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

as the only trees to have been cut down were the ones standing in the path of Andrássy út. There were fountains in operation in front of the statue of Árpád and by the corners of the two museum buildings. Traffic flowed around the column of the cenotaph and vehicles passing by the rows of columns could drive on the bridge between the colonnades. After the installation of all the statues in the Millenary Monument and the inauguration of the Cenotaph to Hungary’s Heroes in 1929, the

1 May 1919

green vegetation was gradually displaced by stone and asphalt.

From that time on the square was mainly used as a venue of political and ceremonial events. It was here, on the largest expanse of empty space available, that festive gatherings involving large crowds were held. (During the time of the Council Republic in 1919, the colonnades were wrapped in red drapery. The column, with only the statue of Árpád standing at its foot as yet, was turned into an obelisk with red canvas stretched on a structure to serve as a backdrop to a statue of Karl Marx, also set up for the occasion.) And it was here, too, that a bloody episode during the labour demonstrations of 1 September 1930 took place; it was also here that the revisionist rallies of 1938-40 were called; here were the flags seized in 1849 from the Hungarian

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