Bory Jenő Biography

• He was born in Székesfehérvár on 9 November 1879. His father, József Bory was a locksmith, who raised seven children.
• He finished his secondary school studies in the Székesfehérvár Secondary School for Sciences and Modern Languages in 1899. The same year, he started studying architecture with the millennial scholarship of Székesfehérvár at the Royal Joseph Polytechnic University.
• In 1903, he received a degree in architecture, then he served in the army as a volunteer in Vienna.
• From 1904 he was the student of the Hungarian Royal Drawing School for two years and he attended the drawing and painting seminars of Bertalan Székely. For another four years he also studied at Alajos Stróbl’s Master School of Sculpture.
• In the 1906/1907 semester, he continued his education in Germany and Italy with a state scholarship. He learned marble sculpting at the workshop of the Paolo Triscornia company in Carrara.
• In 1906, he participated in the exhibition of the National Society of Hungarian Fine Arts with his sculpture ‘Bandika’ and from this moment on, his works were regularly featured in galleries.
• In 1907, he married Ilona Komócsin, a painter he got to know in the Royal Drawing School, in Székesfehérvár.
• In 1908, he launched his own exhibition at the Saint Stephen Hall in Székesfehérvár.
• In 1909, he sculpted the mythological turul at the top of the memorial for the martyrs of 1849 at Halesz Park in Székesfehérvár. He designed the Sacred Heart Church.
• In 1910, his twin daughters, Klára and Ilona were born.
• In 1911, the Sacred Heart Church of Székesfehérvár was built. He became a part-time teacher at the Hungarian Art Teachers' College. He was awarded with the two-thousand-crown István Ferenczy Prize.
• In 1912, he purchased the grounds for his future castle in Máriavölgy.
• In 1913, he received an assignment to design the tomb of the Petőfi family among others.
• In 1914, his boy, György was born. At the start of the war, he was enlisted in the army as a technical officer.
• In 1915, while in Sarajevo, he was selected to create a memorial for Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and
• Princess Sophie. He prepared the architectural design
• of a memorial church named after the Archduke and the so called Sophie Home; however,
• these were never actually constructed. The memorial was inaugurated in 1917, but it was demolished shortly after the war in 1919.
• He was awarded with the Knight’s Cross of the Imperial Austrian Order of Franz Joseph in 1916.
• In 1918, he was appointed teacher at the College of Fine Arts.
• In 1920, he became the honorary Chief Architect of Székesfehérvár. From this year until 1944, he was teaching modelling at the Technical University of Budapest.
• In 1922, a collection of his works were exhibited at the Budapest Hall of Art. He received the
• Szilárd Rökk Award for his statue, Ecce Homo.
• In 1923, he started building his castle in Máriavölgy, Székesfehérvár.
• In 1925, he had a joint exhibition with his wife, Ilona Komócsin at the Saint Stephen Hall in Székesfehérvár. He had a studio exhibition at the College of Fine Arts.
• In 1926, his work, ‘Plate with elephants’ received the Izidor Halmos Award
• for small sculptures.
• In 1927, he created a statue, ‘Wounded hero’ in memory of the fallen heroes of the Technical University of Budapest. This
• statue was later removed and its bronze material was casted into the Stalin Monument.
• Based on the original plaster model stored in the Bory Castle, it was recasted and reerected at its original location
• in 2000.
• In 1928, the Bishop's Well of Székesfehérvár was constructed in today’s Town Hall Square. The
• memorial was relocated to the square in front of the train station in 1938
• after being replaced with Béla Ohmann’s Orb and Cross. In the 1950s the figures of the bishops were removed
• from the composition. In 1972, the restored memorial was moved to its current location, to Várfal Park at Piac Square.
• In 1929, the memorial for the fallen of the Székesfehérvár Secondary School for Sciences and Modern Languages was erected
• in Ady Endre Street. He was awarded with the Arnold Ipoly Prize for his composition at the Bishop’s Well.
• In 1930, he won an Arte Moderna silver medal with his sculpture, ‘Longing’ in Barcelona.
• He organized a joint exhibition with József Nemes Haranglábi in the Budapest FÉSZEK club.
• In 1931, he created a memorial for the fallen of the Székesfehérvár
• 69th Hindenburg Infantry regiment at the intersection of Széchenyi Street and Balatoni Road.
• In 1934, he opened Bory Castle to the general public.
• In 1940, he was elected president of the Association of Hungarian Fine Artists.
• In 1943, he was elected rector of the College of Fine Arts. His assignment ended
• in the spring of 1945.
• In 1946, the memorial for the fallen of the Székesfehérvár Electric Works was created.
• In 1955, he had a joint exhibition with Lajos Nagy Áron from Székesfehérvár at the Adolf Fényes Hall
• in Budapest.
• He died at his home, in the Bory Castle on 19 December 1959. He was buried in the nearby Csutora Cemetery in a family tomb designed by himself.
• On 15 March 1994, he was awarded honorary citizenship of the county.
• On 15 August 1997, he was awarded honorary citizenship of Székesfehérvár.
• There is a commemorative exhibition organized at the Saint Stephen Hall in Székesfehérvár.