The library and the collections of Sámuel Teleki

Abstract

Our summary presents the art historic values of one of the most important public libraries, the Tele-ki Téka, located in a Hungarian language area, which opened its gates in 1802, in Tîrgu Mureș. The three-nave library hall was built between 1799 and 1802, based on the improved plans of Ernest Koch from Vienna. The customer, Count Sámuel Teleki (1739–1822), the chancellor of the Great Principality of Transylvania, also set up a portrait gallery in the great hall of the library, in which first of all, his renowned contemporaneous book collectors and ancestors received a place. The gypsum statues ordered from Vienna display mainly the great figures of Antiquity and mythology. Franz Thaller prepared the bust of the count and his wife in the same place. The rich collection of minerals, which was compiled by the founder and his son Domokos, can be found even today in the library. Nevertheless, the once spectacular weapon and numismatic collection was unfortunately dispersed during the centuries.