Prohászka László: Equestrian Statues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1997)
The one on the right featured the coronation of Franz Joseph I in the Church of Our Lady in Buda Castle. In the centre of the composition is the monarch on his knees as the crown is jointly being placed on his head by Primate János Simor and - as the palatine’s post had been unfilled since 1848 - prime minister Gyula Andrássy. The figures of Queen Elizabeth and Ferenc Deák can also be seen among the court and church dignitaries in the background. (Deák did not in fact attend the ceremonial event.) On the relief overlooking the Danube was Andrássy the prime minister, with the one to the east featuring the count in the office of foreign minister. The relief presenting the Berlin congress of 1878 showed Andrássy standing by the negotiating table in a hussar officer’s uniform complete with sword as he represents the Monarchy. Both reliefs were full of life and movement, and the figures, due to their exceptionally plastic sculpting, projected from the background like statues. Because of the construction of Kossuth Bridge, a structure since demolished, the monument of Gyula Andrássy was removed in 1945 and its bronze was later melted down. This act of wanton destruction did away with one of the finest equestrian statues of Budapest. In its place the visitor can now see the statue of the poet Attila József, sculpted by László Marton. When in December of 1906 the second equestrian statThe relief with the coronation scene from the Andrássy monument fl I 24
