration is possible at titkarsag@lib.elte.hu. More information about our exhibition is available on our website.

The Sabbathsong Klezmer Band opened our programme with a small Rosh HaShana (New Year) concert, featuring Hebrew and Yiddish songs by Tamás Masa and Anita Masa. Lovers of books, science and the arts were given a guided tour of the library’s history and the rooms of our historic building. The visitors gained an insight into the restoration workshop, our museum collection, and the life and work of Loránd Eötvös. Important events in the history of our university were also explored in the frame of our exhibition entitled Book, Robe, Science – Symbols from the History of Eötvös Loránd University. During our events, our guests were able to make unique, hardcover handicraft books, and calligrapher Dezső Buzogány explained the art of calligraphy.

We closed our programme with a concert by the Coquette duo. In addition to jazz standards, Hedda Gál (vocals) and Zsolt Horváth (guitar) played a selection of songs by Zsuzsa Cserháti in honour of the 20th anniversary.

The event was implemented with the support of the Municipality of Budapest, District V, Belváros–Lipótváros and the Foundation for the University Library.

The Autumn Festival of Museums between the 25th of September and the 12th of November 2023 also offers a variety of our programmes. All visitors are welcome!

On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of György Pray, the father of Hungarian critical historiography and former director of our library, and the 250th anniversary of the abolition of the Jesuit order, we invite you to an exhibition of documents related to the missions of the Hungarian Jesuits in South America.

The exhibition offers visitors a special selection of manuscripts and printed documents. The South American continent was one of the main scenes of the Jesuit Order's flourishing in the 18th century. It was one of the most important places where the most enthusiastic and adventurous members of the Jesuit Order, including Jesuits of Hungarian origin, carried out their missionary work. If you want to know what adventures the friars had in the depths of the jungle, how they canoed down the Amazon or what experiences they had among the Indians, visit our exhibition! 

The exhibition is available on weekdays between 10.00 and 15.00. Registration is possible at titkarsag@lib.elte.hu.

Venue:

ELTE University Library and Archives

1053 Budapest, Ferenciek tere 6.

The object of the month – A textbook in Latin

The coursebook of the Czech educator Jan Amos Komenský (in Latin: Johannes Comenius, 1592–1670), the so called ’Orbis pictus’, was originally made to help pupils to learn Latin the easiest way. However, it also contains materials from almost every scientific field, hence becoming a simplified encyclopaedia of the 17-th century knowledge.

The work was printed first in 1658, and until 1917 it was published for almost 300 times. The first four-language edition was issued in 1666 in Latin, German, French and Italian – this particular book was also written in these languages. In the beginning, the work was illustrated with woodcuts, but later on the pictures were printed with copperplates. The coursebook contains 150 topics, each illustrated with a picture and complemented with word-lists as tools to help the pupils in the process of studying. Among the topics one can find nature, flora and fauna, religion and the aspects of human life, e. g. the human body, craftsmanship and children’s games.

This book once belonged to historian János Mircse of Barátos, who left his book collection to the University Library. (This catalogue can be find under the call number J 147/d I-II.)

The book is part of the book adoption program of the Foundation for the University Library. Save a book, adopt a book! For more information visit our website: https://konyvtar.elte.hu/en/support-us/adopt-a-book

RMK III 623/a

Komenský, Jan Amos (1592–1670): Joh. Amos Comenii Orbis sensualium pictus quadrilinvis emendatus, hoc est: omnium fundamentalium in mundo rerum et vita actionum pictura et nomenclatura Germanica, Latina, Italica et Gallica. Cum titulorum indicibus atque vocabulorum dictionariolis accurante Matthia Cramero, lingv. exotic. professore. Cum gratia et privil. sac. caes. majestatis. regis Poloniae et sereniss. electoris Saxonici.

Noribergae : sumptibus Martini Endteri, MDCCVII.

The minutes of Eötvös Loránd University and its predecessor institutions are now available not only on the hungaricana.hu portal, but also in the database of the Hungarian National Archives, on the adatbazisokonline.mnl.gov.hu portal.

Central and Eastern European Online Library (CEEOL) offered trial access to EISZ member institutions. The database can be tested by connected to the university's internet network until 17. 09. 2023. Remote access to the database is possible using a VPN service.

The Central and Eastern European Online Library (www.ceeol.com) is the leading repository offering highly specialized and comprehensive collection of full text indexed documents in the fields of Humanities and Social Science publications from and about Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

As of March 2023, CEEOL has covered more than 2,662 SSH journal titles with over 875.000 indexed full-text articles. The coverage is growing monthly by 5,000 newly included journal articles. Significant number of the included journals are represented with complete archival collection.

Between the 17th and 20th of July 2023, three staff members of the ELTE University Library and Archives participated in a study trip at Humboldt University in Berlin as part of the Erasmus+ Programme. The program was implemented at the invitation of the organization that coordinates scientific university collections in Germany.

During the visit, our staff had the opportunity to get to know the details of collection coordination activities at the national level as well as at the university level. In addition to the workshops, where they discussed each other's results and problems, the colleagues from Berlin presented their collections located in the various faculties of the university, which can therefore be visited on a limited basis, i.e. the replicas of statues and the objects found during the excavations at the Institute of Archeology; the exhibitions located in the classrooms and corridors of the zoology and human anatomy departments of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, as well as the art collection in the closed warehouse, accessible only to employees.

The university has several natural science exhibitions, which our colleagues could visit as part of a guided tour. In addition to the permanent exhibition, the TAT - Animal Anatomy Theater building located on the Nord Campus also houses a number of temporary exhibitions, during the visit there was an exhibition on the tradition of Chinese foot binding and the issue of feminism. In the Humboldt Forum (the building opened in 2021), the university also got a smaller exhibition room, called the Humboldt Laboratory, which explores contemporary social, ethical and scientific issues. In addition, the Museum of Natural History, which has not been maintained by the university since 2009, but its collection and results linked to the institution in the past.

The study trip was a great opportunity to gain a lot of useful experience and valuable professional contacts, which will be used in the future throughout our university heritage coordination work.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, in 1773, Pope Clement XIII dissolved the Jesuit order, accelerating the process of the university's transfer to the state. Between 1635 and 1773, many distinguished Jesuits of great knowledge taught at our university, leaving a lasting mark on the history of the institution. In August our feature is on the first chronicler of the university’s history, Ferenc Kazy.

Ferenc Kazy was born in 1695 in Léva, Bars county. He entered the Jesuit order at the age of eighteen, following his older brother, János Kazy. Among other things, he taught theology and rhetoric at the University of Nagyszombat. Later, he was head of house in Trencsén, Pozsony and Sopron, and then between 1748 and 1749 he was the director of the Collegium Rubrorum in Nagyszombat. As a student of Márton Szentiványi, he studied the collection of sources of Gábor Hevenesi and began writing historiography. His first historical work was the biography of the judge István Koháry in 1732. As a continuation of Miklós Istvánffy’s Historia, he wrote the 17th century history of the Kingdom of Hungary. He compiled his work on the history of the university for the centenary of the founding of the University of Nagyszombat (Historia Universitatis Tyrnaviensis Societatis Jesu). He died in Pozsony in 1759.