Buda Chronicle 550

On the occasion of the 550th anniversary of the publication of the Buda Chronicle, a temporary exhibition will give you an insight into some of the most unique publications in the history of printing. The opening of the exhibition and the presentation of the original copy of the Chronica Hungarorum, which is kept in our library, will take place on the 24th of June 2023 at 19.00 on the Night of the Museums.

Buda Chronicle 550 – Exhibition opening

On this year's Night of Museums, we present the original edition of the Chronica Hungarorum in our library to mark the 550th anniversary of the printing of the Buda Chronicle. In the exhibition of books related to the volume, visitors also have the opportunity to gain an insight into some of the other special documents from our museum collection.

The opening of the exhibition and the presentation of the Buda Chronicle are organised on the 24th of June 2023 at 19.00 in our Boardroom on the second floor (1053 Budapest, Ferenciek tere 6.). Our guests are invited to test their knowledge and learn more about the Buda Chronicle in our quiz game, which is continuously available in the lobby. For more information about our chamber exhibition and programmes, please visit our website or the Night of Museums’ homepage. All visitors are welcome!

Time:

24th June 2023; 19.00

Venue:

ELTE University Library and Archives (Boardroom, II. Floor)

1053 Budapest, Ferenciek tere 6.

Source/author of illustration:
ELTE ULA

Night of Museums at the ELTE University Library and Archives

According to our tradition, we will join the Night of Museums on the 24th of June 2023, opening our Buda Chronicle 550 chamber exhibition. From 3 p.m. in the afternoon until midnight, our library welcomes all visitors with craft activities, concerts, guided tours, restoration and calligraphy workshops. Tickets are available at our library information desk.

Our bookbinding and calligraphy workshop is open for children and adults from 15.00 this year.

Our evening programmes open at 6 p.m. with a concert by the String Quartet from the Eötvös Loránd University Orchestra.

On our library tours, visitors can learn about the history of the library palace and the Perczel Globe, and take a look behind the scenes at our historic library. Guided by our restorer, you can gain an insight into paper-casting and bookbinding techniques, along with the process of book disinfection.

On the occasion of the 550th anniversary of the publication of the first book printed in Hungary, we invite you to the opening of an exhibition of our books related to the Chronica Hungarorum, entitled Buda Chronicle 550, at 19.00. Our guests are invited to test their knowledge and learn more about the Buda Chronicle in our quiz game, which is continuously available.

From 20.30 the evening will be enriched by classical music concert entitled History of Love – Happiness, Misery and Healing, performed by the Festival Academy Budapest Ensemble.

The doors of the Eötvös exhibition will also be open, where you can learn about the life and work of Loránd Eötvös through our interactive tools and the instruments of the researcher.

Detailed programme available on our website and on the official website of the Night of Museums.

All visitors are welcome!

Photo, audio and video recordings will be made of the events. The recordings will be published on the websites, publications, forums and social media of the participating institutions.

Source/author of illustration:
Night of Museums (website)

Adopt this book in April!

This missal was printed in 1704 in Nagyszombat (Trnava, Slovakia), and contains the text of the requiem mass, from the Missale Romanum, to be used in every church (based on the title page).

The book contains the complete text of the Mass with the canon, and each part is supplemented by musical notations for the sung segments. The sheets (consisting of four staves) are not engravings but rather made up of small individual pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. This becomes evident when one looks at the tiny spaces between the pieces. Besides the sheets, the volume is enriched with two-colour printing (black and red) and a copperplate engraving prefacing the canon of the mass (depicting Jesus on the cross, the Virgin Mary and Saint John). The large fonts of this folio print make it possible to read the missal from a distance. The leather markers also had a practical use: the priest could turn a page without touching the paper, thus his hands remained clean. According to the possession note on the title page, the Minorites of Lőcse (Levoča, Slovakia) used the book in the18th century (1722). The friars wrote short Latin texts on the verso of the last leaf with the date 3 November.

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 II 534a

Missae in agenda defunctorum tantum deservientes : ex missali Romano recognito desumptae, cum ordinario, et canone, ut in ipsis servatur, ad usum, et

commoditatem omnium ecclesiarum

Tyrnaviae [Nagyszombat] : ex typographia Academica Soc. Jesu, anno M.D.CC.IV.

[1704]

Source/author of illustration:
ELTE University Library and Archives

Adopt this book in February!

The main creators of emblem books in the 16th and 17th centuries were the Jesuits followed by the Piarists. An exception was Johannes Sambucus, János Zsámboky (1531–1584), physician, court historian, the author of several emblem books. He spent a large part of his life in Vienna, but was also in correspondence with lay aristocrats and the high clergy in Hungary. One of his most famous works was the Emblemata (1564) published by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp. The emblem book in our picture was published six years later in the same city by Philips Galle. The volume also contains 16 engravings and the Carmen heroicum by humanist physician Hugo Favolino. The work is generally regarded as a laudation of John of Austria (1547–1578), the victorious Spanish general at the battle of Lepanto (1571), but a number of quite complex interpretations have been recently proposed. Most of the emblems depict military deeds and virtues with Classic inscriptions, triumphal arches decorated with mythological heroes and gods, but also include contemporary references (e.g. Ottoman garments). The work is related to the apologetic literary tradition associated with the heroes of the battle of Lepanto, in which we can perceive the recreation of the Classical literature. The copy preserved in the University Library and Archives is damaged (signatures C5-6 and D1-6 are missing).

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, please, visit our website at https://konyvtar.elte.hu/en/support-us/adopt-a-book.

 

RMK III 134/b 

Arcus aliquot triumphal, et monimenta victor. classicae in honor invictissimi ac illustris. Iani Austriae, victoris non quieturi, auctor Ioan. Sambuco. Quibus adiectum est eiusdem argumenti Carmen heroicum per Hugonem Favolinum. 

Antverpiae [Antwerpen] : apud Philippum Gallaeum MDLXXII [1572] 

Source/author of illustration:
ELTE University Library and Archives

Adopt this book in January!

In 1648, Italian astronomer and astrologer Andrea Argoli (1570–1657) published his astronomical ephemerides for the years between 1641 and 1700. In 1676, the astronomers of the University of Nagyszombat (Trnava, Slovakia) adapted this work for Hungary and Austria, and the Academic Press printed the calendar in the same year (or maybe at the end of the last one). The compilers thoroughly explain the structure at the beginning of the volume, the same information for every day of the year: feast days, astronomical observations, lunar phase, duration of day and night, weather, Austrian anniversaries etc. A prognostication for the year and two writings titled Dissertatio physico-mathematica (of waterbodies in Austria and Hungary) and Synopsis chronologica (main events in Austria from Rudolf I to Leopold I, from 1218 to 1675) follow the almanac. A family tree of the Habsburgs – which traces its origins back to Pharamond, the legendary king of the Franks – ends the book. The copy of the University Library is unique: a nobleman near Pozsony (Bratislava, Slovakia), András Szency wrote his diary on blank leaves after each month, giving a short description of almost every day, thus making it possible to reconstruct his whole year. Several leaves were added to the end of the book as well, which contain the account book of Szency with precise numbers. The calendar and the diary later came into the possession of the Hédervári family.

 

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, please visit our website: https://konyvtar.elte.hu/en/support-us/adopt-a-book.

 

RMK II 260a:2

Calendarium typographiae Tyrnaviensis, ad annum a nato in terris Deo, M. DC. LXXVI. ad meridianum Tyrnaviensem, ad elevationem poli XLVIII. graduum, adeoque in usum praecipuorum locorum tam in Ungaria, quam in Austria, nec non adjacentium provinciarum, supputatum ex calculis ... Andreae Argoli / opera et studio, astrophili cuiusdam in Academia Tyrnaviensi Regni Ungariae Tyrnaviae [Nagyszombat] : typis Academicis, [1676].

Source/author of illustration:
ELTE ULA

1% – For the library

The mission of the ELTE University Library and Archives, which won the Hungarian Heritage Award and – as part of the University Library Service – the title of Qualified Library in 2018, as well as the EFQM “Committed to Excellence” certificate in 2020, is to provide Hungarian and foreign academic teachers, researchers and students with domestic and foreign literature, intending to integrate them into the international circulation of scientific life. Now, you can also help to ensure free access to information, to preserve and digitize our cultural values, and to acquire modern technological equipment and implement continuous service development. Please, support the Foundation for the University Library by offering 1% of your tax. 

The Foundation for the University Library was established in 2005 to provide the technical modernization for the ELTE University Library and Archives and help expansing its services and protecting its holdings. The library's old book collection of nearly two million documents is part of the national cultural heritage and is also significant in Europe, so it is our shared responsibility to preserve these values ​​for the rising generation.

The non-profit organization, led by Dr. Péter Kiszl, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, significantly supports the library's value-saving activities. In order to restore the volumes of the collection, which requires special attention and constant preservation, the foundation has launched a book adoption program. In addition, it contributes to the organization of events promoting the values ​​and the professional work of the University Library and Archives, the publication of a wall calendar presenting the rarities of the library and the university’s cultural heritage, as well as the publication of the Traditions and Challenges conference volume and acquiring new technical equipment.

More information about the support possibilities of the Foundation for the University Library is available here.

 

Foundation for the University Library

H-1053 Budapest, Ferenciek tere 6.

Phone: +36 1 411 6738

Email: alapitvany@lib.elte.hu

Tax number: 18121362-1-41

Account number: 12010532-00120645-00100003

 

Source/author of illustration:
ELTE ULA

Christmas Opening Hours

The Library will be closed between the 23rd of December and 1st of January 2023. Our library's services will be available from the 2nd of January 2023. 

We wish all our dear readers a very merry Christmas and a successful New Year!

Source/author of illustration:
ELTE ULA

Temporarily reduced opening hours from the 5th of December 2022

The opening hours of the ELTE University Library and Archives will be changed from the 5th of December 2022. Our library is open on weekdays between 9.00 and 15.00 to offer our readers a full range of services, on Saturdays our Reading Hall is available between 9.00 and 15.00 for study and reading. Borrowed books may be returned using our Bibliobox in the lobby until 18.00 on opening days.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and supportive cooperation.

Source/author of illustration:
ELTE ULA