National library opens Central Europe’s largest digitalisation centre

National Széchenyi Library Photo: Wikimedia Commons / V.Mariann

Central Europe’s largest and most modern digitalisation centre for public collections opened at the National Széchenyi Library on Friday.

Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, told the opening event that the new centre will enable the digitalisation of 10 million pages annually, including all types of documents in the library.

The nearly 10 billion forints (€ 28 million) spent on the project will enable the library to present to the public all the national treasures it holds, he added.

The library signed a cooperation agreement with the Haydneum – Hungarian Centre for Early Music at the event.

György Vashegyi, president of the National Cultural Council and the Hungarian Academy of Arts, said the cooperation aims at the digitalisation of highly valuable music and musicology documents found in Hungary from the years between 1600 and 1850.