Statue of Lajos Pósa

Lajos Pósa (1850-1914) was a writer, journalist, and newspaper editor born in Nemesradnót, a small village in Balog Valley, near Rimaszombat. He published more than fifty volumes of children's poems and about 800 children's song lyrics. Several hundred of the latter were set to music, by renowned artists such as Pista Dankó or Béla Bartók. Together with Elek Benedek, he founded the first literary magazine specifically for children, entitled Az én újszagóm, which Pósa edited for a long time. At the time of his death, there was almost no Hungarian child or adult who did not know the name of Uncle Lajos. ; Twenty years after his death, a collection was started by the initiative of the Reformed teacher from Nemesradnót, Lajos Bodon, to erect a statue of Pósa. The Hungarians in Czechoslovakia, especially the intellectuals, who had awakened from their post-Trianon stupor, moved as one for the cause. Thanks to this, the work was unveiled in front of a huge crowd in front of the Radnót school on July 1, 1934, as part of a national holiday. ; In the period following World War II, when many Hungarian and civic-themed public works were in danger, the local CSEMADOK activists first boarded it up as a precaution, then dismantled it for safety and hid the work with boards under one of the wooden stairs of the church. It was only in 1964 that it was returned to its original place, again in a ceremonial setting. ; The life-size bronze bust depicting the great storyteller in his old age was made by the Budapest sculptor Ede Margó. The highly eclectic, stone-carved statue pedestal is the work of the Ferenczy brothers. ; The local community regularly lays wreaths at the monument on Lajos Pósa's birthday, which is held in great esteem by the Hungarians of the Uplands.