Hungarian Library

The „Bibliotheca Nationis Hungaricae“ (Hungarian National Library) was founded by the Hungarian exile Georgius Michaelis Cassai (1640–1725). He had been living in Wittenberg since May 1675, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy from 1712. In 1725, he used his personal fortune to establish a foundation for Hungarian students studying in Wittenberg. His collection of approximately 2,000 books of scholarly literature from the 16th and 17th centuries, including, amongst other things, more than 300 unique examples of early Hungarian prints, was also to be made available to them. A valuable addition to the collection was made in 1755 with the purchase of the „Manuscripta Rotaridis“ collection belonging to the Hungarian manuscript collector and man of letters Michael Rotarides, who had died in Wittenberg in 1747.

Furthermore, over time the collection grew to include a considerable number of manuscripts by Hungarian students. After 1817, most of the volumes were transferred to Halle and, in 1900, came under the management of what was then the Royal University Library. In 1921, part of the Hungarian Library, including 110 manuscripts, was transferred by ministerial decree on loan for 99 years to the Finno-Ugric Library at Humboldt University in Berlin. After 85 years, these holdings were returned early to the University and State Library in Halle. 

The Hungarian library offers an extensive collection of material on Cassai and his family, the ecclesiastical and family history of Hungary in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the history of German scholarship, with a particular focus on the history of the University of Halle-Wittenberg

Further information and literature on the collection can be found here.