Hajós György: Heroes' Square - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2001)

change his mind. The committee set up for the purpose approved the two sculptors’ somewhat amended design in December, and in the spring of 1895 the parliamentary committee in charge of the matter also passed its decision. In May the artists and their employers signed a contract, which gave the former five years to conclude the project. However, it took 34 years to complete the work. Although the board meeting of the city made the required area available on 17 April 1895, due to prolonged deliberations on the minutia of the project, legal permits were not issued before December 1897. The following spring construction work on the architectural structure was eventually begun.

Schickedanz had considered designing the monument years before and in fact drew up several variants. What each had in common was the placement of the statues in two arching colonnades with a column (or a tall, column-like sculpture) in the focal point of the arcs. In deference to the prime ministerial wish for a triumphal arch, the architect turned to the past for a model. The triumphal arches of ancient Rome were of course not meant to commemorate the establishment of a state, but were dedicated to the memory of victories scored by various emperors and generals instead, and therefore lost their significance with the death or fall from grace of the person they glorified. Wellington Arch set up in London in 1828 and the Arc de l’Étoile in Paris were both connected to individuals, even if the

The design of the Millenary memorial with an arching portal

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