Austrian Hungarian Monarchy
The Liszt collection’s roots lay in the Austria Hungary Empire where Gizella Schwarz (1877–1962), started to collect some ‘Liszt’ prints. These were portraits of Franz Liszt and woodcuts of the places where he lived and worked. However, her interest quickly broadened and Gizella bought prints of a great variety of subjects. Amongst many others these include butterflies and flowers, engravings of Budapest and Hungary, but also London, Paris and New York.
On 15 October 1877, Károly Schwarz and Maria Habetler got a daughter, which they named Gizella. The baby was born in Körmend, Hungary, where Gizella spent her childhood. Károly Schwarz owned the well known Schwarz Coffee House and here it was that the young Gizella met many interesting people. Körmend being a frequented stop for travellers on their way from Hungary to Austria.
Gizella loved music and literature and spent her whole life reading. As family history has it, around 1880 in Budapest she even, as a little girl, met Franz Liszt, the famous nineteenth-century composer.
In 1939 she asked her birth certificate¹ from the Catholic Church in Körmend and by obtaining this certificate she saved herself from the concentration camps. The birth certificate is shown on the right and proves the validity of her origins being Roman Catholic. It is signed by the Vicar of Körmend which verifies the genuinity of the information. This is proven by his signature and stamp under the sentence: "That the certificate is in compliance with the original birth register of the Roman Catholic Church, and that I further strengthen this proof with my signature and official stamp." As it can be seen a red satisfactory tick has later been added, presumably by a German officer, to certify that her origins were indeed 'lawful'.
In 1957, Gizella was portrayed by Janos Szikra², at the age of 80, 4 years before her death.
Over the past hundred years the Liszt collection was gradually expanded and now houses over one million nineteenth-century engravings, prints and images and over two million articles.
Read more about this topic: Liszt Collection
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