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

ify the location of the monument, which is why the designer of the first-prize winning entry Miklós Bánffy would have had his work erected on the top of Gellért Hill, while the winner of the second prize Ottó Hoffmann would have put his monument on an artificial island in the middle of the Danube. What was in fact accepted was a suggestion made by Károly Horváth that the memorial slab be placed on the area by the Millenary Monument right in front of the statues of the seven chieftains. The 6.50-metre long, 3-metre wide and 1.30-metre high limestone slab was made to plans by architect Róbert K. Kertész, under-secretary of state. Into its upper plane was carved a cross reminiscent of a stylised hilt, which was patterned on the tombstone of King Endre 1 in the Abbey of Tihany. On the front plane of the slab were carved the dates “1914-18”, on the back plane the inscription “For the Country’s Millennial Borders”.

In 1956 the cenotaph was replaced with another one, which was no longer dedicated to the soldiers of World War I, but to all who had fought, in the history of the country, for the nation’s freedom and independence. The 2.40-metre wide, 4.50-metre long and 0.80- metre high monolith was made to plans by Béla Gebhardt. On the covering slab is the inscription embossed in block letters: “To the memory of the heroes who gave their lives for the freedom of our people and our

The Cenotaph to Hungary’s Heroes

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