Address: 6300 Kalocsa, Szentháromság tér 1.
In the 18th century,
archbishop Adam Patachich bequeathed his
private collection of 19,000 volumes to the archdiocese, thus establishing the Cathedral Library of Kalocsa,
Bibliotheca Metropolitanae Ecclesiae Colocensis. Hundreds and
thousands of ancient codices have been gathered together from the private and Archiepiscopal libraries being predecessors to this final, complex
library of the Cathedral (
Bazilika).
Today we can admire
over 130,000 books here, an ever-growing collection of codices and incunabula, scriptures, songbooks, books of medicine, law, astronomy, and so on.
One ot he most spectacular areas of the library is
the reading room of Archbishop Adam Patachich (1776-1784), decorated in beautiful Baroque style, containing many volumes with gilded leather cover. The historical exhibit of the Library is also housed in this area.
In the so-called Celebration Hall, we can see
a replica of the Holy Crown of the Hungarian Kings.
In 1896, to commemorate the milllenium of the Hungarian Conquest, a group from the High-school of Arts and Crafts created replicas of the coronation regalia.
Two copies were made of each of the crown, scepter, and orb. Of these replicas,
one went to Kalocsa, the other to Rome, in commemoration of the fact that
Asztrik, the first archbishop of Kalocsa, was the one who brought the crown from the Pope to St. Stephen of Hungary (
I. István).
From then on, the replica of the Crown is kept safe in the Celebration Hall of the library at Kalocsa. The replica sent to Rome was exhibited at the Museum of the Vatican until in 1964, when there was an attempt to steel it. Although the theft was unsuccessful, the Crown suffered damage, and therefore it it is not displayed there any longer. The replica at Kalocsa also needed a few small repairs, made in 1967 by Lajos Bartha, master goldsmith.
Images and information courtesy of the
Archiepiscopal Treasury, Kalocsa
Address:
H-6300 Kalocsa
Szentharomsag ter 1
Phone/Fax: +36-78-465-280
Links
Homepage of the Library
History of the Cathedral Library of Kalocsa on Studiolum -- English, Gerrman, Spanish, Hungarian
Related articles
The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Kalocsa
The archdiocese of Kalocsa was founded by St. Stephen of Hungary in 1010, and its first archbishop was Astrik, who delivered St. Stephen’s crown from Pope Sylvester II. From the very beginning, the Archbishop of Kalocsa was next in rank to the Archbishop of Gran, which meant that when Gran was vacant,
the Archbishop of Kalocsa had the right to crown the sovereign.
Treasury of the Archbishopric Kalocsa
The exhibition having
all the collected treasures of the Archbishopric on view was opened in 1988, and is located in the northern wing of the complex. The collection consists of
paintings, sculptures, golden and other precious jewelry from medieval times.
Kalocsa
The "Paprika Capital" of Hungary, Kalocsa is located on the left side of the Danube, 75 miles from Budapest.
The Archbishopric of Kalocsa was
founded by St. Stephen in 1001, and the city's first Archbishop,
Bishop Astrid had the honor of bringing the Holy Crown to Saint Stephen, founder of the Christian state of Hungary.
Image:
Statue of Asztrik on Kalocsa's Szt. Istvan Street
Paprika Museum Kalocsa
The Paprika Museum gives visitors
an insight into the details of the manufacturing processes of the world-famous Hungarian paprika. Also called the red gold, this sweet herb is essential in the culinary culture and the traditional image of Hungary.
