The construction work
Béla Mader among plans and document stacks
The idea of a separate university library building basically dates back to the time when the university relocated to Szeged. Despite the construction projects promoted and initiated by Minister of Culture Kuno Klebelsberg, the placement of certain university units posed great challenges for the city, so the “matter” of the library could not be addressed thoroughly for many decades. More than 70 years have passed within the narrowing spaces of the first floor of the building on Dugonics Square before change could occur. From 1997, the accelerating preparatory work and planning processes were led by the Director General of the library at the time, Béla Mader.
The sign on Ady Square informs about the construction work
He worked tirelessly with great dedication, and collaborated with the architectural design competition winners, namely the consortium of Középülettervező Iroda Rt. and Szántó & Mikó Építészek Kft. The design of the long-awaited library building required expertise that took into account the tasks associated with a large academic library, a special library with nationwide responsibilities, and a library with a regional role. The investment started as a World Bank project and was ultimately implemented with state — partly municipal — financing for a total of 7.5 billion Hungarian forints.
The beginning of construction work on the former university sports field
The beginning of construction work on the former university sports field
The former entrance of the sports field under demolition
In March 2002, the cornerstone-laying ceremony took place in harsh weather conditions
The university library staff behind the cornerstone
In September 2003, during the topping-out ceremony, the outlines of the building were already visible
Topping-out ceremony
Topping-out ceremony
After that, events truly accelerated. The area next to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, which has had so many names and different looks over the years, has undergone a radical transformation. Day by day, it changed and was full of surprises. The question naturally arises: how is it possible that we have such a rich documentation of almost every change? Now,15 years later,we might even consider this as something natural. In order to make documentation possible, we needed the efforts of two colleagues from our library, Zoltán Aranyi (currently Head of the Information Services Department) and Károly Kokas (former Deputy Director for IT and Information at the Library) who, recognizing the importance of the historic year, documented the stages of construction weekly, and sought viewpoints and locations suitable for capturing the moment. The intricate “mazes” of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences building offered favorable perspectives for our documentarians’ cameras.
Béla Mader, Géza Bakonyi and Károly Kokas on field visit in the library under construction (Photo by Zoltán Aranyi)
Luckily, our documentarians occassionally took photos of each other as well. We can see Zoltán Aranyi in the background
And let’s not forget about Géza Bakonyi either!
We can thank them for these historic pictures
Pictures of the library under construction:
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SZTE József Attila Tanulmányi és Információs Központ építkezés - 2002. június 18.
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SZTE József Attila Tanulmányi és Információs Központ építkezés - 2002. szeptember 19.
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SZTE József Attila Tanulmányi és Információs Központ építkezés - 2002. október 17.
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SZTE József Attila Tanulmányi és Információs Központ építkezés - 2002. november 28.
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SZTE József Attila Tanulmányi és Információs Központ építkezés - 2002. január 30.
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SZTE József Attila Tanulmányi és Információs Központ építkezés - 2002. február 14.
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SZTE József Attila Tanulmányi és Információs Központ építkezés - 2002. február 27.
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SZTE József Attila Tanulmányi és Információs Központ építkezés - 2002. február 28.
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SZTE József Attila Tanulmányi és Információs Központ építkezés - 2002. március 13.
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SZTE József Attila Tanulmányi és Információs Központ építkezés - 2002. március 21.