HISTORY OF HUNGARY

HISTORY LIBRARY
19 - 24 NOVEMBER 2007
MON - FRI 8.30 - 19.15 SAT 8.30 - 18.00
EXHIBITION
HISTORY OF HUNGARY
Free entrance

EARLY HISTORY OF HUNGARY
The commonly accepted view of the origin of the Magyars (known as Hungarians in English) is that they were nomadic people, originating from the Eurasian plains around, the end of the 9th century AD.

In 896 they settled in Transylvania from where they took possession of Pannonia. "Arpad, was the Magyar leader whom sources name as the single leader who led the conquering Hungarian tribes to the territory of the Carpathian Basin. The ruling prince, Geza, integrated Hungary into Christian (Western) Europe, rebuilding the state according to the Western model.

Hungary was established as a Christian kingdom under Stephen I of Hungary, who was crowned in December 1000 AD in the capital Esztergom.

It emerged a strong kingdom that withstood attacks from German kings and Emperors, and nomadic tribes following the Magyars from the East. The second Hungarian king in the "Anjou" Angevin line of Italian origin Louis I the Great extended his rule over territories from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea, and temporarily occupied the Kingdom of Naples.

In 1526, the Hungarian army was destroyed" in the battle of Mohacs and the Ottoman Empire took over. The next decades where characterised by political chaos. The Habsburg Emperors were crowned as Kings of Hungary. The eastern part of the kingdom (Transylvania), became a Turkish vasal state.

The Turks were indifferent to the type of Christian religion of their subjects and the Habsburg counter-reformation measures did not reach this area. As a result, the majority of the population of the area became Protestant (Calvinist). In 1718 the entire Kingdom of Hungary was restored.

Pozsony, today Bratislava became the new capital (1536-1784, coronation town (1563 - 1830) and seat of the Diet (1536-1848). Later demands for reforms and separatism called for a compromise made by the Emperor by bringing into existence a dual Monarchy Austria - Hungary.

HISTORY LIBRARY
The History Faculty Building houses a library and reading room for 300 readers as well as offices and seminar rooms.

John Robert Seeley was appointed in 1869 as professor of modern history at the University of Cambridge. He valued history solely in its relation to politics, as the science of the" state and that its function was the solution of existing political questions.

His theory was that history should be used for a practical purpose. The Seeley Historical Library in 1895 started a fund to commemorate Sir John Seeley's service to the Empire and the University was establised with a greater part of it devoted to the endowment of the library.

Sir JAMES FRAZER STIRLING
His History Faculty Building is almost identical to the original plans. It was projected to provide multi- directional approaches and to allow cross-campus circulation routes. The building was completed in 1968, awarded a RIBA Gold Medal in 1970 and is listed by English Heritage. James Stirling, was one of the most influential architects of the second half of the 20th century.

He questioned and subverted the compositional and theoretical precepts of the first Modern Movement. He introduced as a source of compositional inspiration, from ancient Rome to Baroque elements.

Notably his museum projects in Duesseldorf, Cologne and Stuttgart. His last completed building while he was still alive in 1991, is the bookshop in the gardens of the Venice Biennale. The Stirling Prize, a British annual prize for architecture since 1996, was named after him.

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