site description

Pécel is only 33 kilometres from Budapest. The local Baroque castle of peculiar atmosphere was a meeting place of scientists and writers. The members of the Ráday family emerged from the nobility of their age as patrons and creators of art. Gedeon Ráday enlarged the family library systematically and took up the cause and popularised literary and artistic life. His book collection of about twelve thousand volumes included the most excellent works of all branches of science, classical basic readings and the literature of the French Enlightenment. The architecture of the palace of Pécel bears the stylistic mark of the palace of Gödöllő. The fabulous wall paintings of the ceremonial hall were done by Gedeon Ráday who used Bernard Picart’s copperplates.

Following World War II, the palace was renovated according to Antal Thomas’s plans between 1953 and 1956, and then it worked as a hospital until 1997. It awaits visitors in this state, before another renovation.