Biblioteca Corviniana was one of the most renowned libraries of the Renaissance world, established b
Biblioteca Corviniana was one of the most renowned libraries of the Renaissance world, established by #MatthiasCorvinus, King of Hungary, in Buda Castle between 1458 and 1490. It was destroyed after the Hungarian defeat by the Ottomans in the Battle of Mohács in 1526. As for its size, only estimates can be made; but it was the second greatest collection of its era, the first being the Vatican Library. At the king’s death in 1490, the library consisted of about 3,000 codices or “Corvinae” which included about four to five thousand various works, many of classical Greek and Latin authors. It represented the literary production and reflected the state of knowledge and arts of the Renaissance and included works of philosophy, theology, history, law, literature, geography, natural sciences, medicine, architecture, and many others. According to currently available research data, of this unique collection approximately 220 volumes survived, currently kept by major libraries across Europe and the United States. Currently, 55 corvinas are kept in Hungary, the majority (37 volumes) in the Hungarian national library (#NationalSzéchényiLibrary). The liberary is working on projects to restore the Corvina library in digital form.Items from the Bibliotheca Corviniana were inscribed on #UNESCO ’s Memory of the World Register in 2005 in recognition of their historical significance. -- source link