Artwork of the month – The Botanical Garden’s ornate filing cabinet
Among the special pieces of the Botanical Garden’s rich heritage are the archive cabinets, which, according to tradition, were donated to the university by Maria Theresa. Having served for over 250 years, this piece of furniture not only preserves the outstanding cabinet-making craftsmanship of its era, but also the memories of the history of Hungarian higher education and botany.
The filing cabinets in the Botanical Garden are among the oldest pieces of furniture in the garden and, indeed, at the university. According to historical records, these two identical cabinets, each two and a half metres high, were donated by Empress Maria Theresa to the university’s Faculty of Medicine, which was established in 1769. According to research by László Szögi, these may be the ‘little brothers’ of the monumental antique cabinet standing in the meeting room of the university’s main library. In 1777, during the relocation of the university and its botanical garden from Nagyszombat to Buda, the garden’s furniture and plant material were transported by boat to the area of today’s capital under the leadership of Farkas Kempelen. The botanical garden, dubbed the ‘wandering botanical garden’, finally settled in its current location – the Festetics Palace and its gardens – in 1847, following three further relocations. Given their origins, they were held in high esteem and were kept in the official residence and office of the respective garden directors. Thanks to this, they have been preserved in good condition.
One of the pair of cabinets was restored in the early 2000s, but a few years ago one of its doors was damaged; this was repaired in 2026 by András Kovács, a qualified restorer, with funding from the university. These cabinets housed the garden’s most important documents: plant and seed lists dating from 1788, inventory books, photographs, seals and antique signboards. Our predecessors compiled a beautiful album from the developed photographs of the glass negatives stored within, covering the period from 1846 to 1905, when the boys from Pál Street attended the Botanical Garden. Among the documents previously stored in the cabinets, one of the most valuable sets consists of letters addressed to János Arany, the Academy’s Secretary-General and then Director of the Garden. Our aim is to commission expert analysis to produce a scholarly documentation of the cabinets, clarifying their age and history. These finely crafted pieces of furniture would serve as the basis for the creation of a botanical and local history collection open to the public, which would introduce visitors to the 255-year history of the Botanical Garden, as well as the heritage of the Festetics Palace and Park spanning more than three centuries.
Written by: László Papp