Hajós György: Heroes' Square - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2001)
high plinth towering above the chieftains supports a large allegorical sculpture of Hungary whose figure holds, in its left hand, the crown aloft. This version is reminiscent of the Bavaria statue in Munich; behind this 30- metre tall piece stands the Hall of Glory, a monument designed by Leo von Klenze; that original commemorated 84 famous figures of history of which 54 survived the reconstruction work following World War II. In the course of its creation, several alterations were made to the version accepted by the Monument Committee in December 1894, though the basic conception was retained throughout. The cornice of the arching colonnade was simplified, the surface ornamentation of the pylons was changed and instead of the one large relief planned to be placed below the kings’ statues, several independent reliefs featuring the rulers’ deeds were mounted on the work. The column was originally planned to be 26.20 metres tall, but it grew to 28.28 metres after the necessary permits were issued, its final height to reach 30.35 metres when set up. As the plinth also had to be enlarged accordingly, the statue of the angel was raised to a height of 36 metres. The capital of the column was also altered, as the pattern modelled on the columns of St. Mark’s Square in Venice was replaced with a composite capital. Schickedanz intended to have the description of the conquest of the Carpathian Basin carved into the pedestal of the chieftains’ statutes, but this plan was scrapped. Stormy winds exert great pressures on a column standing on its own, and the strength of such pressures is modified by the shape of the figure standing on the top. The outstretched wings and robes of Archangel Gabriel capture the winds in the manner of several sails. Countering wind-pressures, and mounting and fixing the statue in its place were no easy tasks. The column had first been made of limestone by the spring of 1900, but when precise calculations were made and resistance tests conducted, it was deemed necessary that the original structure be pulled down and replaced with another one made of harder, more solid rock of a higher relative weight. The keystone of the new column was mounted on the afternoon of 24 October 1901 22
