BATTHYANEUM LIBRARY

Located in the northern part of the citadel, it was founded in the late ^18th century by Bishop Ignác Batthyány. Housed in a former Baroque church, it is home to some 70,000 volumes, including 1,230 manuscripts and rare books. The most precious of these is the Codex aureus, written in gold ink on ^8th-century parchment and richly illustrated. The superb Great Hall blends neoclassical and rococo styles. It was also here, in 1792, that the country's first astronomical observatory was established, destroyed during the revolution of 1848.