Franciscan Memorial Library

The monastery library – unique in the country, besides Pannonhalma has been standing on the same place since its foundation – can be found in the biggest Hungarian monastery of the Franciscan order of Gyöngyös.

The library with nearly 1600 volumes contains books of other medieval libraries that belonged to the Franciscan Order in Hungary and were destroyed. The materials of these libraries were integrated and satisfied the needs of the Order which undertakes educational and medical missions for centuries. Theological, phylosophical, historical, scientific and medical books preserved numerous hand-written remarks of that period, which increases the historical and cultural value of the library. Several valuable linguistic relics were discovered in the library stock, such as the „Codex of Gyöngyös” or the „Word fragments of Gyöngyös”. At present the books include 5 codices, 210 incunabuli and 189 old Hungarian books. Consisting of almost 900-volumes the antique collection contains several decorative, leather-bound works of the best-known Italian, French, German and Dutch ancient printing houses.
A permanent exhibition on the life of the Franciscan Order can be visited in the entrance hall of the library.