The Helikon Library of Keszthely

Keszthely, this age-old western capital of the Balaton region, offers a wide variety of sights worth visiting. Number one among these is undoubtedly the magnificent stately home of the Festetics family, a mansion rather well preserved by Hungarian standards, the pomp and beauty of which, together with its rich collection and varied cultural programmes of the summer season attract many tourists resting around the lake and in nearby Hévíz. It is here, at the fourth largest stately home in Hungary, that we find a veritable treasure house of books, the Helikon Library, the only collection owned by the Hungarian aristocracy to survive intact. This is the next feature in our ongoing series presenting Hungary's great libraries. 

Pál Festetics II bought the Keszthely estate of the Pethő family of Gerse in 1712 only to pass it on to someone else as part of an exchange. His son, Kristóf, an avid book collector too, regained possession of the estate in 1739. Although the ancient ancestral palace was still standing at the time, albeit in a bad state of repair, there was no doubt that Kristóf, considered as the founder of the prestige of a family about to attain noble rank, would wish to erect a new home equal to his wealth and position. The count, with the curtailing of the rights of the townspeople, became the overlord of Keszthely, and as such strove not only to consider the whole town his own but to create a stately home for himself too. Work on the mansion began in 1745. In no more than ten years there was a medium-sized mansion standing surrounded by an elaborate French garden to show for his efforts. Yet further improvements were made on the baroque-style aristocratic home, and work to expand and embellish the place went on for another 140 years. 

Throughout this time construction work gained more impetus under György, Kristóf's grandson, who was to become the greatest Festetics and an outstanding figure of Hungarian cultural history. The young count, having studied in Vienna and served at the imperial chamber, at the age of 33 went into the army, where he speedily ascended from lieutenant to major and then, in 1789, to lieutenant-colonel in the fight against the Ottomans. As a student of the Viennese Theresianum, the young nobleman became familiar with the ideals of French enlightenment and soon joined the ranks of the free masons. Free masonry allowed him to come into contact with the prominent figures of Hungarian bourgeois thinking.

He entered the lists for Hungarian self-determination, the general and literary use of the Hungarian language and for the stationing of Hungarian troops in the territory of Hungary. The count ended up before the court but the public mood saved him from a serious sentence. As an officer, he was transferred to Italy. He eventually quit the army and retired to Keszthely for the rest of his days. There he threw himself into acts of great patriotism and lasting merit. He contracted as the steward of his estates economist János Nagyváthy in the hope that the man might ensure the funds for his plans. In 1797, together with Sámuel Tessedik he set up the Georgikon, the first agricultural college in Europe to train estate overseers and stewards. In 1804, he launched his literary events later known as Helikon, and contributed considerable sums to sponsor the publication of contemporary literature and to support promising authors in other ways. Between 1792 and 1800, the count had his mansion restyled in an elaborately ornate fashion designed by himself with the help of János György Rantz and, subsequently, of András Fischer.

It will come as no surprise that the enlightened and educated nobleman was a passionate book collector. The greater part of his collection was made up of the books transferred from the family mansion in Ság, complemented by items purchased by György or donated as complimentary copies by contemporary authors. The fast growing collection called for a fitting home. Construction work on the library began in 1800. Master builders from the area were contracted for special assignments. Cabinet maker János Kerbl was the star of the undertaking. The magnificent carved oak furniture his master had dreamed up and he produced began to fill the whole mansion in less than a year. Count Festetics, in turn, paid the master cabinet maker some three thousand gold florins, which amounted to a small fortune at the time.

The Helikon Library is a veritable empire-style treasure chest that boasts impeccable taste and unmatched craftsmanship. The fact that this is the only aristocratic home that remianed intact through the war and the subsequent looting, with all its riches and furnishing unharmed, only enhances its importance. A graceful spiral staircase leads up to the gallery. The serrated banister that runs all around the gallery is ornamented with acanthus leaves. The floor tiles came from near Vienna and were laid by stone mason József Zitterbart, who also crafted the figures as well as the ceiling stucco, which regrettably suffered irreparable damage 80 years later in the course of some construction work. In the middle of the library there are some low containers, originally brought from Vienna, which once housed a collection of etchings and coins and are now filled with books.

Agents working for György Festetics closely followed the latest news in all of Europe's centres of book publishing and acquired all the important new releases for the Helikon. Works by the great masters of the Enlightenment as well as the classics of English, German and French authors, all bound by the count's own master bookbinder, constitute the core of the collection. Special literature on agriculture was the primary focus of the collection, which served as the Georgikon reference library. Nothing indicates better Festetics's commitment to serving the public than the fact that while he was rather reluctant to allow members of his family into the strictly regulated library, the doors of the Helikon were open to scientific and academic research right from the start. Following the death in 1819 of the enlightened count, the library was closed to the public. Its collection continued to grow, though at a considerably slower pace, and had swelled to over fifty thousand volumes by the time Prince Tasziló Festetics, the man who gave the mansion its final form, died in 1933. Tasziló's son, György, later added a smaller room to the library. 

The Soviet army personnel stationed in Keszthely after the Second World War took surprising care of the collection, which had survived the war and was handed over to the National Széchenyi Library in 1948. The Helikon, which today comprises some ninety thousand volumes, has to date functioned as the special historical library of that national institution, and can be visited at the Helikon Palace Museum. The collection boasts a number of rare books, among which mention must be made of several volumes signed by the classics of Hungarian literature of the age of enlightenment, contemporaries of the count himself. Besides the rich agricultural collection, the Helikon's storehouse of books on Lake Balaton also stands out. The spectacularly furnished library also houses the manuscripts of composer Károly Goldmark, another revered son of Keszthely. Yet the real importance of the collection lies in the way it has been preserved in its original form through the ages, by virtue of which we can gain an insight into an exceptional chapter of Hungarian history.