Hungarian state purchases Batthyany family documents
The Hungarian state has purchased a collection of 520 documents pertaining to the aristocratic Hungarian Batthyany family, stored for the past 75 years in Vienna, for 5.6 million euros, an official of the Prime Minister's Office said on Monday.
The documents are destined for the National Archives which already keeps materials related to the Batthyany family, such as the documents related to the ill-fated 1526 Battle of Mohacs, state secretary Balazs Orban told a press conference.
When to forced to leave Communist Hungary in 1945, the family took several hundred documents with them.
The archives’ director, Csaba Szabo, told the event that the collection which arrived in Budapest two weeks ago was “unique” and of great significance in terms of Hungarian history.
Gyorgy Racz, chief archivist, noted that members of the Batthyany family had filled important government positions over several centuries.
The documents will be digitised and available for research purposes.
