I continue to talk about. There are a lot of different monuments in Budapest. In general, I like all sorts of unusual objects, figures and monuments with an interesting, funny look and the stories associated with them. I explore them in different cities, and Budapest turned out to be generous with small (and not so small) forms.
The first one to greet the guests is the little princess, although she looks like a little prince.
Laszlo Marton, a sculptor, made a “little queen” from his daughter Évike, who loved to dress up in a crown. A copy of the statue sits on the embankment; the original is in the Hungarian National Gallery.
It is believed that rubbing her knees will bring good luck to the little princess.
And this is Buda and Pest on different banks of the Danube:
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Little Princess:
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The princess sits right on the Danube embankment, in front of the tram tracks, and behind her is the Royal Palace.
It's easy to find.
Address: Danube Promenade
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The next monument that interested me: The boys from Pala Street.
These are the heroes of the novel by Ferenc Molinar, which is called “The Boys from Pala Street,” although the monument is located on Prater Street.
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The atmosphere here is interesting - bronze boys are playing, and voices are heard from the school building and it’s as if the scene comes to life.
Address: ker. Práter utca, 11 (in front of the primary school building)
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The monument to the Boys from Pala Street is located near the Corvin-negyed metro station. Be careful, until 2011 it was called Ferenc Körút and is marked as such on many maps. This raised a lot of questions for me on the spot =)
And next to the metro there is this monument:
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This monument honors the French Protestant reformer John Calvin (Kalvin János in Hungarian).
Address: Kalvinter
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This is a roller scooter:
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Near Vaci street (Vaci utca)
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We move to Vajdahunyad Castle.
Monument to Count Sándor Károly.
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Monument to Anonymous on the territory of Vajdahunyad Castle:
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The sculpture depicts a monk sitting in a spacious chair and dressed in medieval robes, holding a book in his left hand and holding a shiny pen in his right hand. It is believed that if you hold onto it and make a wish, it will certainly come true.
Address: Vajdahunyad vár
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This is the chain on Andrássy Avenue (Andrassy út):
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Composer Imre Kalman near the Operetta Theater:
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Address: Nagymező utca, 17
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On the opposite side of the street, the "Theater" statue, created by Geza Štremen, has been located in front of the entrance to the Mikroszkóp Színpad theater since 2004. The sculptor depicted the famous Hungarian actor and comedian Geza Hofi (Hofi Géza), who worked in this theater from 1967 to 1982.
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Address: Nagymező utca 22-24 (near the intersection with Andrássy Avenue)
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Not far from the famous Parliament there is a monument to Ronald Reagan.
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A two-meter bronze statue of the politician was installed in the center of Budapest in 2011. It is located near the US Embassy.
Address: Szabadság tér (Freedom Square)
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And not far away is another politician - Imre Nagy.
The monument to Imre Nagy near the Hungarian Parliament appeared in 1996. The composition was designed by the architect Tomos Varg.
A man dressed in a hat and coat stands on the bridge and looks thoughtfully towards parliament. The bridge is a symbol of the fact that Imre Nagy went over to the side of the Hungarian people during the 1956 uprising.
Address: Vertanuk ter (next to Parliament)
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If you move from the Parliament towards the embankment, then the Hungarian poet Jozsef Attila is sad:
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And the most poignant monument in Budapest: “Shoes on the Danube Embankment”:
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It was built in memory of the dead Jews who were massacred in 1944-1945. The memorial was opened on April 16, 2005, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of victory in World War II on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Mass executions took place during the war on the banks of the Danube. The Nazis lined up 50-60 people sentenced to death in a human chain, chaining people to each other, and then shot the first person in the chain. The body falling into the water carried the others with it. Before execution, prisoners' shoes were removed because they were a hot commodity during the war, and the shoes were later sold on the black market.
There are 53 couples in total, but in 2005 (when the monument was unveiled) there were 60 of them. Several couples disappeared somewhere during this time.
All pairs of shoes are authentic copies of models from the 1940s
Address: Pesti also rakpart
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"Officer of Order"
This is a life-size bronze sculpture depicting a policeman who calmly observes order and traffic on the street. The sculpture of a policeman was created by the famous Hungarian architect Andras Illyes Andras in 2008.
Address: on the corner of Zrinyi utca and Oktober 6 streets (near St. Stephen's Cathedral):
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One of the pleasant places in Budapest is Gellért Mountain. And there are some interesting surprises here. For example,
philosophical garden.
In the middle, in a circle, are the figures of Jesus, Buddha, Abraham, Akhenaten and Lao Tzu. And at their side are Daruma, Mahatma Gandhi and Francis of Assisi.
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It's not difficult to find, but it can get confusing. When you climb Gellert, you will need to turn right, heading towards Orom Street.
Address: Orom utca
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There is a monument “Buda meets Pest” nearby.
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And Budapest:
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This beautiful sculptural composition is located on Mount Gellert directly above the reservoir. It symbolizes two cities: Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube River. The monument itself is not very large and is invisible from afar.
To find it, you need to go from the Citadel down Szirtes utca street until you turn to the park. The monument is located in this park. It stands on the lid of the water tank.
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Royal Palace:
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Cities stretch behind the “back” of each of the two sculptures. A curious effect is created when looking at the monument from the side of the King of Buda. It seems as if all the buildings located behind Pest are reclining - it is immediately clear that in reality they are located lower. Although in fact both parts of the sculptural composition are on the same level.
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The Shakespeare monument in Budapest is a copy of the original, which is installed in Ballarat, Australia. This sculpture was built in 2003 according to the design of the architect Jozsef Fint.
The main purpose of the sculpture is to serve as a link between the spiritually discerning public of Australia, Hungary, Great Britain and visitors to Budapest from countries around the world.
Address: Pest waterfront
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Right there on the embankment is a Girl with a Dog (Kutyás lány).
A life-size bronze statue of a Girl with a Dog is located on the Danube embankment. The monument was unveiled on April 24, 2007.
Address: V. ker. Vigadó ter, Duna-korzó
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Monument to the Transcarpathian artist Ignatius Roshkovich (Roskovics Ignác).
Exactly the same sculpture is located in the Ukrainian city of Uzhgorod on the banks of the Uzh River, opposite the Hotel of the Hungarian Crown. Both monuments are gifts from Uzhgorod businessman Ivan Voloshin. They were made by sculptor Mikhail Kolodko.
He will be found right there on the embankment, next to a two-room apartment with a dog and a little princess.
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And again our little princess:
And this is only a small part of all the monuments in Budapest! Walk around the city and make your own discoveries =)
On the banks of the Danube River in Budapest, approximately 300 meters from the Hungarian Parliament building, there is a monument in the form of sixty pairs of rusty old-fashioned iron shoes. Shoes of various shapes, styles and sizes - men's and women's, small children's shoes...
Shoes and boots are located on the embankment right at the water's edge. Behind this display is a stone bench 40 meters long and 70 centimeters high, with commemorative plaques in Hungarian, English and Hebrew - “In memory of the victims shot by the Arrow Cross militia in 1944–45. Established April 16, 2005.”
The monument called “Shoes on the Danube Embankment” was conceived by its creators as a memorial to the Hungarian Jews who were shot on the Danube embankment in the winter of 1944-1945. The executions were led by the Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross party.
In 1944, a coup d'etat took place in Hungary and the pro-fascist Arrow Cross party, led by Ferenc Szalasi, gained full power. Violent anti-Semitic policies immediately began to emerge. Arrow Cross militias began looting the city and carrying out mass executions of Jews. People were lined up in groups on the banks of the Danube (in groups of 50-60 people), first forced to take off their shoes and take away all their valuables, they were shot and pushed into the river. Shoes were quite a valuable commodity during World War II, so they were simply sold on the black market.
Two months before the liberation of Budapest, members of the Szalasi party shot and drowned 15 thousand Jews in the Danube. In total, 255 thousand Jews survived after the war, but most of them emigrated, and 100 thousand remained in the country.
On the shore, Jews should take off their shoes!
- Is it indecent for those with shoes to die?
The child asked his mother, and she had tears
I tried to wipe it discreetly.
Don't worry mom, I'm not hungry.
Yesterday, I ate a piece of bread.
We'll freeze there, mom, is the Danube cold?
I didn't have time to learn to swim...
Mom, tell me, doesn’t it hurt to die?
Will I just fall and drown?
Or I’ll die from a bullet and calmly
And then I will smoothly go to the bottom?
Take me by the hand tighter
So that we don't get lost under water.
It will be easier for us to escape together with you.
We will hide behind a strong wave.
On the banks of the Danube, everyone should take off their shoes!
- Everyone says the war is ending.
Do you see mom, a white dove in the sky?
Look, our wave is coming...
Massive executions of Jews in Budapest were carried out by members of the Hungarian Nazi Arrow Cross party at the end of World War II, in 1944 - early 1945. In order not to deal with burial, the Nazis shot the victims on the river bank, chaining 50-60 people together to save bullets and shooting only the first one - as he fell, he pulled the rest with him.
Jews were brought to the Danube embankment in trucks, ordered to take off their shoes, and taken away on barges to an unknown destination. The shoes left on the embankment were either sold or used by the Nazis for their own needs.
The number of those executed was in the thousands. The exact numbers are unknown - the bodies were carried away by the water.
Memory
The design of the memorial on the Danube embankment belonged to the director Ken Togay and was embodied by the Hungarian sculptor Gyula Power.
Cast from cast iron, the sculptural composition represents 60 pairs of different sizes of men's, women's and children's shoes - worn-out boots, shoes, shoes, standing along the embankment at the edge of the water.
All pairs of shoes are authentic copies of models from the 1940s.
The length of the bench is equal to the length of the row of shoes - 40 meters, height - 70 centimeters.
The monument was erected on the Pest bank of the Danube, not far from. The opening took place on April 16, 2005, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the victory over fascism in World War II.
Flowers are brought to the monument, lit lamps are left on the embankment.
In 2013, the newspaper “Arguments and Facts” included the Budapest memorial among the 18 “Most Poignant Monuments of the World,” giving it first place on the list; other sources also characterize it.
...This is one of the most powerful and poignant monuments in the world, which confirms that monumental art can be no less emotional than painting.
- Birobidzhaner stern
In 2015, the St. Petersburg State Academic Ballet Theater named after Leonid Yakobson staged the ballet “Stone Coast”, the impetus for the creation of which was the choreographer’s impression of the Budapest monument. According to choreographer Vladimir Varnava, the embankment in the performance acts “as a mythological space that allows one to reconstruct on an emotional level the events and images of people who have encountered pain and loss.”
The Shoes on the Banks of the Danube memorial is located on the Danube embankment approximately halfway between the Parliament building and the Chain Bridge. The monument was invented and executed by two people - film director Can Togay and sculptor Gyula Pauer. The memorial consists of 60 pairs of shoes cast from cast iron standing along the shore. The shoes are different - adults and children, almost new and worn out to holes. It’s difficult to immediately guess what this monument is about. Some tourists even try on unusual old-fashioned shoes, but when they find a memorial plaque mounted in the cement: “In memory of the victims shot on the Danube by Arrow Cross militants,” they step aside in horror. Why exactly 60 pairs? According to some data, this is exactly how many years have passed since 1945 until the opening of the monument, which was opened on April 16, 2005, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. According to other sources, it was precisely in such groups, 60 people each, that the Nazis shot Jews on the banks of the Danube during World War II. In 1944, about 270 - 280 thousand Jews lived in Budapest. In October 1944, after the ruler of Hungary, Miklos Horthy, announced a truce with the USSR, a German-backed coup d'etat took place in Budapest. Horthy's son was kidnapped by the SS and taken hostage. Under pressure from Hitler, a few days later Miklos Horthy, who was an opponent of the genocide of Jews and Gypsies, transferred power to the leader of the Nazi pro-German Arrow Cross party, Ferenc Szalasi. After Szalasi came to power, mass actions began to exterminate hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews and Gypsies and deport them to Germany. The ghetto lasted 50 days. People were taken to the river bank, several people were tied together, and to save bullets, they shot the first one, who, falling into the river, dragged living people along with him. 10 thousand Jews died here. The cynicism with which the Nazis dealt with people is amazing. Convicts sentenced to death were forced to take off their shoes so that they could then give these shoes to someone else. Indeed, as Soviet troops approached, thousands of prisoners were taken out of concentration camps and driven inland to the German border (death march). The massacres in Hungary are considered one of the last episodes of the Holocaust. Despite the fact that more than a dozen years have passed since the tragic events, there are still lit lamps and fresh flowers lying between the cast-iron boots. Nothing is forgotten, no one is forgotten...
Not far from the house where the Hungarian Parliament is located, on the embankment of the Danube River there are ordinary, old shoes. It seems that adults and children simply decided to walk barefoot and give their tired feet a rest. It seems that everyone is about to come back for her...Unfortunately this will never happen. Because this is a monument dedicated to the Jews of Hungary who were shot here in the winter of 1944-1945. This memorial is called "Shoes on the Danube Embankment" and is one of the most poignant monuments to the history of the Second World War.
The idea of creating this memorial came to the mind of director Ken Togay, and it was brought to life by the Hungarian sculptor Gyula Power. Its opening was carried out on April 16, 2005, on the eve of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the defeat of fascism, and is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
The “Shoes on the Danube Embankment” memorial in Budapest is a composition consisting of 60 pairs of shoes cast from cast iron, which are an exact copy of models from the forties of the 20th century. At the very edge of the water there are men's, women's, and children's boots and shoes, worn down to holes or completely new. All shoes on the banks of the Danube in Budapest are attached to the embankment. Between the exposition and the embankment there is a stone bench in which three metal plaques are mounted. On them, in three languages (Hebrew, Hungarian and English), a phrase is minted explaining who this memorial is dedicated to and when it was installed. The height of the bench is seventy centimeters and the length is forty meters, exactly the same amount of space as the shoes on display on the banks of the Danube in Budapest.
From the very beginning of World War II, Hungary was on the side of the alliance of Italy, Germany and Japan. Already at the end of the hostilities, realizing the inevitability of the collapse of Nazi Germany, the government of the country withdrew from this coalition. For which he immediately paid: the country was occupied. By this time, there were a huge number of Jews on the territory of Hungary.
Having received power from the hands of the occupiers, the National Socialist Arrow Cross Party began to carry out intensified anti-Semitic activities. Wanting to please their masters, they robbed and killed anyone who had Jewish blood flowing in their veins. The area where the synagogue stood was turned into a ghetto. The Hungarian fascists especially committed atrocities at the end of 1944 and the beginning of 1945.
With open cynicism they began to liquidate the Jewish population. To save ammunition and not wanting to get involved with burials, militants from the Arrow Cross organization brought groups of 50-60 people to the Danube embankment. Having tied them with barbed wire, they killed one person, and he, falling into the water, pulled the rest with him. The exact number of innocent victims is unknown. Before death, people were forced to remove their shoes, which were very valuable in wartime.
It is no coincidence that the shoe monument on the banks of the Danube includes 60 pairs, which is exactly how many people were executed at one time. If one couple were dedicated to each person executed, there would simply not be enough space on the embankment.
Today there are 53 couples in the memorial. It is unknown where the rest of the shoes disappeared in 10 years. In spite of everything, funeral lamps are always lit at the monument, and fresh flowers lie.
