'The benefactor of Szeged', 'The Széchenyi Ferenc of Szeged' - this is how contemporary press and the citizens of Szeged described the canon of Esztergom Somogyi Károly at opening of the Somogy Library 195 years ago. He offered his own library of 43 701 volumes he had collected for decades after the destruction of the great flood. The document stating the conditions was signed on 15 February 1881.