The inventory of the private archives of István Béla Ferenc Kormoss (1920-2019) — renowned cartographer and urbanist, esteemed academic author and teacher, committed Europeanist, dedicated map collector and passionate traveler, is now available for consultation at the Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU). The collection was deposited in 2023 by his son, Bernard Kormoss.
A life dedicated to mapping and scholarship
Professor István Béla Ferenc Kormoss was a figure of multifaceted talent and boundless curiosity for the world around him. He served as a senior official at the Hungarian Ministry of Religion and Education during World War II and the immediate post-war period, contributing to the development and administration of that country’s cultural and educational policies. In August 1946, during a youth cultural congress organised by the French occupation authorities in Austria, he decided not to return to Budapest. Following various stays in Italy, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands, he eventually settled in Belgium. He was part of the College de Bruges's first 'Promotion Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1950 – 1951', and then became actively engaged in European affairs. Kormoss obtained Belgian citizenship in 1960.
From 1954 to 1985, with the support of Hendrik Brugmans, he set up and directed the Cartographic Section at the College of Europe. There he produced the maps for the newly established European institutions, particularly Euratom and the European Economic Community (EEC), as well as for the Council of Europe.
Kormoss' career, which spanned almost five decades, was notable for its particularly intense professional activity and its unique contributions to European integration. The 1960s were a pivotal period in his scholarly work: at the College of Europe, he taught geography and contributed to European academic discourse. Concurrently, he served as Secretary General of Conférence des régions de l’Europe du Nord-Ouest (CRENO) and as Scientific Director of the European Training Centre for Railways (ETCR), positions he held until 2001. Between 1969 and 1970, he took part in an academic exchange in the United States, notably at the University of Pittsburgh, further enhancing his international academic profile. In 1973, he organised the first international academic conference dedicated to transport route research and led a research project for the European Cultural Foundation on the future of agriculture and environmental policy in Europe. In 1986, he was appointed President of the Cartographic Section of the National Committee of Geography of Belgium. From 2000 onwards, he concluded his leadership roles at both CRENO and the ETCR. In 2012, in recognition of his lifelong scholarly contributions, he was named Honorary Professor of the College of Europe and appointed External Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Mapping Europe: The cartographic legacy of István Béla Ferenc Kormoss
The newly opened private collection IBKS integrates the CRNO collection: archival materials previously deposited by Professor Kormoss at the Archives thanks to a June 2011 deposit agreement signed with the HAEU. Those archives were opened for consultation in 2022, and comprise archival documents such as correspondence, notes and reports, as well as a collection of cartographic works and a series of geographical maps. Among the latter is a small graphic cliche and a number of intermediate prototypes produced prior to the final product, which permits researchers to study Kormoss’ methodology and reconstruct the creation of the maps. The new IBKS fonds, also open for consultation, is composed of personal papers, cartographic materials, and other significant documents.
Spanning several decades, Kormoss’s extensive cartographic work not only helped shape the methodological frameworks of his time but also captured the evolving sentiment and transformative processes underlying the construction of the European Community.
This archival collection will be of particular interest to scholars researching the historical representation of Europe and the relationship between cartography and urbanism and other broader social and economic dynamics.
For further information, please consult the István Béla Ferenc Kormoss record in the HAEU’s online database.