Szablyár Péter: Step by step - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)
Stairs inside and stairs outside - the Kilényi Villa
stand serving as the base of the statue was also decided on. The grandstand itself occupied a footprint of 19.99 by 4.80 metres. Twelve steps led to its first level, 1.75 meters high. The monument rose to a full height of 18 metres (which included the 8 metre tall statue). The 6.5 ton sculpture was cast of the bronze obtained from the "recycled" statues of a few "class-alien" personages (Gyula Andrássy, Ignác Darányi, István Tisza) removed from Budapest's public spaces. The unveiling was marked by an oration by József Révai. From then on it was here that major state ceremonies were held, attended by the leaders of the state and the party who lined up behind the parapet of the grandstand. After the death of Stalin on 8 March 1953, the square itself was named for the Soviet leader. However, the statue’s days were numbered. On 23 October 1956, it was toppled and smashed to pieces by the assembled crowd. Only his footwear remained on the plinth, which is why the square was referred to as "Boot Square" for quite some time. With the pedestal removed, the monument came to be used as a grandstand in the Kádár era, but the state officials and party chiefs continued to wave their hands at the crowds on 7 November, 4 April and 1 May. Stripped of its reliefs, the grandstand was pulled down in 1991, and a on the fiftieth anniversary of the Revolution of 1956, a monument was set up here - without any stairs. A "booted" version of the original sculpture is now on display in the Statue Park in Nagytétény. The steps to the Church of Regnum Marianum Reconstructed in 1946, the Church of Regnum Marianum on the edge of the City Park was blown up on 23 September 1951 to clear the space for the Demonstration Square parade grounds in front of the statue of Stalin being erected nearby. The church, whose construction had been started in 1926, was consecrated on 14 June 1931. Aside from its religious functions, the building became a hub of community life, too, which was yet another reason for Rákosi’s totalitarian regime to urge its destruction. After the regime change of 1990, a few structural elements including a stairway-supporting bracket from the blown-up church were deposited in the yard of the new Church of Regnum Marianum built in Zoborhegy tér in District XIV. Stairs inside and stairs outside - the Ki lény i Villa Near the western entrance to the Tunnel, reconstructed in a minimalist and wholly unworthy manner after World War II, is a stairway leading up to Palota út. Sprawling on the top of the tunnel gateway is a showy restaurant that was camouflaged for a while as a patio before it came to be a permanently temporary outfit. Above the rough73
