Under the direction of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China, China-CEEC Libraries Union was established in October 2018 in Hangzhou, China, with its secretariat permanently set in Hangzhou Public Library. More than 60 libraries from China and CEEC, on a voluntary basis, seek common progress made on the principle of "equality, mutual benefit, inclusiveness and openness". 

The Very Collection in My Library aims to introduce treasures kept in each member library to audience in China and Central and Eastern European countries and bring ancient books into the limelight, through of which people could enhance their understanding of cultures and histories of other countries.

This episode here is presented by Mr.Istvan Monok, the Director General of the Library and Information Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, introducing you Dialogus de divi Mathiae regis laudibus.

(The Very Collection in My Library is updated on Cooperation between China and CEEC official website http://www.china-ceec.org/ and CHINA CULTURE.org https://cn.chinaculture.org/.)

The rare old manuscripts in Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the title of which is in Latin, in the official language of the Kingdom of Hungary: Dialogus de divi Mathiae regis laudibus, in English: Dialogue on the Praise of King Matthias Hunyadi. In short it is called: the Carbo Codex.

Matthias Hunyadi reigned during the second half of the 15th century. In Europe, it was the Renaissance era, when cultural taste was led from Italy.

Everyone followed their beauty ideals and moral standards.

The text of the codex was also written by an Italian humanist scholar, Ludovico Carbo. The humanists were very grateful to King Matthias because he financially supported the realization of one of their dreams. They wanted to collect all the old Greek and Roman texts, on which the entire European culture and technical civilization was built. King Matthias built this library in his own centre, Buda, in the Kingdom of Hungary, which at the times was the second largest collection in Europe, as well as the first royal library outside Italy.

Matthias Hunyadi’s Latin name was Mathias Corvinus, which is why the library was called Bibliotheca Corvina. The collection probably consisted of approximately 2,000 volumes, including the works of classical authors and those of the Church Fathers, as well as contemporary works dedicated to King Matthias. 

King Matthias’ Bibliotheca Corvina was a product of the intellectual influence of Italy, and in the last phase, around 1480 even a book workshop was set up in Buda Castle, where scribes, illuminators and binders were working together. The Carbo Codex was copied on parchment in Ferrara, Italy and decorated in accordance with the taste of the time of King Matthias. Judging from the remains of the original red velvet binding, its binding was made in the Buda workshop.

Bibliotheca Corvina by now is scattered. In 32 countries barely one tenth of the former book collection, around 220 volumes, can be found. All such handwritten books have enormous cultural and material value, which could be seen, for instance, from the royal crest on the Carbo Codex, proveing that it was once part of the internationally renowned collection.