Prohászka László: Polish Monuments - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2001)
The District XIV authorities redesigned the environs of the statue. The small square has been called Báthory Park since 1990. It was fenced around with small rails in early 1997. After the lost battle of Mohács in 1526 a great part of Hungary’s territory came under Turkish rule, which was to last a hundred and fifty years. In the second half of the 17lh century Poland, Austria and Venice united, with papal sanction, in what came to be known as the Holy League, to drive the Turks from Europe. The Christian armies were commanded by the Polish king Jan Sobieski (1629-96) who succeeded, in 1683, in relieving Vienna of the blockade drawn by the army of Kara Mustafa, and in freeing Esztergom in October 1683. A hero in the wars against the Turks, Sobieski was commemorated in 1934 by a plaque placed on the wall of 44 Sobieski utca in District IX of Budapest. A Classicist afterthought, the white marble plaque shows a portrait of Sobieski looking to the left framed by a laurel wreath. The large bronze medal-like plate features the inscription: Put in place by the Hungarian- Polish Association / in the memory of / the Polish king, victorious over the Turks, / János Sobieski. Two years later, in 1936, Hungary was celebrating the 250th anniversary of the re-conquest of Buda castle. On 5 October, a statue of Innocent IX, the Pope who had expended great effort in organising the anti- Turkish liberation campaign, and who was later canonised, was unveiled in the castle. József Damkó’s bronze sculpture is bigger than life size and shows the Pope standing. The pedestal, made of Haraszt limestone, is decorated by three reliefs. (The right-hand side depicts Marco d’Aviano receiving the Papal Chart decreeing the beginning of the anti-Ottoman military campaign, the left-hand side shows a Hungarian Hajdú foot-soldier putting up the Christian flag on the wall of Buda). On the back there is a plaque commemorating the Holy League showing Innocent XI, Emperor Leopold 1, King Jan Sobieski and Doge Giustiniani of Venice. The activity of Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1746-1817), 16
