Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
János Ugrai: „THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL ADVANCEMENT” 1777-1849 - The last Renaissance man of Patak? - Isván Nyíry
102 FROM THE ENLIGHTEMENT TO THE END OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE István Nyíri’s masterpiece in him being involved in notable publishing activity in diverse academic fields. His knowledge of engineering ensured for him another important role in the everyday and practical aspect of life at the school. He is considered to be the father of drawing, helping launch its instruction at the College in the beginning of the 19th century, albeit in rather difficult circumstances. The further evolution of the drawing program translated into an additional aspect of education offered by the school, thus providing a newer station in its move towards training in preparation for secular intellectual careers. Thus Nyíri’s initiatives contributed to a paradigmatic change. He was able to apply his practical skills in multiple ways during the entire construction phase of the College building complex. The actual construction work of the stately complex, which is still in use today, continued for decades with Nyiry directing and supervising it virtually throughout its entire duration. István Nyiry was born into a pastor’s family in Átány in Heves county. He began his studies in Sárospatak and later interrupted this with one year of study in Lőcse (Levoca at present), concentrating on learning German. Records show that he was most particularly interested in philosophy and the natural sciences during his years in Patak. His affinity for these disciplines was most likely due to him having excellent professors teaching these. István Szentgyörgyi was his philosophy teacher and Dávid Barczafalvi Szabó taught the sciences and both of them made a big impression on the young man. The makings of a budding polyhistor was already showing glimmers. On his preference list, after the “serious” sciences came the so-called arts disciplines, almost all of these also holding great interest for him, so much so that he became seriously involved in classic literature and also tried his hand at painting and writing poetry, never bothering, however, to publish any of his poems. József Vay, chief lay officer of the College, was very much interested in introducing the teaching of drawing and was intrigued by Nyíri’s pictures and by his talent in descriptive geometry. Furthermore, Vay felt that he had found the ideal schoolteacher candidate in the person of the school’s gifted student. Very much open to the invitation and opportunity, Nyiry decided, in 1796, to study in Kassa in order to prepare and get acquainted with architectural representation. After his return, he was immediately appointed to be the drawing teacher of the Sárospatak College; he became special teacher of theoretical mathematics in 1798 and then, in 1806, he was named full professor of the entire discipline (then called “mathesis”). Due to his responsibilities as professor, he soon had to part with his position as drawing teacher. Recognizing Nyíri’s multiple talents and flexibility, the leadership soon entrusted him with newer and newer tasks. For several years the teaching of the sciences (physics, mechanics) was assigned to his competency. In 1822, he was asked to give up the mathematics chair and was entrusted to teach four subjects which counted as being relatively new in Patak, these being statistics, geology, mechanics and pedagogy. Following the death of the philosophy teacher József Rozgonyi two years later, he was asked to fill the need in the philosophy department. He functioned in this role and taught this discipline for the rest of his teaching career, right up to his death in August 1838. He took his teaching duties so seriously that he prepared textbooks, or at least manuscripts, for all his subjects except for philosophy. In addition to this, he participated very actively in the directing of the College. He worked out
