Boros Géza: Statue Park - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)

The endless promenade of the liberation monuments

■ Monument of Soviet- Hungarian Friendship by Zsigmond Kisjjaludi Strobl. 1956

suggested by their body language that they are anything but equal partners - the Hungarian party is using both hands, while the haughty Soviet soldier has only one hand to offer in token of friendship. According to the contemporary inscription, the monument aimed to express the country’s gratitude to the Soviet Union for having liberated and assisted Hungary with the task of building a socialist nation. The statue was toppled during the revolution, not long after its inauguration. After the defeat of the revolution it was suggested that the monument be set up somewhere in the provinces, but then it was re-erected in its original place.

Liberation Monument (István Kiss, 1971)

Carved in rustic style in limestone, this monument used to stand in Szitakötő Park by Thököly üt. The nondescript piece shows a wall opening out to allow the life-size figure of a worker to step out of it. The three stone brackets on the wall were meant to hold wreaths laid by officials representing the Party, the councils and the mass organisations. There is no peculiar attribute or inscription to suggest the nature of the monument. Although the request for tenders spoke of a new labour memorial, the piece was described as a liberation monument in the invitations to the inaugural ceremony (what added to the confusion was the timing of the event, which occurred on 20 August, St. Stephen's Day or, officially at the time, the Day of the Constitution). A contemporary report carried by Népszabadság, said that the monument "pays homage to the

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