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 Manuscript Collection of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and his furniture to his heirs. His apartment was a public property, which is now owned by the 5th district of the Municipality of Budapest, and is currently rented by the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA KIK).

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, and after processing the entire legacy library is available in the Lukács apartment without exception.
  
  
• The manuscripts have been catalogued and digitized according to the standards and are stored in the Manuscript Collection 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 handwritten entries in the books have also been digitized, and can also be researched in addition to the corresponding catalogue item.

The catalog of the Lukács library can be searched in the ALEPH system of MTA KIK. Advanced search is recommended as simple search can result in too many hits.

Searchable items include:

– Works of György Lukács
– Literature on György Lukács
– Books owned by György Lukács
– Hand-written recommendations/notes in the books of György Lukács
– Manuscripts of György Lukács
– Correspondence 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
• In our catalogue, the manuscripts can be found with the keyword "Manuscript Legacy of György Lukács"
• The following information can be found on our website under the Lukács Archives

The prepared manuscripts can be researched in the reading room of the MTA KIK Manuscript Collection (1051 Budapest V. district, Széchenyi István tér 9. [1st floor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Palace]), György Lukács books are available for reading in the reading room of MTA KIK (Budapest, Arany János u. 1.), and some volumes can be used in the reading room of the Manuscript Collection of the MTA KIK (1051 Budapest V. district, Széchenyi István tér 9.).

The former Lukács apartment can still be visited, where you can find:

– Furniture of György Lukács, owned by the heirs of the philosopher
– The library of György Lukács, arranged and cataloged
– Publications of the works of György Lukács
– Literature on György Lukács

We look forward to your visit, please register before your visit via e-mail: lukacs . archivum [at] konyvtar . mta . hu