The books flew in aboard a Hungarian Airline Malév scheduled flight at about 9 p.m., and were received by a military honour guard. Also present were the political state secretary of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage Lajos Vass, co-chair of the Hungarian division of the Restitution Mixed Committee András Benedek and deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ferenc Gémesi.
The 136 volumes returned, including rare prayer books, and bibles, as well as works on medicine and law, were taken to the Soviet Union by the Red Army in 1945.
Following a decision by the Russian parliament, cultural authorities gave the green light to the return of the books on Tuesday.
Hungary's insistence on the return of the Sárospatak collection, which had been kept in the vaults of a Budapest bank during WWII before it was seized, had been a longstanding thorn in the side of bilateral relations between Hungary and Russia.
The volumes will be on display at the Hungarian National Museum from March 1 to mid-June.
