One group of figures in the historical arcade depicts György Szondi and his two pages. The composition recalls one of the best-known stories of the Hungarian border-fortress wars, made part of national memory by János Arany’s ballad Szondi’s Two Pages.
In the summer of 1552, György Szondi defended the Nógrád fortress of Drégely with a handful of men against the vastly superior forces of Ali Pasha of Buda. The defenders held out to the end, and Szondi fought with his men until the final moment. The figure of the castle captain who fell in battle soon became a symbol of loyalty, courage and love of country.
At the centre of the sculptural group stands the armoured Szondi, holding a shield. On either side are his pages, who, according to historical tradition, survived the siege of the fortress and later preserved the memory of their lord. Bory Jenő did not depict the scene of battle, but highlighted the idea of loyalty and remembrance. The child figures press close around Szondi as if sheltered by his protection, although in truth they became the bearers of his memory.
The work was not originally made for Bory Castle. It was unveiled in Budapest on 17 December 1939, in the niche of the former Britannia Hotel at the corner of Szondi Street and Teréz Boulevard in the sixth district. At the unveiling ceremony, László Nagy, Member of Parliament, and Dr Viktor Szondy, counsellor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivered speeches; the latter also outlined the history of the Szondy family. The 165-centimetre limestone statue was destroyed during the Second World War, in 1945.
The version now visible in the historical arcade of Bory Castle is a larger concrete copy of the lost Budapest work. Thanks to this, the work survived and still recalls the sixteenth-century border-fortress hero and the story that became one of the best-known parables of Hungarian literature and historical memory.