How to get rid of your conflicting statues?
Yesterday’s heroes are today’s enemies. The symbolism of statues has become a hot issue most everywhere. In Hungary, where history has been rewritten by every major regime change (five times in the 20th century alone), we have an enormous experience in dealing with this issue in a peaceful way. A few examples:
An iconic landmark of Budapest is Heroes Square with the two colonnades of the greatest rulers of our 1,000-year-old Hungarian Kingdom. After the early 16th century, the (Austrian) Habsburg Dynasty grabbed the Holy Crown of St Stephen and claimed to be legitimate rulers. The right-side colonnade of the heroes’ monument was originally reserved for Habsburg rulers such as Maria Teresia and Franz Joseph. Ironically, they were replaced by the Hungarian heroes of independence, like Ferenc Rákóczi and Lajos Kossuth who, from an Austrian point of view, were the rebels and traitors. A sweet revenge.
The biggest upheaval of the Communist era took place in Budapest, now labelled the 1956 Revolution and War of Independence. We pulled down the 82-feet tall Stalin statue, the symbol of all the misery and humiliation that the occupying Russian forces caused our nation. Good riddance.
More interestingly, in 1989, the Communist regime collapsed, and we gained our long-desired freedom and independence. Anything named after the Russians or our Communist past was changed back to its original name. To us, Lenin and Communism-related statues were redundant, just like many people feel about the Confederate statues in the US. We had the good idea of collecting them in a museum park, Memento Park, instead of smashing them. Now, it’s an open-air classroom and a tourist attraction. To youngsters, this is much more memorable than 50 pages from their history book. Kids as well as visitors learn about the wrongdoings of the past, and the cultural history of the statues and their symbolism survive.
Photo source: https://isic.hu/memento-park/
More interestingly, in 1989, the Communist regime collapsed, and we gained our long-desired freedom and independence. Anything named after the Russians or our Communist past was changed back to its original name. To us, Lenin and Communism-related statues were redundant, just like many people feel about the Confederate statues in the US. We had the good idea of collecting them in a museum park, Memento Park, instead of smashing them. Now, it’s an open-air classroom and a tourist attraction. To youngsters, this is much more memorable than 50 pages from their history book. Kids as well as visitors learn about the wrongdoings of the past, and the cultural history of the statues and their symbolism survive.
Join us on a tour when you are in Budapest, which we hope is soon. Look out for our Communist tours here!