Heroes' Square & the Millennium Monument
Why is it significant?
Walk out into the middle of the stone square and stop beneath the column. It rises some thirty-six metres, and on top stands the Archangel Gabriel, wings spread, holding the Holy Crown of Hungary in one hand and a double cross in the other.
Key Facts
| Place | Heroes' Square & the Millennium Monument |
|---|---|
| Address | Hősök tere, 1146 Budapest, Hungary |
| Geo Coordinates | 47.51510, 19.07820 |
| Part of Walk | Budapest's Musical Boulevard: Andrássy Avenue from the Opera to Heroes' Square |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk out into the middle of the stone square and stop beneath the column. It rises some thirty-six metres, and on top stands the Archangel Gabriel, wings spread, holding the Holy Crown of Hungary in one hand and a double cross in the other. Below him, on horseback, ride seven wild-looking chieftains in furs and helmets.
The horsemen are the leaders of the seven Magyar tribes who, at the end of the ninth century, rode into the Carpathian Basin. At the front is Árpád, founder of the dynasty that would rule Hungary for four hundred years. The monument was begun for the millennium of that conquest in 1896, designed by the architect Albert Schickedanz with sculptures by György Zala, but it took until 1929 to finish.
Why an angel with a crown? Legend says Gabriel appeared to Stephen, the first king, in a dream and told him he would receive a crown from the Pope. So the angel is a sort of heavenly delivery man for Hungarian statehood.
Behind him, two curved colonnades hold fourteen statues of kings and leaders. When the monument was planned, the last five places were reserved for Habsburg kings, including Franz Joseph. After 1945 they were replaced by figures of Hungarian independence, from Bocskai and Rákóczi to Lajos Kossuth. History here is literally rearranged in bronze. In front of the column lies a stone memorial to the heroes who died for the nation.
And this square has its own soundtrack of history. On 16 June 1989, around a quarter of a million people gathered here for the reburial of Imre Nagy, the prime minister of 1956, executed in 1958. A young Viktor Orbán spoke and demanded that Soviet troops leave Hungary... months before the Iron Curtain fell. The coffins lay on the steps of the building to your right as you face the column. Walk over to it, the temple-like hall with the colourful mosaic in its pediment.