Treasures from Sárospatak: Documents from the Calvinist College, including items from the Rákóczy family
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This collection from Sárospatak, as well as many works of art from private collections, ended up in the State Regional Library of Nizhni Novgorod. After years of effort, 146 books were finally returned to Hungary in February 2006 and the formal opening of their exhibition was attended by President Vladimir Putin on March 1, 2006. The account of the efforts to secure their return is described brilliantly in Grimstead, Patricia Kennedy and Konstantin Akinsha, ”The Sárospatak Case: Rare Books Return to Hungary from Nizhnii Novgorod A New Precedent for Russian Cultural Restitution?“, Antiquity and Law, Vol. XI, Issue 3, September 2006, pp. 215-249. The National Széchenyi Library provides additional discussion and images of these treasures (in Hungarian). Further discussions, also in Hungarian, are in an another work by OSZK.

All bibliographic data come from Displaced Books from Sárospatak Calvinist College Library (Hungary) in the Collections of Nizhny Novgorod Regional Research Library. Compiled by E. Zhuraleva, N. Zubkov, and E. Kormazova (Moscow: Rudomino, 1997). The photographs were taken on two separate trips in 2004 and 2005 by Professor Paul Shore, Professor of Educational Studies, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO. Commentaries were provided by Paul Shore and Richard Quandt. Additional research assistance was provided by Dr. Darin Hayton of Haverford College.


Abbreviations employed in the text are as follows:


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