Artwork of the month – Wrought iron railing at the entrance to ELTE Trefort Ágoston Practice High School

On March 9, 2026, the renovated wrought-iron railing at the entrance of ELTE Trefort Ágoston Practice High School was ceremoniously unveiled. The railing has presumably adorned the entrance since the building was constructed at the end of the 19th century.

In the legendary, approximately 200-year-old blacksmith's workshop on Bródy Sándor Street, under the guidance of blacksmith József Balla, the wrought iron fence underwent a complete renovation. Since car traffic has been banned on the street since August 2025, the railing no longer serves to protect pedestrians, so the restored elements now stand in front of the school entrance as historical monuments. At the inauguration, workshop employee Péter Dezső talked about the history of the workshop and the restoration process. The railing was divided into three parts, with the middle section moved to the exit of the building at 7 Szentkirályi Street and the two outer sections restored in front of the gate to leave a wider, open space for entry and exit. "With proper care, hopefully there will be no need for intervention for another hundred years," emphasized master blacksmith József Balla at the handover ceremony.

New institutional plaques have been placed on either side of the entrance. The plaque on the right was mounted in the place where the glass plaque of the Ságvári Endre Training School stood until the change of regime. Traces of the 1956 series of shots are still visible on the facade today.

Written by Rita Balla and Dorottya Balogh (Zechmeiszter Lászlóné)

Photo: Rita Balla

The ELTE– NFI FILMIO University Film Club screening and discussion series continues. We welcome university members from all ELTE faculties.

A spectacular political parable using nature film techniques to illustrate the dangers of ideological fanaticism and the functioning of dictatorships. The flight of the falcons and the images of the sun-drenched plains are spectacular in themselves, but the sparse narrative clearly examines the power system of the time. At first, we are introduced to the landscape and the basics of falconry, but the viewer increasingly senses that something is not quite right. Gradually, the true nature of the community is revealed, and the emerging picture of oppression is disturbing. A young apprentice arrives at the settlement on the plains. In the middle of the steppe, falcons are trained to hunt smaller birds considered harmful. Training the birds of prey is hard, laborious work. The leader of the settlement, Lilik, is obsessed with his work. Not only does he treat the falcons with an iron fist, he also demands strict discipline from his people. Slowly but surely, the young trainee realizes that Lilik has turned the small community into a veritable dictatorship. The film is based on a novella by Miklós Mészöly.

Date: 18 March 2026, 6:00 p.m.

Venue: ELTE University Library and Archives, community space (Budapest, V. Ferenciek tere 6., ground floor)

Director: István Gaál

Writer: Miklós Mészöly

Cinematographer: Elemér Ragályi

Editor: István Gaál

Music: András Szőllősy

Main roles: Ivan Andonov, György Bánffy, Judit Meszléry, Sándor Nádai, Gyula Molnár, Sándor Nagy

Guests in the post-screening discussion: Diána Márjánovics, critic, literary historian, president of the Miklós Mészöly Association, and Milán Pap, political scientist, researcher at the Tamás Molnár Research Center, Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, National University of Public Service.

Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8rXTUJnTek&t=17s

Due to limited seating, advance registration is required: https://www.ajk.elte.hu/magasiskola-gaal-istvan-filmje-1970   

The organisers welcome any correspondence regarding the film club at eltenfi.filmklub@elte.hu.

ELTE–NFI Film Club Facebook page

The ELTE– NFI FILMIO University Film Club screening and discussion series continues. We welcome university members from all ELTE faculties.

Twenty Hours is a bitter, shocking tableau of the fate of Hungarian peasants. Zoltán Fábri is one of the first to talk about topics that were previously considered taboo: 1956 and the excesses of the Rákosi era. He unfolds his story from recollections in a fragmented chronological order. Everyone tells how they experienced history; everyone has their own truth. This was a revolutionary innovation after the dogmatic filmmaking of the 1950s, in which uniform political slogans had to be voiced.

In 1965, in a small village in Hungary, a reporter spends twenty hours in the village to recall the events of the past twenty years. Why did Anti Balogh shoot his best friend? And why did Sándor Varga, a member of the secret police, kill his childhood friend? He visits houses one by one, talks to people, and the tragedies pile up. The story reveals how politics destroyed friendships and what drove the villagers to despair.

Date: 11 March 2026, 6:00 p.m.

Venue: University Square Campus, Weiss Emilia Hall (1053 Budapest, Egyetem tér 1–3., ground floor, in the corridor next to the cloakroom)

Director: Zoltán Fábri

Writer: Ferenc Sántha

Cinematographer: György Illés

Editor: Ferencné Szécsényi

Main roles: Antal Páger, János Görbe, Emil Keres, Ádám Szirtes, László György, József Bihari

Our guests in the post-screening discussion will be Dr. Gábor Gelencsér, aesthetician, film historian, associate professor at ELTE BTK, and László Eörsi, historian, whose main area of research is the 1956 revolution. 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0aCqP6TepY

Due to limited seating, advance registration is required: https://www.ajk.elte.hu/husz-ora-fabri-zoltan-filmje-1965.

The organisers welcome any correspondence regarding the film club at eltenfi.filmklub@elte.hu.

ELTE–NFI Film Club Facebook page

Dr. Zsuzsanna Mikó, Deputy Director General of the Hungarian National Archives, and Dr. Balázs Czetz, Deputy Director General of Collections, visited the ELTE University Library and Archives on 4 March 2026, with several of their colleagues for a professional exchange and knowledge sharing.

The delegation from the Hungarian National Archives (MNL) learned about the modern library and archival services offered by the University Library and Archives during the professional consultation.

During the professional consultation, the delegation from the Hungarian National Archives (MNL) learned about the University Library and Archives' modern range of library and archival services, unique solutions, and best practices. During the visit, Dr. Kulcsár Szabó Ernőné Gombos Annamária, Director General of the ELTE University Library and Archives, gave a detailed account of the institution's current plans, strategic goals, and mission.

The parties are committed to fostering inter-institutional relations, sharing best practices, and deepening their partnership based on shared values. They look forward to future opportunities for cooperation in finding innovative solutions to common goals and challenges in building a sustainable and competitive range of public collection services.

From March 1, 2026, Emerald Publishing has opened two of its collections to ELTE. The journals included in these collections can be freely browsed by ELTE citizens after logging in with their institutional credentials (Shibboleth) until April 30, 2026.

The journal lists are available on the following pages:

• Library and Information Studies Collection
• Emerald Education

Gale has opened the full Gale Academic OneFile collection to ELTE citizens until 1 May 2026. The database content is accessible after logging in with an institutional credential (Shibboleth).

The database provides access to articles from more than 19,000 journals in the following subject areas:

• Biology
• Business and Economics
• Chemistry
• Criminal Justice
• Drama
• Environmental Science
• Health & Medicine
• Literature
• Media & Fine Arts
• Political Science & Diplomatic Studies
• Psychology
• Science & Technology
• U.S. History

The database is directly accessible at this link.

On February 25, 2026 Qulto held their annual professional event at the Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library. At Qulto Day, Tibor Móring, ELTE University Library and Archives’ Research Support Librarian represented Eötvös Loránd University with a presentation drawing widespread attention.

The demonstration centered on the subproject dedicated to the teaching material repository. The aim of the repository is to professionally archive, organize, and prepare the reuse of open-source, digital teaching materials produced in a variety of formats. Tibor Móring provided an overview of the development’s most important achievements to date, explained the objectives of the service, as well as the upload and visibility options available to educators.

The presentation touched on the solutions uniquely tailored to the requirements of course materials and introduced the functional specificities that distinguish the repository from other archives. The research support librarian also shed light on how the repository held a unique potential for becoming the vehicle of cooperation and knowledge sharing between educators.

The ELTE– NFI FILMIO University Film Club screening and discussion series continues. We welcome university members from all ELTE faculties.

Márta Mészáros’s protagonist is a truly independent character who follows her own path despite social expectations. Juli, who is studying agricultural engineering by correspondence, starts working as a trainee at the brick factory in Ózd. János Bodnár, the foreman, immediately takes a liking to her and proposes marriage the very next day. She refuses, but later ends up with the persistent suitor. She does not tell him that she already has a child from a previous relationship. Bodnár finds out the truth and seems willing to accept the little boy, but he hides his existence from his own relatives. Juli, who is now expecting their child, tells the family everything despite the man's prohibition. Bodnár is unable to forgive the woman and breaks up with her. In Márta Mészáros's feminist film, ahead of its time, Lili Monori, who plays the female lead, gave birth to her child in front of the cameras.

Date: 4 March 2026, 6:00 p.m.

Venue: University Square Campus, Weiss Emilia Hall (1053 Budapest, Egyetem tér 1–3., ground floor, in the corridor next to the cloakroom)

Director: Márta Mészáros

Screenwriter: Márta Mészáros, Gyula Hernádi

Cinematographer: János Kende

Editor: Andrásné Kármentő

Music: György Kovács

Main cast: Jan Nowicki, Lili Monori, Kati Berek, Djoko Rosić, Hedvig Demeter, Mária Dudás

Our guest in the post-screening discussion will be historian Izabella Grexa, PhD, secretary of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' Department of Philosophy and History, and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Faculty of Humanities Momentum (Lendület) Research Group on Work Forms. Her areas of research include 20th-century social history, everyday history and women's history. She is the author of Csupa paradicsom az élet – Felügyelet és önfejűség egy 20. századi női élettörténetben (Life is All Paradise – Supervision and Stubbornness in a 20th-Century Woman's Life Story).

Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VVQJczwfrU

Due to limited seating, advance registration is required: https://www.ajk.elte.hu/kilenc-honap-meszaros-marta-filmje-1976

The organisers welcome any correspondence regarding the film club at eltenfi.filmklub@elte.hu.

ELTE–NFI Film Club Facebook page

The volume Commemorative Medals and Plaques from the Collections of Eötvös Loránd University has been published.

The book covers more than 500 commemorative medals and plaques related to the history of Eötvös Loránd University, supplemented with rich visual material and detailed descriptions. The material, compiled from eight different collections, provides a comprehensive overview of a special part of the university's material heritage.

The collection grows chronologically from the end of the 18th century, and the variety in the number of pieces is also reflected in the thematic diversity. Commemorative medals from anniversaries and partner universities, commemorative medals from our professors, commemorative medals linked to university events and anniversaries, and commemorative medals related to the history of science together paint an exciting historical picture.

The publication is not only valuable from a numismatic and cultural history perspective, but also fills a gap for those interested in the university's past.

The volume was published by the ELTE University Library and Archives and edited by museologist Georgina Schlay.

Discover the rich world of ELTE commemorative medals and plaques!

Photos and text: Rita Balla

The ELTE– NFI FILMIO University Film Club screening and discussion series continues. We welcome university members from all ELTE faculties.

This musical road movie expresses the desire for freedom of young people trapped behind the Iron Curtain with the help of the best post-beat bands. It is often referred to as the socialist version of Easy Rider. In the film's fast-paced montages, the ZiL truck cuts through the roads like the motorcyclists in Easy Rider, and in socialism, truck driver (the position our protagonist aspires to) was one of the few jobs that allowed people to travel freely to the West, and the clothes and records smuggled home from there were considered great treasures. The Kangaroo authentically depicts the lives of young people at that time: their longing to escape from behind the Iron Curtain, their enthusiasm for Western fashion, generational conflicts, the housing shortage and slang.

István Varjú is a truck driver who transports materials to the construction site of the Paks nuclear power plant. One day, he picks up a stunning hitchhiker who is heading to Balatonboglár. Although they warm up to each other, Varjú does not want to break the rules and only takes the girl as far as Paks. However, he cannot get her out of his head and looks for the blonde hitchhiker everywhere, even though Zsozsó, a factory worker from Kőbánya who is madly in love with him, is waiting for him at home. Varjú's dream is to get on a truck and see the world. He is committed, but his relationship with Zsozsó changes his life. The Kangaroo was one of the big hits of the 1970s, seen by more than 1.8 million people in cinemas.

Date: 25 February 2026, 6 p.m.

Venue: ELTE University Library and Archives, community space (Budapest, V. Ferenciek tere 6., ground floor)

Excerpt from the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT6LSqOU284

Starring: László Gálffi, Éva Vándor, Erzsi Pásztor, János Csapó, Róbert Koltai, Dezső Füller

Our guests in the post-screening discussion will be Tamás Rozsonits, music journalist and former drummer of the band Moby Dick, and László Gálffi, Kossuth and Jászai Mari award-winning actor, distinguished artist and lifelong member of the Society of the Immortals. 

Due to limited seating, advance registration is required.

Registration: https://www.ajk.elte.hu/a-kenguru-zsombolyai-janos-filmje-1976.

The organisers welcome any correspondence regarding the film club at eltenfi.filmklub@elte.hu.

ELTE–NFI Film Club Facebook page