Where Have All the Statues Gone?--Ever wonder where all the vanished Communist statues went after the fall? Over a decade and a half ago, Budapest and the rest of Hungary were filled with monuments to Lenin, to Marx and Engels, to the Red Army, and to the many lesser-known figures of Hungarian and international Communism. Torn rudely from their pedestals in the aftermath of 1989, they sat in warehouses for a few years gathering dust, until a controversial plan for a Socialist Statue Park (Szoborpark Múzeum) was realized. The park's inconvenient location and the relatively small number of statues on display (reflecting nothing of their former ubiquity) make the park less enticing than it could be. In addition, the best examples of the genre, dating from the Stalinist period of the late 1940s and 1950s, were removed from public view long before 1989 and were presumably destroyed long ago.
Located in the XXII district (extreme Southern Buda) on Balatoni út (tel. 1/424-7500; www.szoborpark.hu), the park is a memorial to an era, to despotism, and to bad taste. The museum gift shop sells all sorts of Communist-era memorabilia, such as T-shirts, medals, and cassettes of Red Army marching songs. The park is open daily from 10am to dusk and admission is 600 Ft ($3). To get to the park, take the black-lettered bus no. 7 from Ferenciek tere to Etele tér. Board a yellow Volán bus (to Érd) for a 20-minute ride to the park. Or, for a premium, you can take the new and convenient direct bus service from Deák tér for 2,450 Ft ($12) (admission ticket to the park included). The timetable varies almost monthly, but 11am and 3pm departures remain constant for July and August.
