Bust of Gergely Czuczor

Born on 17 Dec. 1800. Andódon Czuczor Gergely was a poet, linguist, dictionary writer, and an outstanding figure of Hungarian romanticism (died in Pest, 9 Sept. 1866). He spent part of his childhood in Érsekújvár, where he started his schooling, then studied in Nyitra, Esztergom, Bratislava, and Győr, and in 1817 he entered the Benedictine order together with Ányos Jedlik. Between 1829 and 1835 he was a teacher in Komárom, one of the defining figures of the city's intellectual life, and the editor of the Komárom Kalendárium year after year. Already then and from there, he initiated the collection of folk poetry, preceding János Erdélyi. In 1835 he moved to Pest to become the assistant clerk of the Hungarian Scholars' Society, and his archive, where he found fertile ground for the full development of both his poetry and scientific work, many of his poems became folk songs, his academic dictionary edited together with János Fogarasi, and his linguistic works are still considered basic works. ; ; The statue of Gergely Czuczor was intended to be inaugurated in Érsekújvár as part of the millennium celebrations, but the work was not completed in time, so it was only inaugurated during the celebrations organized on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Rákóczi War of Independence, together with the Kossut statue and three memorial plaques erected in memory of Rákóczi, Bercsényi and Bottyán, on June 17, 1906. ; The work of the Budapest sculptor Ernő Székely (1852-1928 (original name Weiss) was inaugurated on the Promenade Square. The artist himself was present at the ceremony. ; The bronze bust was 65 centimeters tall and stood on a 3-meter-high granite pedestal. ; The statue was removed from its original location due to the construction of the Simor János Catholic Girls' School. It was placed in the school's courtyard, where it stood until 1945. Then it was lost. Some believe that it is hidden in a well buried in the school's courtyard, but no one has yet been convinced of the truth of this, although it would give the statue an interesting twist!