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Statue Park, Budapest, Hungary
publication date: Dec 1, 2007
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author/source: Polly Evans
In 1991, the last Soviet troops left Hungary as the Iron Curtain fell. And so the authorities had a problem: what were they going to do with the socialist statues that had presided over their parks and boulevards for decades? They staged a competition to find a solution, and a man named Akos Eleőd won. He, perhaps, had caught on to the idea of capitalism more quickly than most: his idea was to reinstate the statues in a field just outside Budapest and to charge people to come and take a look. And so he did. The result is quite fantastic, in a downbeat, field-on-the-outskirts-of-town kind of a way. Lenin’s here. So is Marx. Only Stalin’s statue is missing: that once towered 80 metres over Elizabeth Square in the city centre but, in the opening days of the 1956 uprising, the citizens of Budapest expressed their loathing of this man whose policies had caused them so much suffering by tearing it down and ripping it to pieces. Only his boots remained. They, on their plinth, now reside in Statue Square while fragments of the terrible man himself are tucked away, rather ironically, in the apartments of Budapest’s citizens. The really great thing about Statue Park, however, is that there’s nothing jokey about it. It’s a simple memento to the past. Hungarians as well as foreigners come here to look at the statues that once loomed large over their lives, to show their children and grandchildren the old monuments and, perhaps, to feel a pang of nostalgia. Anyone taking the bus tour might want to take advantage of the add-on visit to a Budapest ‘socialist apartment’. Fully kitted out in socialist-era regalia, the most fascinating item is the communist Monopoly board. There’s no real estate to be bought, of course. In this game – which looks just like conventional Monopoly – you receive rewards and punishments according to your behaviour. Dropping litter incurs a fine; winning a prize accrues benefits such as package holidays to Yugoslavia. Best of all though, there’s no jail. If you’re really lacking in good socialist ideals, you’re simply subjected to a prolonged stay at pioneer camp. Getting there: A tour bus leaves for Statue Park every day from Deák Square at 11 a.m. In the peak summer season there’s also an afternoon bus at 3 p.m. and in the dead of winter the tour only runs at weekends. Further reading: You might have guessed by now that I'm a fan of Bradt Guides, and I recommend Adrian Phillips and Jo Scotcher's guides to Budapest and Hungary. In the name of transparency, I'll confess that Adrian is a friend of mine, but that doesn't mean his guidebooks aren't brilliant. <
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A short bus ride out of Budapest, in a field surrounded by nondescript apartment blocks and electricity pylons, lies one of the oddest testaments to Hungary’s socialist past.
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