Heroes' Square ( Hungarian. Hősök tere ) - one of the famous squares of the Hungarian capital , located in Pest . Andrashi Avenue ends on Heroes' Square, and behind it begins the city park Varoshliget . The square was decorated for the celebration of the millennium of Hungary in 1896 and then accommodated over 50 thousand guests who came to Hungary.
The area is decorated with several monuments. The Millennium Monument, located in its center, was erected by the decision of the state assembly, dedicated to the millennium of the founding of the homeland - the passage of the Magyars through the Carpathians and is a column 36 meters high, on top of which there is a figure of the archangel Gabriel on the globe with the holy crown of King Stephen and a double apostolic cross. On the pedestal of the column mounted equestrian sculptures of the leaders of the Hungarians, leading them to find their homeland. They are led by Arpad . The authors of the monument are the architect Albert Schikedants and the sculptor György Zala , its construction took 42 years. According to legend, the archangel Gabriel, who appeared to him in a dream, ordered Saint Stephen to convert the Hungarians to Christianity . At the foot of the monument, the leaders of the seven Magyar tribes are led, headed by Prince Arpad , the founder of the ruling Hungarian dynasty.
Two semicircular colonnades located on the square behind the column of the archangel Gabriel is a monument to the heroes of Hungary. The length of each of the colonnades is 85 m. Between the columns from left to right there are bronze statues of representatives of the Arpad dynasty : Saint Istvan , Saint Laszlo , Kalman I Knizhnik , Andras II and Bela IV , then representatives of the Anjou dynasty : Karl Robert and Louis I the Great , Janos Hunyadi , Matthias Corvin , further Transylvanian princes Istvan Bochkai , Gabor Betlen , Imre Tekeli , Ferenc II Rakoczi and the freedom fighter of the Hungarian people Lajos Kossuth . The colonnades are crowned with allegorical figures of Labor and Prosperity, War and Peace, Wisdom and Glory.
In front of the central column is a stone memorial plate to soldiers of two world wars. On national holidays, a memorial guard stands at the memorial to the fallen soldiers, and flower-laying ceremonies take place. The first monument to the Hungarian soldiers who fell during World War I was created on the project of Jöne Lechner at the request of Hungarian war veterans and inaugurated on May 26, 1929 in the presence of the ruler of Hungary, Miklos Horthy . It was a stone block recessed below the level of the area, weighing 47 tons, with the inscription "1914-1918" and the dedication on the back "For Millennial Borders". In the early 1950s, this war memorial was dismantled by decision of the authorities with the justification that the soldiers of the First World served as exploiters and cannot be considered heroes. In 1956, a new memorial stone was set surrounded by a forged chain with a laurel branch and the inscription "In memory of the heroes who sacrificed their lives for our freedom and national independence." In 2001, the monument underwent reconstruction: the laurel branch was removed, the dedication now reads “In memory of our heroes” [1] .
On both sides of the square there are two buildings in the neoclassical style - the Museum of Fine Arts and the exhibition hall Myukarnok , a museum of modern art. Under the square is the Budapest metro station of the same name .
Notes
- ↑ A. Szegedi. Heroes Square // Budapest. The Pearl of the Danube / ed. I.V. Osanova . - M .: Veche, 2012 .-- S. 147-149. - 320 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9533-5872-9 .
Literature
- A. Szegedi. Heroes Square // Budapest. The Pearl of the Danube / ed. I.V. Osanova . - M .: Veche, 2012 .-- S. 147-149. - 320 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9533-5872-9 .
- Hungary. Publishing House "Around the World", 2009 ISBN 978-5-98652-226-5
- Michael Hurl. Budapest. Polyglott Publishing House, 1996 ISBN 5-88395-021-3