The building of the Losonc high school

The official name of the building at Kármán Street 5 in Losonc is the Kármán József Hungarian Language Elementary School and Kindergarten, originally built in 1883 as a gymnasium. The registered monument has remained in its original condition. The 1890 m2, trapezoidal ground plan, one-story building, on its neoclassical facade, a stone plaque still reads: For national culture. ; A Reformed church gymnasium operated in the building's place, which was the only continuously operating gymnasium in Nógrád from the beginning of the 17th century until 1870. The church, struggling with financial problems after the Russian destruction of 1849, gave up its long-standing gymnasium in 1869 in favor of the Hungarian state represented by Minister József Eötvös, which established a state gymnasium. The state high school, which started with four classes in 1870, became a high school with eight classes in 1879, which required a larger, more modern building. The vibrant life of the school, with its excellent teachers, was an integral part of the social life of the city. In the autumn of 1919, the Czechoslovak authorities seized the school and established a Czechoslovak state reform-real high school there, with Hungarian parallel classes. Under the new circumstances, the Losonc high school once again gained national and Slovene significance. All branches of Hungarian and minority culture in Czechoslovakia are connected to the Losonc high school through teachers, students and events. The Hungarian Royal State High School, which was re-established after 1938, took on the name of József Kármán. However, in the spring of 1945, Hungarian high school education ceased. The new Slovak high school operated in this building until 1962, when the Hungarian-language elementary school moved here. ; The historic building was returned to the ownership of the Losonc Reformed Church at the beginning of the 21st century. The building is decorated with three Hungarian-related memorial plaques. When the Losonc Hungarian-language elementary school took the name of József Kármán in 2001, a white marble plaque with the portrait of the namesake was placed in the building's lobby. In 1994, the Slovak Hungarian Scout Association placed a bronze relief memorial plaque of two distinguished leaders of the Highland Scouting on the school's facade (created by sculptor János Nagy). A distinguished teacher of the former high school was Lajos Scherer (1874-1957), the school's scout commander, the author of the magazine A MI LAPUNK. editor and publisher of the student and scout newspaper (1921-1932). The doctor Dr. Aladár Szilassy, Jr., originally from Losonc, was the founder of the Hungarian scout movement and the commander of the 1st scout troop. The memorial plaque to the heroes of the old high school was removed from the wall of the building in 1945. In 2014, on the occasion of the centenary of World War I, a reduced copy of the original plaque was unveiled in the school's lobby.