Kövy Zsolt - Szabó György - S. dr. Lackovits Emőke: A Pápai Református Gyűjtemény (Pápa, 1987)

Zsolt Kövy: The Calvinist Collection of Pápa

ZSOLT KÖVY

The Calvinist Collection of Pápa

The Calvinist Collection of Pápa, officially called the Scientific Collection of Transdanubian Calvinist Church District consists of three institutions: the Library (former college library) Archives of the Church District and the Museum of Ecclesiastical History and Arts.

The Church District Library

(No. 9. Március 15. Square)

The library is nearly as old as the ancient Calvinist College, founded in 1531. There were two mobile presses working in the town — one of Dávid Huszár’s in 1577 and the other of Máté Bernhard’s from 1624 to 1633. These facts and the notes written in the books by the owners can prove the early existence of the library. (The Catechism of Heidelberg, translated into Hungarian, was published here in 1577 by the press of Dávid Huszár. An original copy of it can be found here in the library.)

At first the collection grew richer by legacies and conscious increase can only be mentioned from the beginning of the 19th century. Mihály Veresmarthi a local priest was the first one who donated his whole library to the college after 1664. It included 22 academic dissertations — written by Hungarian, mostly Transdanubian students (some of them from the College of Pápa) — on their study abroad at different universities, mainly in Holland. Later the collection was being enlarged continuously by valuable legacies of books and manuscripts.

The library has a rich collection of precious curiosities of books, manuscripts, charters and print. The oldest of our 35 medieval charters is a deed of gift from 1269 — under the reign of Béla IV. One of the two codices is a book of prayers from the beginning of the 15,h century — written in Gothic type. Its leather binding with

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