In the historical arcade, King Béla IV and his daughter, Saint Margit of the House of Árpád, appear together. The sculptural group evokes the period following the Mongol invasion, when the personal fate of the royal family was closely intertwined with the rebuilding of the country.
Margit was born in 1242 in Dalmatia, in the castle of Klis, while her parents were fleeing the Mongol attack. According to tradition, Béla IV and his wife, Maria Laskarina, made a vow: if Hungary were saved from destruction, they would dedicate their child to the service of God. Accordingly, Margit was placed in a convent as a very young child, first in Veszprém and then on the Island of Hares, later Margaret Island.
Despite her royal birth, she refused the marriage offers that would have linked her to important European ruling houses. She devoted her life to her monastic vocation, self-denial and service to those in need. Her contemporaries revered her for her humility, piety and helpfulness, and shortly after her death her figure became an example of sanctity.
In Bory Jenő’s composition, the central place is occupied by the figure of Béla IV. His children appear on either side of the king, including Margit, whose figure symbolises the spiritual sacrifice born from family and historical tragedies. The work evokes not only the memory of a princess of saintly life, but also that of the ruler whom historiography often calls the ‘second founder of the homeland’ because of his role in reorganising the country.
Margit died in 1270 in the Dominican convent on Margaret Island. Her veneration spread quickly, but her official canonisation did not take place until 1943. Bory Jenő’s sculptural group unites the memory of faith, family sacrifice and the country’s rebirth in a single historical scene.