In the will of philosopher György Lukács, he left his library to the Institute of Philosophy of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, his manuscripts to the Department of Manuscripts & Rare Books of the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA KIK), and his furniture to his heirs.

His will was not implemented at the time of his death, in 1972 the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist People's Party set up an institution called the "Lukács Archives", whose staff published several important books between 1972 and 1990. During this time, however, a bibliography of Lukács’ work was not completed, but at the same time the bequest was expanded with books and manuscripts purchased and given as gifts by employees.

In order to classify the legacy, make it available online and make it widely researchable, MTA KIK made the following steps between 2018 and 2020:

• Processed the entire holdings of the library, partially incorporated the non-Lukács legacy library into the holdings of MTA KIK, and donated the duplicate books to Hungarian university libraries. At least one copy of each book is kept.
  
  
• The manuscripts have been catalogued and digitized according to the standards and are stored in the Department of Manuscripts & Rare Books of MTA KIK – in accordance with Lukács’ will –, where manuscripts and correspondence of Lukács can be found. Those manuscripts that had „drifted” to the original Lukács estate during the course of time, were carried away by the family and the legal heirs of the researchers.
  

The catalog of the Lukács library can be searched in the ALMA online catalogue of MTA KIK.

Searchable items include:

– Works of György Lukács
– Manuscripts of György Lukács
– Letters from György Lukács in other bequests

The catalog of the Lukács library is also available in PDF format, edited, and the index of the manuscript recommendations is also available separately.

• Download the catalogue of Lukács’ estate
• Catalogue of Lukács’ manuscript legacy and correspondence
• The scanned material of Lukács’ correspondence can be browsed here
• In this browsing view, we published Lukács’ manuscripts, interviews with him, and other literature about him

The prepared manuscripts can be researched in the reading room of Department of Manuscripts & Rare Books of MTA KIK (1051 Budapest, Széchenyi István tér 9. [1st floor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Palace]).

On September 4, 2025, MTA KIK handed over György Lukács's estate library to the Budapest City Archives and the Metropolitan Ervin Szabo Library.