Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 16. (Budapest, 1997)

ÁCS Piroska: Lechner Ödön köztéri szobrának története

doubts concerning the planned site having been voiced, the emission of the permit by the Council of Budapest was repeatedly delayed. The pedestal, inspired by the Hungarian motives decorating Lechner 's buildings, was finally designed by the architect Ferenc Kende. The permit having been obtained at long last, the statue was inaugurated in summer 1936 and, to use the word of Vilmos Magyar in the speech he delivered on the occasion: "Instead of the quickly wiltering wreath of contemporaries, Ödön Lechner is now finally in possession of a memorial granting him immortality".

22 The statue seems to follow with its gaze the lively flow on the street, the gait of the women and girls passing by with the same attention as Lechner did during his life from behind the window of the Café Japan. "Papsie" was left to sit on his spot by the sidewalk, facing Andrássy street, for only twelve years. The transformation of Ferenc Liszt square, in 1948, settled him where he can be seen today, in front of the Museum of Applied Arts.