Veres Gábor szerk.: Agria 45. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2009)

Kiss Péter: Az egri líceum az egyetemi gondolattól a „magyar Athen” jelképéig (1754-1950)

in 1705 and the law school founded by canon György Foglár in 1740. In 1754 Barkóczy reorganized the way priests in Eger were trained, and in the place of the Jesuits who had previously been entrusted with the task he handed the responsibility for teaching instead to the priests of the diocese. The new term started on 5

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h November 1754. It was then that the bishop announced that the following year they would be starting an arts faculty, and that they would also be adding a law school while at the same raising the resulting three faculties to the rank of public institution. The two-year arts course that was designed to complement the students' previous grammar school studies began in 1755. In 1760 a further step was taken in the creation of the intended institute of further education when the Kisdy seminary in Kassa (Kosice, Slovakia), which also belonged to diocese, was united with that in Eger. It wasn't only the idea of having an institute of further education that is associated with the name of bishop Ferenc Barkóczy, the first building plan was also his brainchild. During his final year as bishop of Eger in 1761 it became apparent that new classrooms were required for the students of the arts course, and that accommodation was needed for the teachers, as the seminary was getting too cramped. As the law school had not by that point encountered space problems of its own the bishop entrusted the Viennese architect József Gerl with the task of planning an Episcopal School for the teaching of theology and philosophy. Barkóczy however was to leave Eger in 1761, having been named archbishop of Esztergom by Maria Theresa. Gerl travelled to Vác in 1761, where Károly Eszterházy was still bishop. It was Eszterházy who then supplemented Barkóczy 's ideas, adding the astronomical observatory and the public library to the building plans. At the consistory assembly that was held in Eger on 1

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t October 1762 Gerl was contracted to design a university building. According to his initial conception it would only have been a single storey building. Two weeks later, however, in the middle of October 1762, the Foglár building belonging to the law students (now the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary) was found to be in such a dangerous condition that teaching had to be terminated with immediate effect. In the new circumstances the decision was taken to provide lecture theatres for the law students in the planned university building. Work on the foundations began in March 1763, and by the autumn of 1774 building had progressed to such a degree that teaching could begin. Although building work had been completed by 1785, the painting work and the furnishing of the building was only finished during the 1790s. Although the authorities prevented the university from coming into existence, the building has nevertheless always been used for educational purposes. A number of institutions have functioned there: a law school, a teacher training colleage, a school of commerce etc. The building has also served a number of other functions