The 800^th anniversary of the mediaeval reconstruction and consecration of the Basilica of Saint Martin has been celebrated this year. On 27 August, the jubilee celebration was attended by the illustrious representatives of the Hungarian Catholic Church and those of the Hungarian public life besides the Benedictine family. The solemn liturgy was presided by the present successors of the bishops of Vác and Nyitra who consecrated the church in 1224. The celebration of the Eucharist was led, and the sermon was delivered by Bishop Marton Zsolt.

Within the framework of the Days of Wine-History in Győr, Mathias Corvinus Collegium organised professional conversations on Chapter Hill. On 24 August, one of the panels discussed the brewing traditions of the episcopal and monastic estates with the participation of Nemes Gábor, the head of the Diocesan Archives of Győr, and Dénesi Tamás, the director of the Archabbey’s Archives in Pannonhalma. Last year, in the same programme, in a similar arrangement, they were the very partners in the conversation about the past of ecclesiastical wine-culture.

On the feast of Saint Stephen, Archabbot Hortobágyi T. Cirill awarded the Pro Pannonhalma Prize to Dénesi Tamás, the director of our Archives. On the same festive occasion, the same prize was awarded to Liptai Zsolt, the managing director of the Wine-Cellars of the Pannonhalma Archabbey, and to Demján Sándorné, the benefactress of the Archabbey. The Archabbey of Pannonhalma bestows the prize upon those permanent and casual colleagues, who have contributed to the attainment of the monastery’s intentions significantly and for a considerable time.

The associations of ecclesiastical collections hold their annual three-day itinerary congress at the beginning of summer. The Association of the Hungarian Church Archivists (MELTE) and the Museologists’ Association of Christian Churches (EME) – as usual – organised together a shared conference in Pápa this year as well. The programme of almost 80 participants was housed by the Scholarly Collections of the Transdanubian Reformed Church District between 26 and 28 June.

In addition to the first nine volumes of Collectanea Sancti Martini, the Bulletin of the Archabbey’s Collection, the three volumes of the series of conferences entitled The Benedictines in Hungary during the Dictatorship of the Party State can be browsed on Hungaricana. We wish all inquirers edifying perusal and fruitful study.

On 7 June, the leaders of Pannonhalma’s cultural sectors (library, archives, museum, cultural office) visited the National Széchényi Library. They saw the exhibition entitled The Forms of Time – including the Pannonhalma Book of Hours –, then in the Apponyi Room, they were introduced to codex-fragments, incunabula and manuscripts connected with Benedictines. The time spent together was concluded with a friendly conversation.

On 11 June, we received colleagues from Győr. The members of the Hungarian National Archives’ Győr Archives of Győr-Moson-Sopron County paid a day-visit to us, they were guided around in our Archives, Library and periodic exhibition. They were introduced to the less frequently visited areas of the monastery and the museum (refectory, collection of minerals, treasury, collection of icons), and they participated in the monastic divine office. The time spent together was concluded in the herb garden and on the Pausa confectionery’s terrace.

On 11 June, the members of the HUN-REN–NSZL Fragmenta et Codices Research Group visited Pannonhalma to see our periodic exhibition entitled Abbot Uros and His Work. Our colleagues from Budapest were also guided around in the Museum’s treasury and collection of minerals, which was opened in the near past.

You can read about the research group and their work here .

On 9 May, Hungarian and Romanian students of the Babeş-Bolyai University of Kolozsvár/Cluj majoring in history visited our Archives – not for the first time – led by Nagy Róbert-Miklós, senior assistant professor. As usual, they visited us between their archival programmes in Vienna and Budapest. Many teachers – among them Rüsz-Fogarasi Enikő, Vice Dean – joined the group. Our guests were guided around in the abbey and the periodic exhibition entitled Abbot Uros and His Work.

The periodic exhibition entitled Abbot Uros and His Work puts on show three documents, which are kept in the Siena State Archives. The documents were brought to Pannonhalma by Cinzia Cardinali, the Director of the Archives; she visited our Archives as well. The letters were written on 2 and 3 February 1242. They were sent to the pope in Rome; the first one by Abbot Uros and his monastic community from Pannonhalma, the second one by the same people and the Benedictine abbots in Hungary, the third one by the spiritual and temporal notabilities, who “survived the Tartars”.