Sunday, July 02, 2006

Statue Park: Szoborpark

Statue Park (Szoborpark) is an open air museum that I have done in the past. As the expression goes, “Been there, done that”. Therefore, I have no desire to do it again even if personal guests begged me. It is located in the

Back then, the statues represented, albeit superficially, a powerful symbol of Soviet strength and unity. Today, stuck out on the edge of town, they've lost much of their dignity, instead being brutally exposed as the idealistic follies that ordinary Hungarians always knew them to be. Worth a look, but not as impressive as most guidebooks would have you believe.”

For myself, some of the statues are impressive as pieces of art, but as the emotional symbols they are meant to infuse, the feelings are long gone. The park is a large fort like area that reminds me of the old Wild West towns in the US used to ‘recreate’ the feelings of the wild frontier.

When you enter and the cheesy Soviet music starts, you are consumed with a creepy feeling. The inside of the park is a stark rectangle with the statues running along the perimeter of the fence. Other than the wording on the individual statues if there is any, there is nothing to read in any language, no description of the statues, its purpose, or
history. At the time we went, which admittedly was four years ago, it took us a strained 45 minutes to look at the statues, take pictures, and take pictures yet again to waste time until the bus returning to the city would be available to pick us up yet again.

This is one site we never recommend to visitors unless they are staying in Budapest for more than seven days and have done everything else including counting the number of times a pooper-scooper could have been used on the streets within each district. No stars for this one.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Pin It Now!

0 comments:

Post a Comment