In the framework of the Book of Your Life project, the new community space of the ELTE University Library and Archives was inaugurated for international and domestic students with the opening speech of Rector Dr. László Borhy.
At the opening ceremony, Dr. Kulcsár Szabó Ernőné Gombos Annamária, Director General, welcomed the guests and praised the students' initiative and cooperation in the joint creation of the space. In his speech, the Rector emphasized that the University Library and Archives, in addition to meeting the information needs of students, places special emphasis on promoting multicultural relations, meeting the needs of students and supporting their mental well-being, in line with the University's objectives and internationalization strategy. As a user-oriented cultural institution, the library is committed to fulfilling its mission as a community-building and community-developing institution, in addition to supporting education and research. The new student community space will also serve as a venue for intercultural events and student pop-up exhibitions. Szilva Szöllősi, Head of the Office of University Strategy, gave a brief presentation on the Book of Your Life project, the first milestone of which was the inauguration of the space.
The opening was also the occasion for the presentation of the facsimile edition of Rusalka Dnyistrovaja (Mermaid of Dniester) and the accompanying study volume. In response to questions from the Director of the ELTE Institute of Slavonic and Baltic Philology, Dr. Róbert Kiss Szemán professor, Dr. Viktória Lebovics, senior lecturer and author of the accompanying study, stressed that the adventurous almanac was the first publication in the vernacular Ukrainian language in the Western Ukrainian region, which was published in 1837 in Buda, with the permission of the Hungarian censor, at the Royal Hungarian University Press, after the censorship of the church authorities in Lviv had been banned by the censorship authorities in Vienna, based on the opinion of the church authorities in Lviv. The volume became the first publication written in the vernacular in Galicia, and its importance is seen in the context of the linguistic and cultural revival of the Slavic peoples that began in the early 19th century.
In addition to around 100 copies of the Dniester mermaid in libraries and museums around the world, private libraries also have copies. In Hungary, there are two copies of the first edition: one in the University Library of Eötvös Loránd University, which was most probably a required copy of the University Printing House, and the other in the National Library. The publishers of this volume advocated the development of national cultures and literatures in the national language and were the first to use the phonetic notation of the Ukrainian language. The volume is of great cultural importance for Ukrainians and has its own museum in Lviv. The facsimile edition is a faithful copy of the volume kept in the University Library, which is a limited edition and not available commercially.
The event finished with a standing reception and the opening of a photo exhibition entitled Liminal Quarters, by James Clifford Viloria, PhD student (ELTE Faculty of Earth Sciences, Doctoral School), which depicts the dormitory life of foreign students at ELTE.
All visitors are welcome in our new community space!
