A Step Back In Time:Communism Edition

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I haven't updated this since Amsterdam so I thought I'd write in here even though I didn't leave Budapest this weekend. Today I visited a park called Memento Park with a couple of my friends from the dorm. This park is a dedication to the Communist Statues that were once on display in Budapest. When communism began to fell in Europe many statues and monuments were destroyed (the most famous statue to be destroyed was the one of Stalin in display in Budapest. More about that later). But in Hungary, many were saved. The one's that did survive the revolution made their way to Memento Park. The park is not actually in the city of Budapest, its more in the suburbs, so it took about an hour to get there. Its out in the middle of no where with little houses around the area. Now that I'm thinking about it, it makes sense that the Hungarian's put it all the way out there. They don't want visiting tourists to see there statues in the populated areas so they threw them all the way out in the middle of no where so that you actually have to make a trip to see them and not just stroll up on them. Well played Hungary.

I went to three of my friends from the dorm. One of the guys had Rick Steve's travel book about Budapest that gave a detailed history lesson about Memento Park and each specific statue. So as we walked around the park we had a personal tour guide that gave us the history behind the brass. Each area was dedicated to a different topic, Liberation, Hungarian Worker's Movement, Communist Hero's and concepts, and Stalin's tribute.

Overall, it was a very interesting to see statues that were once honored but are now an embarrassment. Staring into the faces of these statues was a bit creepy. The book (from now on I will refer to it as Rick, as I feel like I personally know Rick Steves) said how the statues were "designed to evoke feelings of power and permanence" by displaying strong, powerful people proudly performing jobs. While there were several famous figures that I could identify, like Stalin and Lenin, most of the statues were just average people. Steve told us that "Individual characteristics and distinguishing features were unimportant; people were represented as automatons serving their nation." It was a little weird to think that Hungarian were once forced to honor these statues despite the fact they represented something they hated. Each statue had a plaque saying where it was during the communist era and I recognized some of the streets so that was also weird to think of these statues actually out in public and not pushed off to the side in their own park.

Now back to the Stalin monument. There was once a 8 meter tall statue of Stalin displayed in Budapest. Once Stalin died and the revolution began to gain movement the Hungarian people demanded the statue to be removed. Well, they didn't wait for the Soviets to respond. Instead they took maters into their own hands when they tore him down. Thousands of people helped cut the statue around the knees and pull him down. From there they tore it into pieces and drug it around the city. There are some famous pictures of Stalin's head being carried away by the revolutionists in 1956. So as a tribute to Stalin and the once famous statue, they replicated the leftover feet as a tribute to Stalin and to the 1956 revolution.

Other than visiting Memento Park my weekend hasn't been to exciting yet. Tomorrow I'm going to a Thermal Bath/Spa with the Exchange Student Network. Hungary is known for their baths so I figured I'd do as the locals do and visit one. This one is about 2 hours away but ESN has organized this whole trip which concludes with a 3 course meal for dinner. Some other people from my dorm are going so I'm looking forward to it. It looks pretty cool so I'll try to take some pictures (although I can't guarantee much as my camera is not water proof).

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Comments

[Pam Dice]

Stalin and the Revolution
Hey Ben, I really enjoyed reading your blog about Stalin, the revolutionist, and what's left of his statue. Hope you are having a wonderful time and learning more than you've ever imagined! Love, Aunt Pamela