Bory Jenő’s sculpture Scholar, the funerary monument of Czakó Adolf, is an important artistic work made by Bory in memory of Czakó Adolf, the eminent Hungarian architectural engineer and professor at the Technical University.
The original statue is in marble and stands in Kerepesi Cemetery, where it adorns Czakó’s grave in the spirit of symbolic scholarship and profound thought. A quartz-concrete copy of the statue has been placed in the lower garden of Bory Castle in Székesfehérvár, where visitors may also admire it.
Czakó Adolf (1865–1921) was an outstanding figure in the history of Hungarian engineering education. He worked in the Department of Applied Strength of Materials at the József Technical University (now the Budapest University of Technology and Economics), where he served as a lecturer from 1895 and later became head of the department. Between 1916 and 1917 he held the office of Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, and from 1918 to 1920 he led the university as rector. The knowledge of strength of materials and structural mechanics that he represented contributed significantly to the development of architectural and engineering science in Hungary at the time.
With his statue Scholar, Bory Jenő fittingly commemorated Czakó Adolf’s scholarly and teaching work. The statue symbolises profound thought and commitment to science, paying tribute to the professional and scholarly legacy Czakó left behind. The figure expresses its creator’s respect for the great figures of scholarly life, while also suggesting absorption in knowledge and seriousness.