Mázi Béla, Rozsondai Marianne: A Magyar Tudományos Akadémia és az 1848/49-es forradalom és szabadságharc : kiállítás a 150 éves évfordulón a Magyar Tudomány Napja 1998-as rendezvényeihez kapcsolódóan

Guide to the Exhibition

Between autumn 1849 and summer 1850, all official activities of the HAS were suspended. It was by letters that President Teleki regularly contacted the members. In early 1850, he called the members' attention to their chief obligations, that is, the maintenance of the standards of literary language and the promotion of scholarship. Count György ANDRÁSSY (HM) [board 14: painting), one of the Academy's founders and friend of István Széchenyi's youth, used his influence with Baron Karl Geringer, civilian commissioner with full authority in Hungary, to speak on behalf of the HAS. The sine qua non of getting back to normal was the formation of a board to investigate the Academy's part in the revolution. Andrássy managed to be appointed chairman of the board, whose members he chose from among those of the HAS. In its final report, the board declared that the HAS had not infringed its statutes in 1848-1849. Also, it was announced that the board was not able to learn the names of those who had taken part in the revolution, neither could it afford to take on the duties of a court of justice in order to convict members of the HAS. Finally, Andrássy got together the session of the Sections for 10 June 1850, and with his keynote address (show-case 9: no. 7) the HAS began functioning after a year of intermission. Although it was permitted to hold sessions, neither the general assembly nor the Board of Directors was allowed to function, which practically meant that new members could not have been elected. In spite of the restrictions, the HAS succeeded in launching a new encyclopaedic journal, entitled Új Magyar Múzeum (New Hungarian Museum) (show-case 9: nos. 11-13), and the Akadémiai Értesítő (Bulletin of the Academy) was also out again. It was only ten years after the revolution, in 1858, that the HAS fully reclaimed the rights guaranteed by its statutes. English translation by Gábor Tóth Revised by Éva Prőhle