Boros Géza: Statue Park - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)
Some practical information
a single architectural framework, the communist era, 1956 with its aspiration for liberty, and the change of political system. Since its opening, the Statue Park has been franchised and run as a private venture. The creation of Witness Square will add another, qualitatively different, dimension to the Statue Park. It will now be possible to operate it as a period theme park capable of entertaining organised groups of students and tourists. The viability of an establishment operating on the outskirts of the city, as does the Statue Park, will largely depend on the kind of programmes and exhibitions offered and the organisers’ ability to reconcile the functions of a public museum of educational purposes with those of a tourist attraction and catering facility. Whatever develops, with its suggestive silence the Statue Park is likely to remain the main attraction of the establishment. "A 9.5 metre tall statue weighing ii tons gives the best characterisation of itself and the era that gave birth to it,” said Ákos Eleőd in an interview in 1994. "That is what the memento-like quality of the whole park is all about, and that is why these statues should be preserved together with the atmosphere they exude, so that if another political system comes along after so many years and somebody comes up with the idea that the regime find self-expression in n-ton statues, people can say in good time: Hey, what do you think you’re doing!’’ Since the change of political system we have seen that erecting spurious statues displaying anachronistic forms are not the privilege of totalitarian regimes, but can be made in a democracy, too. The past decade in general and the period of the millenary celebrations in particular have produced a spate of muddled monuments, comparable in bulk to the crop of the preceding forty years and potentially capable of filling several statue parks. Although these are legitimate works of art which nobody would want to topple, there are many aesthetically or ideologically problematic items among them, displaying some of the least appealing features that characterised the monumental sculptures of previous political regimes. It would be of great educational use to fill a virtual statue park with them. Some practical information The Statue Park is located in Budapest's District XXII by the Balaton highway (Road 70). Coaches running from Etele tér, Budapest to Diósd and Érd, plus BKV buses on route no. 50 stop here. By car it can be reached from Budapest via the turning for Budaörs at the start of the M1/M7 motorway, and then immediate57
