Now you can browse the library of King Matthias online

Even though the National Széchényi Library’s (Országos Széchényi Könyvtár) temporary exhibition, The Corvina Library and the Buda Workshop ended last year, it is still available for visitors online.

The exhibition focuses on the treasures of King Matthias’ famous library. Still, it also showcases some other objects from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, including codices that had resided outside of Hungary for around 500 years. The interior of the exhibition was the winner of a bronze award from the international organization A’Design Award, and the online event will also give you the chance to admire this exhibition space designed by Mária Gazdag.

According to qubit.hu,

The library of King Matthias Corvinus (Mátyás király) was one of the largest in Renaissance Europe.

In its prime, Bibliotheca Corvina consisted of around 2,000 books (Corvinae). The majority of these were ordered from Italy, but several books were produced at the Hungarian royal court in Buda, which is also the main focus of the current exhibition.

As it was revealed during research for the exhibition, Matthias founded the royal library in the last years of his reign, after he occupied Vienna and Wiener Neustadt (Bécsújhely). When it comes to size, no other book collection north of the Alps compared to Matthias’ library in Europe; only the Vatican Library was more extensive than Bibliotheca Corviniana. Today around 220 Corvinaes have remained, 55 of which are located in Hungary.

Luxury from Italy

During Matthias’ reign, an important contributor to the collection was János Vitéz, who later became bishop of Várad and archbishop of Esztergom; his library was too inspired by the Italian practice. In fact, several of Matthias’ Corvinaes had previously belonged to the property of Vitéz. He was not the only high priest to enrich the royal collection, though.