Hero’s Square, Budapest

In front of City Park stands Heroes Square and the Millennium Monument. These were commissioned for the 1896 celebrations as symbols of Hungarian pride, however they were not completed until 1929.  The enormous crescent shaped neoclassical structure contains statues of the great Hungarian statesmen and monarchs.  Over the years, many of the statues have been replaced, removed or reinstated, according to the politics of the moment. 

The centrepiece of the monument is the thirty-six metre Corinthian column, on which stands the Archangel Gabriel, with the Hungarian crown in one hand and a cross in the other.  The legend says that the angel appeared to King Stephen in a dream, and brought him the Hungarian Crown as a reward for converting the Hungarians to Christianity.