Liberty Square (Budapest)

Liberty Square (Hungarian: Szabadság tér) is a public square located in the Lipótváros neighborhood of Budapest, Hungary.

Szabadság tér - Budapest

The square is a mix of business and residential. The United States Embassy in Hungary and the historicist style headquarters of the Hungarian National Bank abut the west side of the square.[1][2] Some buildings on the square are designed in the Art Nouveau style.[1] Ignác Alpár designed two of the buildings.[2] The square houses monuments to Ronald Reagan and Harry Hill Bandholtz and a monument to the Soviet liberation of Hungary in World War II from Nazi German occupation. In 2020, together with the United States Embassy, it built a large statue of US Pres. George H.W. Bush.[1][3] Some of the monuments like the WWII liberation sculpture were designed by Károly Antal.[2] The Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation portrays Hungary as an angel being attacked by Germany in the form of an eagle -- symbolism that obscures Hungary's willing participation in the Holocaust. A counter-monument that includes photos of Hungarians who were sent to Auschwitz was created in 2014 in front of the memorial.[4]

History

A barrack-prison ("Újépület") that previously occupied the space, was the site where Prime Minister Lajos Batthyány was executed in 1849, following the Hungarian Revolution.[2] The building was destroyed in 1897 and the square constructed on the site.

References
  1. Steves, Rick; Hewitt, Cameron (2009). Rick Steves' Budapest (1st ed.). Berkeley, Calif.: Avalon Travel. ISBN 978-1598802177.
  2. Turp, Craig; Olszańska, Barbara; Olszański, Tadeusz (August 20, 2010). Hungary (Reprinted with revisions ed.). London: DK Eyewitness Travel. ISBN 978-1405353977.
  3. pictures Archived 2014-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Erőss, Ágnes (2016-10-10). ""In memory of victims": Monument and counter-monument in Liberty Square, Budapest". Hungarian Geographical Bulletin. 65 (3): 237–254. doi:10.15201/hungeobull.65.3.3.

47°30′17″N 19°03′01″E

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