Following the customary schedule of the itinerant gatherings, the annual meeting of the Association of Hungarian Archivists was held first, to which all members were invited. At the opening ceremony following the general assembly, Balázs Bényei, head of department at the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, addressed the audience, followed by Adrián Szajcz, Vice-President of the Somogy County Assembly, who welcomed his colleagues on behalf of the county. In addition to Hungarian archivists, foreign guests were also in attendance, including representatives from Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Germany, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia, who were greeted specially by István Kenyeres, president of the Association of Hungarian Archivists.
As a traditional part of the conference programme, recipients of the Dóka Klára and Osváth Lajos awards were recognised for their distinguished contributions to the archival profession. Following the festivities, the plenary session began with the theme of ‘Science and Archives,’ featuring five presentations: Antal Molnár (deputy director general, HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities and Director of its Institute of History) spoke about the Archives and historical science; István Monok (director general, Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) shared his thoughts on the Archives and literary studies; Anthony Gall (dean of the Ybl Miklós Faculty of Architecture at Óbuda University,) gave a lecture entitled “What is reality? Dilemmas in the creation of source-based virtual building reconstructions”, while Gábor Timár (university professor, ELTE Faculty of Sciences) examined the relationship between archives and geography. The session was concluded by Balázs Czetz (deputy director general, National Archives of Hungary) with a lecture on Archives and Science.
The evening dinner provided an opportunity to exchange professional and other information with representatives of the Hungarian and international archival communities, recalling the professional international events, co-organised by our Foundation last year, such as EBNA and EUDiA.
The next day was devoted to section meetings. This year, seven were held, allowing participants to choose from subjects covering the entire scope of work carried out at the archives. These included international, source publication, economic, educational and scientific history, collection preservation, archival education and IT topics. During the three-day event, visitors could also take part in cultural and recreational programmes. In 2025, the team from the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security won the 8th MLE Cup.
The third and final day’s plenary session focused on the scientific work of archives, featuring seven presentations delivered by renowned experts from various institutions. Speakers included István Varga (library director, local historian), Tamás Oláh (head of department, MNL BAZVL), Norbert Kiss (deputy director, MNL SVL), Eleonóra Kovács (chief archivist, MNL Scientific Directorate), Mónika Pilkhoffer (associate professor, University of Pécs, Institute of History, Department of Modern History), Csaba T. Reisz (director general, senior archivist, MNL Scientific Directorate) and Bálint Ternovácz (chief archivist, Budapest City Archives).
In addition to the official programme, participants from the Otto von Habsburg Foundation introduced its operation and activities, along with our latest publication, the 2024 Annual Report. The event provided us with the chance to deepen our archival relations further.
