The Bibliotheca Corviniana Collection

The Bibliotheca Corviniana was the second greatest collection of books in Europe in the Renaissance period, after that of the Vatican. It contained works written for King Mathias (1458-1490) and copies of the most important documents known at this time. It represented the literary production and reflected the state of knowledge and arts of the Renaissance. The collection covered philosophy, theology, history, law, literature, geography, natural sciences, medicine, architecture, etc..

Mr. Pal Engel, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences described the importance of the Corvina library as follows: "One of the deepest concerns of King Mathias was the development of a library: he strove for a collection, where the whole body of knowledge of the ancient and modern world would be available. Read more about this element on the UNESCO Memory of the World website