Fraternity-Testvériség, 2008 (86. évfolyam, 1-3. szám)
2008-07-01 / 3. szám
FEATURE the first half of the 20lh century. The joke is that if you are buried in Kerepesi, there must be a street named after you somewhere in Budapest. In the decades after the Second World War, the cemetery’s central area was converted into a park, and a parcel was even set aside for the heroes of the 1956 Revolution. Flower sellers line up alongside the cemetery’s entrance, and on All Soul’s Day (Oct. 31st), the cemetery shimmers with the light from thousands of flickering candles. Paths and avenues lead to impressive mausoleums that stand beside more modest gravesites. Some of the simple graves are marked by the archaic, carved wooden funerary markers known as Kopfa, which date back to the Uralic origins of the ancient Magyars. They carved grave markers in the shape of boats to symbolize the journey over the river of death. Understandably, the most impressive mausoleum in Kerepesi is the final resting place of KOSSUTH TOMB IN KEREPESI CEMETERY Lajos Kossuth. But other incredible artworks and statuary mark the resting places of Count Lajos Betthany, Ferenc Deak and other notables from Hungary’s rebellious 19th century. Former Communist party leader Janos Kadar, who died in 1989, lies in a rather plain grave near a huge mausoleum that houses various departed Communist party leaders. After tramping around the grounds for two days in freezing temperatures last December to take photos of the artworks and gravesites, I recommend that you first visit the museum near the entrance (although it has shortened hours) and request a map so that you can cover the highlights of the ceme- tery/park more efficiently than I did in a rather hit-and-miss operation. The most dramatic, modernistic memorial that features savage-looking horse statues belongs to Hungary’s first democratically elected Prime Minister József Antall who was buried there in 1993. The monument almost seems incongruous with the comparatively gentle man who is commemorated there. Another of the more ornate memorials is for Blaha Lujza, the popular actress who lent her name to one of Pest’s FRATERNITY - TESTVÉRISÉG 11 V ' 1 M 1 1' ' XW» Wooden grave posts
