This volume has been prepared for the sixtieth birthday of Jenő Gál (Evžen Gál), who has been teaching at the Hungarian Department at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague for almost 30 years. On this occasion, the colleagues, friends, admirers, and students would like to offer a broad overview of the decades-long results of research into Czech–Hungarian literary and cultural connections, as well as the present situation. The composition and division of the studies presented here reflects the multi-directional research activities of the person in whose honour this volume has been assembled: including linguistic and literary-historical endeavours, as well as his selfless intermediary activities in the area of Czech–Hungarian cultural relations, in the broader sense of the word. Through his pedagogical activities, Professor Gál has, in following the example and the intention of his own teacher, the impressive Péter Rákos, brought a greater depth to Czech Hungarological research, ensured its continuity, and has focused on creating a new generation of scholars. In terms of his translation, editorial, and critical work, Professor Gál has, first and foremost, focused on developing and increasing the visibility of the most outstanding Hungarian authors of the present and recent past in the Czech literary context. As such, he assisted and supplemented the extraordinary achievement of his wife, the Hungarian–Czech translator Dana Gálová, including introducing authors to the Czech reading public such as Sándor Márai, Imre Kertész, and Péter Esterházy. Professor Gál also served in the diplomatic service as a cultural ambassador: between 2003 and 2009 he was the director of the Czech Center in Budapest. It is not by chance that the editors of this volume have chosen a Latin title and subtitles for this bilingual edition. In doing so, they would like to emphasize to the universal claim of academic tradition, by which the emphasis is placed on the correlations to the literary and scholarly spheres of both languages: for when two national cultures are being examined and confronted, then of necessity a comparative approach must be adopted in the dynamically changing context of European erudition. This intention, expressing itself in many layers, is demonstrated by the authors of this volume as well, who differ as to their mother tongues, their countries of citi zenship, and their respective academic disciplines, but who in many ways share a similar intellectual space, thanks to the legacy of the celebrant of this volume. In accordance with this, the Prologue opens the present study up with three varied personal reflections. Michal Černý followed Professor Gál in his post of the directorship of the Budapest Czech Center, where, in the director's office, he could still sense the pipe- fragrance of his predecessor, otherwise known to many as “Jenci” (or, in Czech, as Evžen), and this figurative experience ties together the story of their friendship. In this cycle, we also include a message from Péter Rákos from beyond the grave, as it were, who, in the Hungarian translation of his last volume to appear in Czech, encouraged Professor Gál to follow in his footsteps as a university lecturer. The first chapter is closed by Vilmos Voigt, a Hungarian ethnographer, now retired, who as a member of the International Association for Hungarian Studies was a close working associate of the celebrant of this volume. In his contribution, he reminds us of the preservation and continuation of the best traditions of the Association. As for the scholarly contributions to this volume, the first such section bears the title of Ab imo pectore, which refers to the title of a volume published on the occasion of Péter Rákos'70th birthday in 1995. Two studies analyse the character and the decisive scholarly path of the Hungarian Department of Charles University up till the recent past. Jiří Januška, work
