On 16 May 2023, Dávid Rózsa, Director General of the National Széchényi Library (NSZL), received H.E. Mrs. C. Gülşen Karanis Ekşioğlu, Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye, and her escorts, Zsuzsanna Oláh, Ambassador’s Assistant and Osman Can Ürel, Cultural Attaché. On behalf of the National Széchényi Library, Judit Gerencsér, Deputy Director General, and Zoltán Lewalt-Jezierski, Chief of the Cabinet of the Director General, also participated in the technical discussion.

During the meeting, H.E. Ambassador Mrs. C. Gülşen Karanis Ekşioğlu ceremonially presented the gift of the Presidential Library (Cumhurbaşkanlığı Millet Kütüphanesi) in Ankara, a book donation of 225 volumes of books on various subjects. The book donation will enrich the collection of the National Library in the future and the publications will be made available to users in the core collection and in the National Library of Foreign Languages.

In 2021, as part of the Prime Minister’s delegation to Türkiye, Dávid Rózsa, Director General of the National Library, signed the cooperation agreement with the Nation’s Library of Turkish Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye during a ceremony. The book donation arrived in Hungary thanks to the professional cooperation.

The library staff also prepared a special presentation for the Ambassador. Viktor Papp, from the Historical Photo and Interview Centre of the NSZL, presented a photo album of Constantinople from 1869, which is part of the collection of the Széchényi Library and was bequeathed to the National Library by Baron Ferenc Révay. The book contains ten unique views, which, when juxtaposed, form a panorama of almost 300 degrees. The photographs were taken from one of the most famous buildings in the city, the Galata Tower, and their architectural history clearly and definitively indicates that they date from 1869. The views have been digitally juxtaposed by our colleagues, revealing the photographer’s goal at the time: a unique panorama of the city.

At the end of the official visit, H.E. Ambassador Mrs. C. Gülşen Karanis Ekşioğlu and members of the Turkish delegation toured the new permanent exhibition at the National Library, called Essence, which opened last year.