Who was Jókai’s Ráby?

We celebrate the 200^th anniversary of Mór Jókai’s birth with an exhibition on local history, dedicated to the hero of his 1879 novel, Rab Ráby (Ráby, the Prisoner), the famous and infamous Mátyást Ráby, whose adventures are set in Szentendre. Ráby became a household name thanks to Jókai’s book, but it is a little known fact that he was not a figment of the novelist’s imagination. Ráby published an autobiography in 1797, and there are countless documents in the archives that attest to his existence. He is said to have been sent to Szentendre by Joseph II to investigate financial crimes, and he is said to have had a house in the town… But how much of this is true?

Jókai adopted his adventures from Ráby’s memoirs—and added countless exciting secondary story lines and a liberal dose of humour, almost completely transforming the character of the real man in the process. This exhibition looks at some episodes of the ‘Ráby Story’ from three angles, namely, Ráby’s own account, his life as reconstructed on the basis of historical sources, and, of course, Jókai’s version. This triple interpretation allows us to present a more nuanced view of Mátyás Ráby’s story.

We apply an interdisciplinary approach, bringing into play the artistic aspects of the subject alongside its historical and literary facets. The Ráby House, which was built in 1768, became a perennial subject of Szentendre’s painters in the 20th century, and we present a selection of works that feature the building, by István Ilosvai Varga, József Bánáti Sverák and Ernő Jeges, among others. In addition, Jókai’s personal relics also complement the exhibition.

This exhibition looks into the reasons why Mátyás Ráby came to Szentendre in 1784; who owned the Ráby House; why he wrote his denunciations; whom he fell out with in the town; his years of imprisonment in the Pest county hall; and how he attempted to have his book published abroad, allegedly in Strasbourg.