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The Hungarian Academy of Sciences (in short: HAS; in Hungarian:
Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and
prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of
the Danube in Budapest. The history of the academy began in 1825,
when Count István Széchenyi offered one year's income of his estate
for the purposes of a Learned Society at a district session of the
Diet in Pressburg (Pozsony, present Bratislava, seat of the
Hungarian Parliament at the time), and his example was followed by
other delegates. Its task was specified as the development of the
Hungarian language and the study and propagation of the sciences and
the arts in Hungarian. It received its current name in 1845. Its
central building was inaugurated in 1865, in neo-Renaissance style.
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Fényképalbum |
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The
building of the Academy, inaugurated in 1865, was built at a turning
point in the urban and architectural history of Budapest as one of
the first yet most mature and valuable historicising examples of the
neo-Renaissance style. This architectural trend, which virtually
dominated the construction boom in Budapest that started in the
1870s, had been an alien, controversial new tendency in Hungary only
a decade before. While west and east of us, in Paris and St.
Petersburg, classicism developed evenly in the direction of the
neo-Renaissance and, later, at the end of the century, the
neo-Baroque style, in Hungary the events of 1848 caused a break in
urban development and construction, as a result of which the new
style could not emerge as part of an internal organic development.
This explains the heated arguments that surrounded the building of
the palace.
HIRDETÉS The stormy events of its birth did not leave their mark on this
harmonious, building, richly ornamented both inside and outside,
which has always been a distinctive element of the cityscape. One of
the reasons is the difference in scale that has always set it apart
from the neighbouring buildings. It was larger than the surrounding
classicistic buildings of the Reform Age, breaking the well-ordered
unity and harmony of the square. But a half a century later the
Academy already looked small beside the huge newly erected bank and
insurance head offices, and compared to the government buildings and
hotels today. Nevertheless, the closed, clean-cut mass, the heavy
block of the projection, and its mature architecture make the palace
even today one of the prominent sights of the square.
The Prussian king's architect, Friedrich August Stüler, who, after
long debates and against much protest, was commissioned to design
the palace, brought to Hungary a blend of the Renaissance style of
Northern Italy and the Neo-Renaissance tendencies of Berlin. In
addition to designing the main facade and the floor plan, he played
a decisive part in the selection of the architectural and sculptural
ornaments that have become a distinctive feature of the building.
The spatial unity of the vestibule and the staircase, the
spaciousness of the exhibit halls on the third floor, the
proportions of the ceremonial hall expressing the spatial ideal of
the transitional style - of Romanticism and the Neo-Baroque - of the
period combine to form an architectural work that stands
unparalleled in the Hungarian architecture of this period marked by
growth all over the capital.
The harmony that characterises the facade and the spatial
arrangement of the building cannot always be found inside, where the
various, not fully harmonious ornamental tendencies of the period
are seen side by side.
Allegorisation, a characteristic trend of the period, played an
important part in the ornamentation of the facade and the interior,
both in the 1860s while construction was underway and 20-30 years
later when the last masterpiece in interior ornamentation, the
figural and ornamental design of the ceremonial hall, was completed.
The external design of the building, the palace, with three facades
and an enclosed court, has a three-storey-tall middle projection and
two-storey- tall side and back wings. The prominent quintaxial
middle projection is the distinctive architectural element of the
main facade. Red marble steps lead up to three arched entrances
flanked by two arched windows of equal width on either side of the
projection. The deep-set openings are separated by wide symmetrical
pilasters. A simple string cornice separates the ballustraded
balcony above the arches. The balustrade above the pilasters is
interrupted by pedestals decorated with marble inlay and rhombus
design.
The most accentuated element of the main facade is the bold
architectural design of the facade of the projection containing the
two-storey-tall Ceremonial Hall, which treats the two storeys as a
single unit. The five large enormous arched windows adorned with
stone ornaments and carved stone dividers are separated by column
pairs. The work of Miklós Izsó showing the coat of arms of Hungary
with the crown held by graceful winged angels can be seen above the
central window, and an inscribed tablet held by angels can be seen
above each of the four other windows. The inscriptions read:
FOUNDED BY PATRIOTS
(Hazafiak alapították)
MDCCCXXV;
COMMENCED OPERATION (Működni kezdett)
MDCCCXXXI;
ERECTED BY THE NATION (Nemzeti részvét emelte)
MDCCCLX;
ITS HOUSE COMPLETED (Háza felépült)
MDCCCLXIV.
The arched paired windows on the second floor of the projection are
also separated by paired columns with a Corinthian capital that
flank terracotta statues made in Berlin. The allegorical female
figures personify the sciences: natural science, jurisprudence,
philosophy, mathematics, and history. Apollo and Minerva heads set
in medallions are seen above them.
The main facade section of the side wings is much simpler and
essentially the same as the facades facing the Danube and Akadémia
Street. A row of simple arched windows above the red marble base
articulate the surface of the ashlar-covered ground-level wall. The
arched windows of the first floor are adorned with baluster railing,
and the paired windows on the second floor with panelled railing.
The terracotta statues of outstanding scholars and artists decorate
the second floor, and candelabras stand at the corners of the
ballustrated attic above the cornice.
On Stüler's suggestion, the terracotta statues of scholars,
similarly to the allegorical female figures, were ordered from
Berlin. The Berlin sculptor Emil Wolff made the molds for all of the
statues except for the statue of
the Hungarian philologist, Miklós Révai, which was made by Miklós
Izsó. The statues of Galilei and Révai stand at the two sides of the
main facade, those of Newton and Lomonosov - the latter replaced the
statue of Raphael after the Second World War - on the Danube facade,
and those of Descartes and Leibniz on the facade facing the Akadémia
Street.
The Danube facade is articulated by a triaxial central projection
that rises slightly from the wall surface. The arched ground-floor
windows are flanked by massive, ashlar-covered pilasters, the
first-floor windows by symmetrical wall pilasters and columnar
arching. As opposed to the main facade, here the allegorical female
figures - Archeology, Poetry, Astronomy, and Politics - on the
second floor are statues in the round. Candelabras on the
balustrated attic accentuate the corners of the projection. The
structural design of the less accented quintaxial sections of the
Danube facade resembles that of the subordinate sections of the main
facade.
Due to the difference in level height inside the wing with 15 axes
which faces Akadémia Street, the arched windows on the ground floor
are set directly on the cornice above the base, below the level of
the windows of the main facade.
An embossed memorial plaque, commemorating the foundation of the
Academy in 1825, on the corner of the wing conceals this difference
in level height. The plaque depicts István Széchenyi surrounded by
others who contributed to the founding of the Academy. The relief is
Barnabás Holló's work, which was cast in bronze by the Beschorner
Company in 1892 and unveiled on January 15, 1893.
The palace interior
Ground floor
Through the main gate we enter the groined vaulted vestibule divided
into three aisles by paired columns set on high pedestals. This
grand reception area had often been the scene of important events.
Many a deceased member of the Academy lay in state here, such as the
statesman Ferenc Deák, at whose catafalque even Queen Elizabeth (of
Hungary) paid tribute. When she died, the Academy paid homage by
commissioning Barnabás Holló to commemorate the event. The marble
relief was put on the east wall of the vestibule in 1914. The
intimate atmosphere of the relief showing an idyllic glorification
of the Compromise of 1867 has little to do with the Reform-Age
spirit that the relief on the wall outside calls to mind.
A wide flight of steps leads from the central aisle of the vestibule
to the elevated cross corridor, from where a grand staircase with
laced, gold-plated cast iron railing starts and, branching out
halfway, leads upstairs in a sweeping curve. The staircase in the
semicircular projection toward the courtyard is lit through three
big windows on both the first and the second floor. These windows
close the upward sweep of the vestibule and the staircase, which
gives the impression of spaciousness when we enter the building.
Turning left in the ground-floor cross corridor we reach a series of
rooms in the two storey-tall Danube wing, where the Academy's rich
library once was and the academic club and restaurant is found today.
Along the central axis of the rooms with a view of the Danube, a
line of slender ornamented cast iron column pairs set on high
pedestals can be seen, supporting high-arched groined vaults
separated by tie-beams. The groined vaults are adorned by gracefully
draped female figures set in blue rhombus frames. The archaizing
decorative painting and the gilded and colourful painting of the
columns make this the most colourful area of the building.
Turning right in the cross corridor, we reach the three rooms of the
Oriental Collection in the corner. The panels and furniture in the
middle room made in the 1950s are an interesting late example of
Oriental archaism. Formerly, Elischer's Goethe Collection was
exhibited in the corner room on the left. The display cases here
were made at the turn of 20th century. The colours and motifs of the
decorative painting were restored during the reconstruction of the
building.
The rooms of the Academy's archives in the northern courtyard wing
have a similar cast iron column and vault structure as the rooms of
the former library.
The first floor
The Ceremonial Hall occupies the first and second floors of the
frontal projection. A coved vault with panels and gilded accentuated
ribs with painted decoration covers the longitudinal area of the
Hall. The ornamental elements of the vault are the work of Albert
Schickedanz, who designed the Museum of Fine Arts. The vault rests
on plaster caryatid pairs standing on pedestals set on the
balustrade of the gallery, while the gallery itself is supported by
evenly spaced red marble column pairs. The gallery with gilded
balustrade adorned with grotesque motifs runs along three sides of
the Hall. The row of caryatid pairs standing on columns is repeated
in the space between the enormous frontal windows as if framing them.
The moulds for the caryatid figures, similarly to the figural
ornaments of the facade, were brought from Berlin.
The east and west walls of the Hall are decorated by triptychs
painted by Károly Lotz. Medieval and Renaissance architecture in the
paintings link the compositions, which were intended to give a
comprehensive picture of Hungarian cultural history. Saint Stephen
is the central figure of the painting on the west wall and King
Matthias of the one on the east wall. Allegorical Lotz paintings
personifying the sciences and the arts can be seen in the lunettes
above the windows and in the ceiling panels, which form a harmonious
unit with the richly ornamented and colourful decorative painting of
the ceiling and the wall surfaces. The general assembly of the
Academy convenes in the Ceremonial Hall, which nowadays also
functions as a concert hall. At one time parliamentary sessions were
also held there.
A doorway in the Ceremonial Hall leads into the council room of the
Presidium. From there we reach a peculiar, long and narrow corridor
designed according to the scientific requirements of the 1860s for
conducting optical experiments. The next room, as we move into the
Danube wing, is known as the Hall of Pictures. Originally, the
allegory of the Academy and Széchenyi's full-figure portrait by
Johann Ender were exhibited here. Today, portraits of academicians
can be seen in this traditionally furnished room.
Behind the slight projection of the central part of the Danube wing
facade, there is a small conference room called the Reading Room or
Conference Room, where sessions and readings for which the
Ceremonial Hall was too big were held. The ornamental moulding of
this room is one of the richest in the building, but the four Ligeti
landscapes are its greatest treasure, two of which were commissioned
specifically for this room. Allegorical plaster medallions adorn
each of the four corners of the panelled ceiling, in the middle of
which a round frieze decorated with a garland of fruit and putti
surrounds the base of the chandelier. Formerly, the corridor, formed
a part of the Reading Room where the general public interested in
hearing lectures by academicians was admitted.
A plaque in the northernmost rooms in the Danube wing commemorates
the folk music researchers Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, who worked
here in the 1930s.
The Presidium occupies the rooms in the corner on the first floor of
the Akadémia Street wing overlooking Roosevelt Square, where
originally the Kisfaludy Society worked. Their painted ornamentation
was uncovered and restored during the reconstruction of the
building. The rest of the rooms in this wing are the conference
rooms of the Scientists' Club. They were badly damaged during the
Second World War, and rebuilt in their present state in the 1950s,
together with what is today the splendid, alcoved Concert Hall. In
the 19th century these rooms were the official residence of the
secretary-general. The most famous secretary-general, the novelist
János Arany, was the first to live here. His armchair has been put,
as a reminder, in the corner room overlooking the courtyard. The
former secretariat of the Academy, thus Arany's office, too, was
located in the north wing where now we find the store rooms and
research rooms of the Manuscript Collection of the Library.
The second floor
The gallery in the Ceremonial Hall occupies the second floor behind
the main facade. The rooms of the Danube wing formerly housed the
Esterházy Gallery, where, originally, caryatids lined the spaciously
separated cabinets giving the series of rooms a dynamic spatial
effect. After the Second World War a small lecture hall was built in
the corner overlooking Roosevelt Square and a large one in the part
overlooking the Danube. Only two caryatid pairs survived the war.
The lecture halls remained even after the reconstruction; however,
the application of the old architectural motifs in the larger one
recalls something of the beauty of the former series of rooms.
The offices of the Secretariat are located in the corner rooms of
the wing facing the Akadémia Street, where the Széchenyi Museum once
was. Here, too, the decorative painting, reflecting the magnificence
of the architecture, has been restored to its original state.
The third floor
The exhibition rooms of the former Esterházy Gallery, located in the
frontal projection and in the area above the semicircular staircase
and covered by a glass roof, have been restored in their original
form together with the original colors, painted and ornamental
decoration. The structure and color scheme of these splendid rooms,
which were the first built in Pest specifically for exhibition
purposes, are excellent and characteristic examples of 19th-century
museum architecture. The portraits, landscapes, historical genre
paintings, archeological drawings, Elischer's Goethe collection, and
the very beautiful objets d'art of the Széchenyi Museum are among
the most important treasures of the Academy's fine arts collection.
Some of these works adorn the palace rooms. The richest donation to
the fine arts collection was made by Count István Széchenyi. The
allegorical painting of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences by Johann
Ender was also his gift.
It is one of the important gains of the reconstruction that the
rooms unused for decades have regained their original function, and
today, in addition to exhibiting the Academy's rich fine arts
collection, they also house temporary exhibitions.
Written by Mária Kemény
First decades (1825-1867)
The task of the society was specified as the development of the
Hungarian language and the study and propagation of the sciences and
the arts in Hungarian. Act XI of 1827 stated: "The voluntarily and
freely donated capital in money shall be used to establish the
Learned Society, that is, the Hungarian Academy."
The foundation of the Learned Society in Hungary, then on the
threshold of bourgeois transformation, meant the realization of
earlier aspirations that held that developing the Hungarian language
and the flourishing of science were one of the important means of
national progress.
A committee of the four founders and eleven writers and scholars
worked out the bylaws of association, which the monarch endorsed in
1831, and the first "general assembly" of the Hungarian Learned
Society convened on February 14, 1831.
The foundation itself pointed in the direction of bourgeois
development, while the bylaws and the organization reflected the
feudal conditions of the time of their conception. The Learned
Society was directed by a 25-member Governing Board confirmed by the
king. The Governing Board of mostly aristocrats and Church
dignitaries selected the first members, elected the president and
vice-president from among themselves and managed the Society's
assets. The president and the vice-president were confirmed by the
king. The bylaws stipulated that the Society was obligated to submit
its publications to censorship, and its members were obliged to
abstain from politics.
Society members gathered in six sections: I. Linguistics, II.
Philosophy, III. Historiography, IV. Mathematics, V. Jurisprudence,
VI. Natural Science. In accordance with the bylaws, the Society had
24 honorary, 42 full, and an unspecified number of corresponding
members. The first full members included the poets Dániel Berzsenyi
and Sándor Kisfaludy, the writer and language reformer Ferenc
Kazinczy, the poets and dramatists Károly Kisfaludy and Mihály
Vörösmarty. The first president of the Learned Society was Count
József Teleki, its vice-president Count István Széchenyi, and its
first secretary Gábor Döbrentei, who was replaced by Ferenc Toldy, a
physician and literary historian, in 1835.
Its work was regulated by weekly meetings and annual assemblies.
Members reported on their research results, students of the arts
read their poems and literary works. The themes of competitions were
worked out and subsequently judged at the weekly meetings.
Commemorative lectures were also read there. Attendance was
compulsory for full members residing in Budapest. Sections began to
hold separate meetings only from the 1840s on. New members were
elected by the assembly by secret ballot on the written
recommendation of honorary and full members.
Organizing the Society's library enriched the Society and helped
improve the conditions of scholarly work. Its foundations were laid
by the Teleki family's 30,000 volume library and enriched by further
donations and the foreign exchange of books. It also acquired
important manuscript bequests.
During the first decade of the Learned Society's existence, its
organizational framework operational system were established. At the
same time, the partly organizational shortcomings, which became an
obstacle to work, also came to the surface. The emergent reform
aspirations in the country also exerted their influence in the
Society, as a result of which proposals and demands for increased
professionalism, as well as certain organizational changes, were
formulated. A debate started on the aims of the Society over whether
the Academy was a scholarly or a linguistic institute. Proposals
were made to reorganize the six sections into four or three sections
and concurrently establish their autonomy in their respective fields
of study. There were criticisms of the power wielded by the
Governing Board and the learned body's dependent position. It was
noted that the natural sciences needed greater scope and greater
financial assistance. These aspirations led to certain internal
changes, but any modification of the bylaws was resisted by the
Court.
The Learned Society, or the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (as it
came to be called after 1845), worked successfully up to 1848 in
developing the Hungarian language and literature and the national
theater. It espoused the collection of Hungarian folk poetry, posted
competitions for the solution of questions of national interest, and
commissioned the writing and translation of plays. It laid the
foundations for scientific book and journal publishing in Hungary.
It regularly awarded prizes for outstanding scientific and literary
achievements.
The prelude to and outbreak of the
1848 revolution, again brought the unsolved questions to the
surface. On March 20, 1848, preparations for reforming the bylaws
began. Some of the proposals for reform put forth that officers be
elected by the members and not by the Governing Board, that the
state extend financial assistance to the Academy, and that the
lectures be made public. Others said that the measure of Academy
members should be talent and knowledge, not birth or privileges.
However, military actions pursuant to the outbreak of the revolution
prevented the convening of the assembly to modify the bylaws as
planned for the fall. The reform had to wait for better times. But
they did not come.
The country's occupation after the defeat of the revolution and the
war for independence greatly restrained the work of the Academy. It
resumed partial activity only in spring 1850 with the imperial
commissioner's permission. It was allowed to hold the weekly
meetings but not the assembly for electing members. The new
vice-president, Count György Andrássy, instead of the sickly
president, directed the Academy's limited work.
The Academy - on imperial order - requested a license to operate,
the granting of which was conditional on the modification of the
bylaws. The new bylaws were framed by the government, approved by
the monarch, and acknowledged by the Academy only in 1858. Until
then it was allowed to work - for years without legal grounds - only
under the direct supervision of the imperial commissioner.
Permission was needed to hold meetings, and these were attended by
the imperial commissioner.
The dual nature of the new bylaws characterizes the period well. On
the one hand, it reflected dependence, the strict control exercised
over the scope of activity by the ruling power which treated the
country as if it were a province. Accordingly, instead of election
by the Governing Board, it was the monarch who selected one of three
candidates for the presidency, and instead of election by the
assembly, it was the governor-general who nominated new members. On
the other hand, it contained those changes in the Academy's
organizational structure which guaranteed the framework for activity
by legalizing the committee system, still in an early stage of
development, and independent section meetings. Henceforth the
institution was officially called the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
After nine years, the Academy held its ceremonial general assembly
in December 1858. Its greatly reduced membership acquired 74 new
members. This was the time when such eminent figures of Hungarian
literature as the poet
János Arany, the doctor-writer Pál Gyulai, the novelist
Mór
Jókai, the historian Sándor Szilágyi, and the art historian
Arnold Ipolyi became members. The number of representatives of the
natural sciences also grew significantly. They included the surgeon
János Balassa, the geographer János Hunfalvy, and the physicist
Ányos Jedlik, the engineer József Stoczek, the geologist József
Szabó. In the 1850s, more than half of the Governing Board members
were replaced. Baron József Eötvös and Ferenc Deák joined the
leading body in 1855. This same year, Count Emil Dessewffy succeeded
József Teleki as president, and Baron József Eötvös became
vice-president.
In the 1850s, debates at the Academy, operating under difficult
circumstances, were renewed from time to time, in order to decide
the role of scholarship and the Academy in society, its function in
the bourgeois transformation of society. One group of social and
natural scientists, who considered the exploration of reality to be
the task of science and the service of the emerging bourgeois
Hungary to be the Academy's national duty, came into conflict with
those forces that tried to effect even the inevitable and absolutely
necessary changes by relying solely on the aristocracy. By the end
of the 1850s and the beginning of the 1860s, the balance of forces
in the Academy changed in favor of a rational, realistic policy. The
Academy was directed increasingly by Vice-President József Eötvös;
Ferenc Toldy was succeeded by László Szalay as secretary in 1861 and
he, in turn, by János Arany in 1864.
In the 1860s, the Academy's activity was increasingly pervaded by
the science policy principle, according to which the results
achieved in the natural and engineering sciences abroad were to be
adopted and the sciences "developed further to the best of our
ability." Furthermore, the social sciences had to employ modern
methods to explore and show the nation's historical past, past and
present life conditions, changes in the economy, the processes of
urbanization. Secretary János Arany put this program as follows: "There's
one thing mainly that awaits us Hungarians above all: to discover
our country in every respect and show it to the world. When every
lump of soil on this holy land of ours becomes known, every piece of
stone reveals where it came from, whom it met; when everything
living that breeds and moves there and that we have collected
becomes part of one system; when we learn ... its moods, the nature
of winds that bring rain and drought; when we unearth the deepest
layers in the burial ground of its peoples, and, especially, when we
see the language and actions expressing the past and present of
those living today - of our dear nation - in the light of science,
we acquire a political capital that cultured foreign countries are
most happy to recognize."
Development of the system of committees continued in the 1860s with
the setting up of the Statistics Committee alongside the
Historiographic, the Linguistic, and the Archeological Committees
set up in the 1850s.
The Academy became a national scholarship center in the 1860s, and
it made several national initiatives to strengthen this position. It
spoke up for the preservation of documents in the county and city
archives, and initiated the establishment of the Statistical Office;
its Archeological Committee dealt with the protection of monuments.
It also wished to promote the process of bourgeois transformation
through competitions.
During the course of this decade, the Academy's income grew
considerably as a result of increased donations, in which the
national collection for the construction of the Academy played an
important part, and rising interest rates on foundation funds. In
1867, for the first time since its establishment, it also received a
state subsidy.
The inauguration of the building of the Academy in 1865 was an
important event in its history. Its reading rooms, conference rooms,
art gallery, collection of minerals, and rich library offered great
opportunities for scholarly work.
A. Slowikowski: The
building of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
After the Compromise (1867-1949)
The Compromise of 1867 created a new situation in the country's life.
The changes prompted the Academy to rid itself of the restraints
imposed by the bylaws of 1858. The new bylaws were adopted in 1869
and, with a few modifications, remained in force until 1945.
According to the bylaws, the Academy's aim was the study of science
and - adhering to the traditions of the reform period - the study
and propagation of literature in Hungarian. The bylaws defined three
scientific sections: I. Linguistics and Aesthetics; II.
Philosophical, Social, and Historical Sciences; III. Mathematics and
Natural Sciences.
The role and composition of the Governing Board changed
significantly. Management of the Academy's assets and financial
affairs remained within its jurisdiction. In addition to the
president, vice-president, and secretary-general, it had 24 members,
12 of whom were elected from among the founders and the patrons of
science, the other 12 from among the members of the Academy. The
organizational change in 1869 promoted a more autonomous and free
development of the sciences.
In the decades following the Compromise, the Academy's international
relations began to gradually grow. From the 1870s, Hungarian
scientists representing the Academy began to attend international
congresses with increasing frequency. In 1900, the Hungarian Academy
joined the International Association of Academies. Granting honorary
membership to foreign scientists indicated the broadening of
international relations. Already in 1858, the English historian
Michael Famday, the German geographer Alexander Humboldt and
historiographer Leopold von Ranke, and the Finnish folklorist Elias
Lönnrot became members of the Academy. The English philosopher John
Stuart Mill and natural scientist Charles Robert Darwin, the German
physician Rudolf Virchow, the French chemist Louis Pasteur, the
Russian chemist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, and the French
mathematician and physicist Henri Poincaré, among others, were
elected honorary members in the ensuing decades.
The Academy's role in society and scientific life changed during the
last decades of the 19th century. Its weight and influence began to
decline, and its energetic development came to a standstill.
From the 1870s, everyday life began to make demands on scientific
research with increasing urgency. Agricultural needs were the first
to induce the state to establish experimental research institutes.
Mining interests led to the establishment of an independent
institute for geological research. The Academy was not entrusted
with directing the work of institutes which came into being under
the supervision of the respective ministries. This was due not only
to the Academy's autonomy but also to its cumbersome administration.
In addition to research institutes, experimental laboratories
directly serving practical needs and research centers at
universities were also gradually established. All this took place
outside the walls of the Academy.
In the last decades of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th
century, the Academy came increasingly under attack - and not
without reason - for isolating itself from social progress, from
urgent social problems. Because of its conservatism, it was also
incapable of espousing the new trends in literature and art. During
this period it owed its prestige mainly to outstanding natural
scientists such as the physicist Loránd Eötvös, the chemist Vince
Wartha, the biologist István Apáthy, the mathematician Gyula Kőnig,
the doctors of medicine Endre Hőgyes and Mihály Lenhossék, the
mathematicians Lipót Fejér and Frigyes Riesz, the veterinarian
Ferenc Hutyra, and the mechanical engineer Donát Bánki.
In spite of the deterioration in the general science policy of the
Academy, the activity of its sections and committees increased, not
least because the growing number of researchers doing high-standard
work. The network of committees grew: the Literary History Committee
was set up in 1879, the Classical Philology and the Military Science
Committees in 1883. Their members were appointed from among the full
and corresponding members at section meetings held concurrently with
the assemblies. Young professionals who were not members of the
Academy but were considered suitable for the job could also work on
the committees as "assistant members" on the recommendation of
sections. New corresponding members were elected mainly from among
them. The Academy also resumed its publishing activity and, in late
1870s, launched the so-called Special Library series in the fields
of history, law and political science, and literature. During these
years an increasing number of scientific journals were published,
financed wholly or in part by the Academy.
Conservatism in the Academy leadership strengthened at the beginning
of the 20th century. Albert Berzeviczy, who was elected president of
the Academy in 1905 and filled this position for 30 years, was a
steadfast representative of this science policy.
The proletarian dictatorship established by the revolution of
1918-1919 wanted to dissolve the Academy and end its state support
and "national status." Attacking the unquestionable conservatism of
the institute, the new cultural policy wished to break with every
tradition. But after the brief, four-month-long dictatorship, the
Academy -though broke - was able to resume work.
During the interwar period a peculiar situation set in at the
Academy. The leadership represented the conservative ideals of the
pre-World War One period, yet outstanding scientists, who made their
mark in their respective fields, joined its ranks. A number of them
gained international fame, including Albert Szent-Györgyi,
Nobel-Prize-winning biochemist; Ottó Titusz Bláthy and Kálmán Kandó,
mechanical engineers; Sándor Korányi, physician; Géza Zemplén and
József Vargha, chemists; Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály; Zoltán
Gombocz and Miklós Zsirai, philologists; Gyula Szekfű and István
Hajnal, historians; János Horváth, literary historian; Farkas Heller,
economist; István Györffy, ethnographer and Sándor Jávorka, botanist.
The successive governments tried to use the Academy to extend their
social-cultural influence and propagate their own conservative ideas
and the national ideology of the time. The Academy's leaders did
their best to comply. At the same time, politics also helped the
Academy to recover. As a result of the wartime inflation, the
Academy lost many of its assets. However, Count Kunó Klebelsberg,
the minister of religion and public education, had an important role
in mind for the Academy and, therefore, provided regular state
assistance. State subsidies and again increasing donations, plus
foundations - the posting and reward of competitions, the support of
the publication of scientific books and journals - helped the
Academy to gradually regain its leading role in science in
traditional ways.
At the end of the 1920s and the early 1930s, the work of the
committees revived and expanded. The Ethnographic Subcommittee was
organized: in its Folkmusic Subcommittee Béla Bartók and Zoltán
Kodály worked. The Fine Arts Committee and the Jurisprudence
Committee also began their work.
Notwithstanding the worldwide surge ahead and differentiation in the
natural sciences, the Academy's outdated organization kept the
natural and engineering sciences in a minority position. The
automatic distribution of funds for research and the higher costs of
natural scientific research made its disadvantageous position even
more conspicuous.
In the democratic political atmosphere following World War Two, the
question of the transformation of the Academy could no longer be
evaded. The new bylaws, giving the natural sciences a greater scope,
were adopted in 1946. The independent Academy of Natural Sciences,
founded by the Nobel-Prize-winning Albert Szent-Györgyi, was merged
with the Academy, and the number of natural sciences sections
increased to two. The Governing Board's autonomy was terminated, and
henceforth its members were elected from among the academicians. The
process of democratic transformation came to a standstill in 1949.
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Academy under the communist system (1949-1988)
Act XXVII of 1949, modelled on the Soviet example, integrated the
Academy into the newly developing political and institutional system,
thus ending its autonomy and placing it under direct Communist Party
and state control. According to the law, its duties included "the
framing of a national scientific plan and the direction of the work
of academic and non-academic research institutes with a scientific
point of view." Its duties also included ensuring a succession of
scientists, the operation of postgraduate training, developing a
unified, centralized system of new academic degrees, and academic
qualification. Furthermore, it was the Academy's job to supervise
scientific societies, direct the publication of scientific books and
journals, and promote international scientific relations. The
Academy was intended to play an important part in disseminating the
official ideology of Marxism-Leninism and its application in the
field of science. In order to make the Academy suited for performing
this role, the new bylaws stipulated the substantial reduction in
the number of Academy members from 257 to 131. For political and
ideological reasons, the majority of the old members and
specifically, 122 of them - including many eminent scholars - were
reclassified consulting members, thus virtually excluded. In the
course of the reorganization, the Aesthetics Subsection, composed of
writers and artists, was dissolved. At first six, then ten sections
were created. The scientific sections established a broad network of
committees by changing the previous system of committees. In the
1950s and 1960s, the academic research institutes were established
primarily for the purpose of carrying out basic research in the
field of natural sciences and the study of social sciences.
The operational system of the Academy - particularly in the
beginning - was strictly centralized. Formally, the general assembly
of academicians constituted its supreme body, but in fact it was a
new organ, the Presidium, controlled by the Hungarian Workers' Party,
that directed the Academy. The Presidium was comprised of elected
officers and section chairmen. The sections were headed by
five-to-seven-member directorates.
Although many elements in the function, jurisdiction, operational
mechanism of the Academy changed between 1949 and 1989 - mostly
following the partial changes in the political system and in science
policy therein - essentially it remained a scientific body highly
dependent on political authority and, simultaneously, an
organization performing state administrative tasks. Over this
40-year period the Academy had four presidents: István Rusznyák
(1948-1970), Tibor Erdey-Grúz (1970-1976), János Szentágothai
(1976-1985), and Iván T. Berend (1985-1990).
The organizational reform introduced in 1969 intended to put an end
to the difficulties arising from the dual function of acting both as
a scientific body and as an administrative organ supervising the
institutes, by formally keeping the unity of the Academy but
organizationally separating the two activities. It "relieved" the
scientific bodies (the Presidium, the sections and committees) of
the administration of institutes in order to enable these bodies to
exert a greater conceptual and methodological influence on the whole
of scientific life, and put it them under the control of the
president and the Presidium. The secretary-general, appointed by the
government, was assigned with management and the supervision of the
institutes. He was assisted in this work by the Central Bureau,
which had ministerial status and carried out state administrative
functions. Party and state control could be exercised directly -
bypassing the various bodies - through the secretary-general acting
as a government official. Although this rigid separation eased at
the end of the 1970s and the role of scientific bodies in
controlling the institutes grew, in essence, this organizational
duality persisted until 1990, that is, formally speaking, until 1994
when the new law on the Academy came into force.
In spite of the distortions often forced onto it, or the voluntarily
assumed one-sided practices, and mistakes, important achievements
mark this 40-year period. Unquestionably, the most important
contribution the Academy made to Hungarian science - besides the
achievements of its members - was the theoretical work done at the
research institutes and its application in practice. The high
standard of the work of Academy members and academic institutes
justly received international recognition in a number of areas and
assured the participation of hundreds of Hungarian researchers in
the broad system of international scientific relations. The
Academy's participation in the system of academic qualification
helped thousands to acquire academic degrees and enhance the success
of Hungarian research.
The transition (1988-1996)
The economic crisis in the late 1980s also had an impact on the
amount of financial aid extended to research. Work began on how to
change the management systems, including research management, to
make them less costly for the state. It was also raised that the
academic institutes should be dissolved, or annexed to universities.
Given this situation, at the end of the 1980s, a reform process
began to evolve at the Academy with the initiative for framing a new
law on the Academy. Academy members unjustly expelled in 1949 were
rehabilitated in 1989. In 1990, the new bylaws were adopted.
Parallel with the change of the political system and under the
leadership of the new president, Domokos Kosáry, reform of the
Academy gained momentum. It ceased to exercise jurisdiction as a
supreme authority and announced its intention to become a public
body. At the president's initiative, the Széchenyi Academy of
Literature and Art, gathering the eminent representatives of
literature and the arts, was established as a so-called associate
yet autonomous institute. The law on the Academy promulgated in
March 1994 and the new bylaws adopted on the basis of the law
signalled the end of the reform process.
According to Act XL of 1994, the Academy is a scholarly public body
founded on the principle of self-government, whose main task is the
study of science, the publicizing of scientific achievements, and
the aid and promotion of research. Its members are the academicians.
The number of Hungarian academicians under the age of 70 years
cannot exceed 200. The Academy, as a public body, is composed of
academicians and other representatives of the sciences with an
academic degree, who work to solve the tasks of Hungarian science,
express their intention to become members of the public body and
accept the duties it involves. They exercise their rights through
their representatives. The general assembly is the supreme organ of
this public body, which is composed of academicians and delegates
representing the non-academician members of the public body. The 200
delegates are elected by secret ballot. The general assembly frames
its own bylaws, determines its order of procedure and budget, elects
its officers (president, vice-presidents, secretary-general,
vice-secretary-general), the committees of the general assembly, and
the elected members of the presidium.
As the bylaws stipulate, the Academy has eleven sections:
I. Linguistics and Literary Studies Section,
II. Philosophy and Historical Studies Section,
III. Mathematical Sciences Section,
IV. Agricultural Sciences Section,
V. Medical Sciences Section,
VI. Engineering Sciences Section,
VII. Chemical Sciences Section,
VIII. Biological Sciences Section,
IX. Economics and Law Section,
X. Earth Sciences Section,
XI. Physical Sciences Section.
The sections operate committees corresponding to branches of
scholarship and special fields of research. The Academy maintains
research institutes and other institutions (libraries, archives,
information systems, etc.) assisting their work, and extends aid to
university research centers. The operation of research institutes is
directed by the 30-member Council of Academic Research Centers with
the assistance of three advisory boards. The Council of Doctors may
confer the Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences title. The
operation of the Academy is financed by the budget, income derived
from its assets, and by foundations and donations.
Although the development of the new organisational structure and the
new principles of operation accompanying the democratic transition
took longer than expected - not least of all because of the drawn
out process of framing the law on the Academy - it was accomplished
by 1995. The election of officers in 1996 inaugurated a new phase in
the Academy's history under the new president, historian Ferenc
Glatz.
After two energetic terms involving the consolidation of HAS's
obsolete research network, Ferenc Glatz was replaced as President of
HAS by eminent medical scientist Szilveszter Vizi. E. in 2002.
Renowned physicist Norbert Kroó regained his second three-year term
as General Secretary in the same year. HAS organised World Science
Forum in late 2003, a memorable first of what is planned to be a
series of substantial conferences on the most topical issues of the
world of science. Amid budget restrictions and Hungary's 2004
accession to the European Union (1 May, 2004), HAS managed to
maintain its high profile in the country's research and higher
education structure. HAS is currently in the forefront of the
Hungarian research community's struggle to fulfil the European
Union's Lisbon resolution according to which each member-state
should spend at least 3 per cent of its GDP on R and D by 2010.
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 Designer:
Friedrich A. Stüler
Year
of construction: 1864
Style:
neo-Renaissance
Function:
középület
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Széchenyi István
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Széchenyi István
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