• 2016-02-18

     On the 17th of February, 2016, Dr. László Tüske, Director General of the National Széchényi Library (Hungarian: Országos Széchényi Könyvtár, OSZK), visited the National Central Library (NCL) Rare Book Room and Collection. He was also invited to speak on “The Role and Tasks of an East-Central European National Library in the 21st century”. It was an occasion to have interaction and direct exchanges with many Taiwanese researchers, librarians, teachers and students.

     Director General Tüske specially offered to the NCL, book collections from the OSZK. Among them is the Hungarian-Chinese bilingual edition of “A Complete work of Chinese Science and Inventions”. In return, NCL Director General Shu Hsien Tseng offered a Taiwan blue magpie porcelain plate as souvenir. Director General Tüske was very impressed by NCL’s ongoing exhibition of manuscripts collections and a wealth of rare books and digitized collections operations. He had direct exchanges with NCL staffs on rare books and documents preservation as well as other related topics.

     The 2016 Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) features Hungary as its theme country, introducing the country's literature, illustrations, photography and cinema to Taiwanese readers. Last year, Director General Tseng was in the National Széchényi Library to sign the Memorandum of Agreement and gave a talk to share NCL’s rich national digital collection and digital experience with librarians from the National Széchényi Library as well as librarians from other libraries of the country. On this occasion, Director General Tseng invited Director General Tüske to come to Taiwan to give a Talk and to participate in the TIBE.

     Before Director General Tüske gave his speech, NCL Director General Tseng spoke in Chinese and English to welcome all the guests present and then introduced Director General Tüske. Director General Tüske’s research and studies focus mainly on Arabic literature. He has been in Iraq and Egypt to make researches. Dr. Tüske has taught at the Catholic University, Department of Arabic and also served as a researcher in the Middle East studies. From 1975 onwards, Dr. Tüske has been in the library enterprise. In August 2014, he took over as Director General of the National Széchényi Library. Dr. Tüske has served the library field for more than 40 years.

     The Eastern European Countries have a long history, having rich cultural heritage and considerable artistic achievements, especially Hungary. Since the early 15th century, Hungary has already had the luxurious Bibliotheca Corviniana. In the development history of world libraries, Hungary is a country with a long history.

     In his speech, Director General Tüske mentioned about the Corvina Library which is the first and biggest Renaissance-era library outside Italy but was destroyed during the war. Currently, there are 216 volumes scattered around the world, of which 35 volumes are preserved in the National Széchényi Library. They were digitized for preservation and are placed in the OSZK web site to share this important cultural heritage with the public.

     Director General Tüske first introduced the history of the various stages of the National Széchényi Library then proceeded to talk about the plan of modernizing the Library. The current OSZK is located in Budapest, Buda Castle Palace. There is a future plan to build a new library.

     Besides introducing the National Széchényi Library, Director General Tüske used a number of short films and briefings to introduce the Library’s special collections including the first map of Hungary, printed books of the early times, manuscript of the Hungarian national anthem, drama scripts, music, leather postcards, wedding invitations and many kinds of small prints. One can see a rich variety of collections.

     The audience were rapt with great interest and enthusiastically asked questions regarding the standard in collecting postcards, the written language of the collection on the “Legends of St. Francis of Assisi” as well as whether there are also Asian books and journals in the National Széchényi Library.

     In October-November this year, the National Central Library and the National Széchényi Library will jointly hold the “Exhibition; Imprints of Civilization”. It will exhibit the history of Chinese books development as well as a series on the history of civilization planned and produced by the National Széchényi Library. Afterwards, the ancient civilization of India will be on display.

     Last year, Director General Tseng went to Hungary to sign a cooperation agreement with Dr. Tüske. On this occasion, the National Széchényi Library offered the Chinese-Hungarian dual language version of “The Journey to the West” and other valuable information books to the NCL. This year happens to be Taiwan's Lunar New Year of the Monkey! There will be a movie on the theme of the “Journey to the West” showing in the theaters this year. She encouraged the audience to not only watch the movie but also come to the NCL to see, read and appreciate the bilingual version of the “Journey to the West”.

     Besides, Hungarian people are very fond of music and dance. The National Széchényi Library has over eight million rich collections of literature and theater music materials. In 2014, they included the Mozart "Turkish March" 4- page manuscript in their collection.

     Representative Levente Székely from the Hungarian Trade Office in Taipei donated a set of 50 CDs (Heritage of Our Future XX→ XXI) that represents classic traditional Hungarian folk music collection for a century to the NCL in 2014. The NCL thus becomes the first library in Asia to receive an official donation of this set. Director General Tseng also encouraged the folk music lovers to come to the NCL and appreciate the beautiful music.

Director General Tüske of the National Széchényi Library and Director General Shu Shien Tseng of the National Central Library exchanging gifts

Director General Tüske visiting the Rare Books Room

Director General Tüske giving a Talk and interacting with the audience