Prohászka László: Equestrian Statues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1997)

War

Parliament decreed, in Statute No. viii of 1896, that “a monument be erected, in the Városliget (People’s Park) between Andrássy út and the lake, to commemorate the founder of Hungary’s homeland Árpád and the whole historical past of the nation.” The erection of the sculpture pantheon to mark the millenary of the original settlement of the Carpathian Basin did in fact commence in the year 1896, but nobody would have thought at the time that another 36 years would pass before the monument was inaugurated.

The architectural part, completed by 1905, forms an organic unit with the buildings of the Fine Arts Museum and the Palace of Exhibitions on the two sides of the square. The harmonious overall effect is not accidental as both buildings as well as the Millenary Monument were designed by Albert Schickedanz. Two sculptural groups were designed by György Zala to stand above the two colonnades, which form a quarter circle each. Two bigas, facing each

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