Hello, everybody! I am Fadrusz János, the creator of the statue on your main square. I was born in 1858, and I left this world in 1903. My parents were poor. In my childhood I wasn’t a special child, I was strong, but not very smart. I was a good locksmith, my friends predict-ed a successful future for me. I didn’t care what they said, I tried wood carving, porcelain painting, and I also made plaster sculptures.

Thanks to my skills, I became a famous sculptor, and I made a lot of statues. Dr. Lajos Nagy, an unitarian pastor, came with an idea that Mátyás’s hometown needed a statue of him for the Millennium Celebration. In order to prepare the monument, the city established a sculpture committee in May 1882, and the entire public opinion of the country soon lined up behind the big plan.

In my vision, I saw the Great King sitting on a war stallion, on the bastion of a castle, look-ing at his victorious armies, with the leaders of the Black Army at his side. I won the com-petition with this plan, and then I made the statue between 1896-1901. I studied a lot of stat-ues and portraits, while Mátyás got into the saddle. I studied the horses at the Mezőhegyes stud farm for three months. Matthias's stallion received a wrought iron frame, which I coat-ed in bronze.

I still remember clearly when the model of the plaster sculpture group was awarded the gold medal at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. The bronze statue still stands on the main square of Cluj-Napoca. The statue was loaded on 13th August 1902 for rail transport at the Lipótváros railway station. Four railcars were needed for the shipment of the 17 pieces weighing 18,815 kilograms. The train arrived at Cluj on 15th August. From the railway sta-tion the wagons were pulled into the main square by horses, on the local road railway tracks. The bronze statue was inaugurated on 12th October 1902, during a bright celebration.