Liberty Statue
The Liberty Statue rises high above Budapest on Gellért Hill, a 40-meter stone-topped sculpture that greets the river from the Citadella’s eastern edge. Perched on a 26-meter pedestal, the bronze figure holds a palm leaf, with two smaller statues once flanking it at the base—two others were removed and relocated to Memento Park. The monument was designed by Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl and started construction in 1947, with a purpose tied to the Soviet liberation of Hungary after World War II. You’re looking at a symbol that was originally intended to honor István Horthy, with a design that reportedly shifted from a child figure to the palm-leaf gesture we see today. The original Hungarian and Russian inscription spoke of “the liberating Soviet heroes,” a phrasing later changed after Hungary’s transition to democracy in 1989 to honor all who sacrificed for Hungary’s independence, freedom, and prosperity. …
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