One of the places that was on my personal, and Mateo’s, priority list for Budapest was Szoborpark.
Szoborpark is one of those places that can only exist in former communist countries, for it is a collection of statues of communist heroes-both Hungarian and Soviet. There are about 40 statues from all over Hungary collected in this one spot, somewhere southwest of Budapest’s center.
It’s one of those spots where you can see all the absurdities of Hungarian communist history collected in one place for instead of engaging in a statue destroying rampage after liberation, somebody in Hungary thoughtfully collected many of the statues here, including the above statue of Szakasits Árpád.
Szakasits Árpád was the President of Hungary from 1948 to 1950. I would tell you more, but the English Wikipedia article is a bit slim, and my Hungarian is extremely weak. What is interesting is that he was clearly named after Árpád, the first leader of the common Magyar tribes around 890.
The story of Árpád was referred to in The Good Master, one of two Hungarian themed books I adored as a child. Kate Seredy’s wrote in that book, and The Singing Tree, two powerful books that help capture what the lifestyles of the rural Hungarian peoples prior to and during the First World War. I tend to think of The Singing Tree as a powerful argument against (most) war(s) with its emotional coverage of the effects of war on families, communities, and countries.
These two books are the basis of my knowledge about the Hungarian people, and why, when I saw the statue of Árpád, the original Hungarian leader, on his horse at the Hősöere (Millennial Monument), I took a picture of him as well-you can find that one on Flickr, as well.
The photo of Árpád Szakasits is among those photos from Szoborpark I’ve posted today. There are also some photos from Bratislava finally uploaded, including photos of the Bratislava Cowparade.
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