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

GUIDE TO THE EXHIBITION* At the 3 November 1825 session of the National Diet in Pozsony, Count István Széchenyi offered a year's income of his landed property for the founding of a Hungarian Learned Society. This society, that is, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), "took up its duties in 1831," as one of the tablets on the faqade of the Academy's palace (finished in 1865) puts it. Spring 1848 The political events of early 1848 (the Pozsony Diet, the revolution in Vienna, and the March 15 revolutionary actions in Pest-Buda) had, of course, quite an effect on the HAS. An ad hoc session of the HAS, held by 38 members "in the presence of a number of guests" on May 20, greeted the events with great enthusiasm. Addressing the session, Secretary General Ferenc TOLDY (drawing; showcases 1, 8, 9) spoke of the recently "attained freedom of press and, in general, of the swift and fortunate transformation of the nation's political conditions." On motion of poet János GARAY (board 12), corresponding member (CM), the HAS expressed its heartfelt thanks to the people of Pest for the role they had played in attaining the freedom of press. The issue of reforming the HAS was also raised. On another motion, proposed by ordinary member (M) poet Mihály VÖRÖSMARTY (painting; show-cases 5, 8), a board was charged with the duty of "drawing up a plan of radically reforming the organisation and the statutes of the Society." In addition, members attending the session decided to have the national colours hoisted in one of the windows of the Academy's headquarters (Trattner-Károlyi house in Pest; photos on board 8/a). The flag (show-case 8: no. 6), inscribed with the Society's long invented "but only recently implemented" motto, "Serenity after tempest," was meant to show their "delight and gratitude for the rebirth of our nation." * When cited for the first time, the names of members of the Academy are capitalised in case their activities are documented at the exhibition.