28 Congress Album

Present of the Pest Israelite Community to József Eötvös

Pest, 1868

copper, decorated with overlay panels, paper bound in silk, hand-written

donation of Loránd Eötvös, 1912

Count József Eötvös, minister of culture and education, summoned a general assembly of Jewish communities (“Congress”) in 1868, with the aim of establishing a national body of all Jewish communities in Hungary. Several influencial representatives of Orthodoxy opposed the idea of the state having influence on internal community matters, so in the end, the organization founded at the general assembly was formed without them. The leaders of the newly formed national organization of “Congress” (later Neolog) Jewry thanked Eötvös for his role in the formation of the organization with an album. The album was donated to the collection by the son of the minister, Lóránd Eötvös, inventor of the “Eötvös torsion balance” used for oil field discoveries in America.