The Ráday crypt in Losonc

Pál Ráday was born in Losonc in 1677. He was a student of the local secondary school. From 1703 he was the personal secretary of Ferenc Rákóczi II, the author of the declaration of the War of Independence and his war reports. We can find more of his divine songs in the Reformed hymn books. A still living part of his life's work is the library he founded and expanded by his son Gedeon, which is a public treasure in the Ráday Collection in Budapest. He died in his Pécel castle in 1733, but was buried in Losonc in the crypt built for himself and his family. His wife Klára Kajali (+1741) also rests here. On the tombstone of Pál Ráday, which was made by the stonemason Ádám Loos from Szécsény, the coat of arms has already worn off, but the Latin hexameter inscription can still be read: VIS SCIRE VIATOR DORMIT VT EVIGELET LAPIDALI MOLE SVB ISTA P A U L U S DE R A D A STIRPIS HONOS ET AMOR... Hungarian translation by teacher Mihály Latkóczy from Losonc (1898): DO YOU KNOW WHO THE WALKER SLEEPS UNDER THIS STONE, WATCHING OVER YOU, R Á D A Y P Á L, WHOSE NAME IS DISSEMINATED, WITH HIS FLOWERS. WHO HE WAS, HOW LONG PANNONIA KNOWS, AND THE PEOPLE OF ABROAD ALSO TELL US ABOUT HIS WORKS AND DEEDS, ALL THE HOMELAND AND THE CHURCH … TEAR UP FOR THIS GOOD MAN. ; The crypt is located on the edge of the cemetery hill towards the city, under a huge ash tree. The underground burial chamber is made of brick and stone and has a floor area of 4 x 5 meters. It consists of four thick pillars and four arches connecting them from above. The pillars have a cross vault, which is covered by a shingled tent roof. The arch between the two southern pillars was walled in, and the 2 x 1 meter tombstone was built in here. The space under the other arches is filled with iron gratings and gates. The 3 x 3 meter interior has a concrete floor. The walls are plastered smooth and gray. After 1945, the crypt became a victim of vandalism, the iron gratings were stretched out, the roof was dismantled, and the condition of the building deteriorated and threatened to collapse. As a result of the interventions of the leaders of the Csemadok, Hungarian individuals and institutions, in 1977, on the 300th anniversary of the birth of Pál Ráday, the state monument protection office under the leadership of Dr. Gábor Krúdy completely renovated the building, which had been declared a monument. At the ceremonial reopening on July 2, 1977, in addition to the Losonci people, representatives of the Hungarian Consulate in Bratislava, the Hungarian Writers' Association and other institutions were present. The Hungarians of Losonc remembered their great native with a program evening. In 1984, the Csemadok placed a bronze plaque on the outer wall with the name of Ráday, the year of his birth and death. This was stolen in 2002, as well as the coat of arms of Ráday and the city of Losonc made of embossed metal on the two wings of the gate.