The crypt of Pál Ráday in Losonc
Literary
Pál Ráday (1677 Losonc-1733 Pécel) II. Ferenc Rákóczi's personal secretary, diplomat, writer of the declaration of the War of Independence, editor of war reports, poet of prayers, religious poems, songs, library founder, first chief guardian of the Reformed Church. He had the crypt built for himself and his family in his hometown. He died in his castle in Pécel, but was buried in Losonc. His wife Klára Kajali (+1741) is also buried in this crypt. The building was renovated on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Ráday's birth, and wrought iron gates were placed in the arches. Since the name of the person buried there can hardly be made out from the inscription on the decaying tombstone, the local Csemads in 1984 and then in 2003 erected bronze and placed a clay tablet on the wall of the crypt with the name of Pál Ráday, the year of his birth and death. Both were stolen, as were the relief coats of arms on the doors. ; ; On the occasion of the 340th anniversary of Pál Ráday's birth, the Municipality of Losonc restored the dilapidated monument building thanks to the financial resources of the "Rómer Flóris Plan for the rescue of particularly endangered monuments of foreign, Hungarian relevance". The Losonc Reformed Church had the decaying tombstone restored by István Bogárdi Szabó, the bishop of the Danube Reformed Church District. The contractors were sculptor-restorers Árpád Mézes and András Csütörtöki. The ceremonial handover took place on July 8, 2017, with the participation of Reformed bishops István Bogárdi Szabó and László Fazekas, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade István Ijgyártó, representatives of the Hungarian Embassy in Bratislava, Alexandra Pivková, Mayor of Losonc, and numerous local, regional and Hungarian interested parties.