É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.

HAZAI, György: Opening Address

OPENING ADDRESS György Hazai Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my pleasure indeed to welcome you today at the international conference devoted to the memory of Ignác Goldziher, an outstanding Hungarian Orientalist, considered one of the founders of modem Islamic studies. The memorial conference will pay homage to this fine scholar who was bom 150 years ago in Székesfehérvár. There is no doubt that Ignác Goldziher was a giant in the scholarship of this domain: the initiator of research work in many important fields, the results of which were to dominate and influence the development of the related disciplines for many decades after him. A number of them have retained their importance to the present day. Ignác Goldziher was born a Hungarian, but his scholarly activities connected him to the entire world, especially to the European centres of Oriental studies and, at the same time, looking at it geographically, to the proper field of his interest, the real scene of Arabic-Jewish culture and symbiosis in the Middle East. The participants of today's memorial conference, outstanding representatives of the same discipline in which Ignác Goldziher was active, will certainly understand that in my short opening address I will not touch directly on the achievements and merits of this personality of the international academic world of Oriental studies of the past. I would like to avoid generalities and repeating well-known facts which could simply be described with the German saying: "Eulen nach Athen tragen". Instead, my intention is to recall some aspects of the intellectual background of Oriental studies in Hungary, mainly in the lifetime of Ignác Goldziher, which had deeply influenced the development of these disciplines for many decades. The origin of Oriental studies in different countries, as we learned it from various historical sources, may be connected to very different reasons, influences and impulses. From the need to enlarge the scope of scholarly research in biblical studies to the need arising from everyday commercial, political, or even military contacts between Europe and the Orient, the history of our disciplines may display a colourful picture of the contributing factors. 11