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

The endless promenade dedicated to persons in the labour movement

■ Statue oh Lenin by anonymoui Soviet artiit, 1958

ing the workers on their way to the factory was placed by the main entrance to the Csepel Iron and Steel Works in such a way that it pointed to the giant factory complex. Cast from poor quality metal, the statue soon required renovation, and in 1970 was taken to the foundry of the works, where it was 'restored' (in fact recast) by a Socialist Workers’ Brigade for the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the country’s liberation and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lenin.

With the unwilling approval of the district authorities who had been dragging their feet about the matter, the municipality, having demanded the removal of the symbol for a while, had the statue lifted off with a crane in March 1990. After gathering dust in the basement of a local plant until 1997, the sculpture was given a new life when it was presented by the management of the privatised factory to the Statue Park.

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