When I (Zsofi) was growing up in the 80’s they were everywhere; Lenins, Marxs, “excellent workers” and red stars in all sizes (though the same shape). To me they were part of the landscape and some were frightening, some were friendly, and some served as an important landmark in my city navigation. Take the statue of Ostapenko for instance, when you saw it you knew you were back in Budapest: it was right there where the motorways M1 and M7 enter the city; to be frank I would still prefer that instead of the McDonalds and the petrol station which are there now.
But they were more than “art”, they were symbols of oppression, so when the system change came in ’89 they had to go. Luckily somebody had this brilliant idea of exhibiting 42 of them in a park right outside Budapest. It is called a “park” but it is more like a big open space next to a main road. So if you feel nostalgic or plain curious about what we had before the golden archers invaded the Eastern bloc take a ride back in time to Statue Park.
Two of my personal favourites are here: Marx and Engels: they used to stand next to the Margaret Bridge and we would practice our snowballing skills on them, ah childhood innocence! The other is the statue of communist leader Béla Kun, this was erected just a year or less before the system change so it only stood for a few months in the park behind Déli railway station, but kids soon found out that it makes an amazing sound if you beat it like a drum so it attracted a lot attention from teenagers.
There is a souvenir shop where you get the famous “Last breath of communism” tins, CDs of communist marches sang by male choirs, coffee mugs decorated with red stars and Trabants and a wide selection of Tee shirts. And all the commie paraphernalia, if you’re into retro then you’re in for a treat.
There is also a “Barrack” with special exhibitions; right now “The life of an Agent”, very interesting, but gosh it makes me paranoid- if they were this sophisticated back then, what are they doing now?
Stalin's boots
It is a bit out of town but you can get there by public transport or use their special shuttle bus, you can find all the important information on their website. Also for some aerial photographs you can click here or use good old Google Earth.
Address: 22nd district (Southern Buda), corner of Balatoni út and Szabadkai utca., Szoborpark
Tel: 06 1 424-7500
Website: http://www.szoborpark.hu/index.php?Lang=en
Opening times: every day from 10 am to dusk
