Anton Bernolák was an important Slovak Roman Catholic priest and linguist. He was born on 3 October 1762 in Slanica in Orava into a family of the lesser nobility and died on 15 January 1813 in Nové Zámky. From 1797 he served as parson in Nové Zámky. At the same time, he also served as dean of the Nové Zámky church district and was a member of the Bratislava Chapter and honorary canon of the Metropolitan Chapter of Esztergom.
Bernolák is known above all as the codifier of the first form of literary Slovak, the so-called Bernolák Slovak, which he introduced in 1787 in his work Dissertatio philologico-critica de literis Slavorum. He also created a monumental six-volume dictionary, Slowár Slowenskí Česko-Laťinsko-Ňemecko-Uherskí, on which he worked for more than twenty years. This work is a testament to his determination and immense effort on behalf of the Slovak language.
The statue of Anton Bernolák was unveiled in 2003 on the Main Square in front of his parish church, the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Its author is the academic sculptor Arpád Račko, a native of Nové Zámky.