Visit of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium to the National Széchényi Library

2025/12/13

On Thursday, 11 December 2025, a delegation from the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium in Hungary paid an official visit to the National Széchényi Library. The delegation was led by His Excellency Jeroen Vergeylen, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Hungary. Zsuzsanna Lénárt, Head of the Budapest Office of the Diplomatic Representation of Flanders, also took part in the visit. István Káptalan, Director General of the Haydneum – Hungarian Centre for Early Music, a close professional partner of the national library, was also present at the meetings.

The delegation was hosted by Dávid Rózsa, Director General of the National Széchényi Library. One of the key topics of the discussions was the exploration of opportunities for future cooperation. In addition, the participants reviewed the progress of the processing and digitalization of the Bártfa Collection, which is of particular importance to the visiting delegation. This collection unit, comprising more than seventy volumes—including thirty-three manuscript items and twenty printed ones—contains a significant number of works associated with masters of the Netherlandish and Franco-Flemish schools.

Following the meeting, the guests visited the library’s digitalization centre, where Gábor Klinger, Head of the Digitalization Department, provided an overview of the centre’s operations and achievements. This was followed by a presentation by Anna Laskai, Head of the Department of Theatre History and Music, who introduced several highlighted items from the Bártfa Collection, including works by Josquin des Prez, Heinrich Isaac, Thomas Crequillon and Jacob Vaet.

The visit concluded with a tour of the exhibition section entitled House of Poetry, which focuses on fine manuscript copies of iconic poems of Hungarian culture preserved in the national library, including the Hymn, Appeal (Szózat) and National Song (Nemzeti dal).

The Bártfa Collection (1537–1669) is the earliest coherent collection unit of the Theatre History and Music Department of the National Széchényi Library. Originating from the music archive of the Church of St Giles in Bártfa (today Bardejov, Slovakia), the material preserves more than 2,600 works from the golden age of vocal polyphony of the 16th and 17th centuries in the form of manuscript and printed partbooks and tablatures.

The collection was purchased by the Hungarian state in 1914 for what was then the central music collection held within the core holdings. The restoration of the severely damaged material began in the late 1950s and continued in 1970.