Statue Park
Displayed in the Park are 41 pieces of art from the Communist era between 1945 and 1989. Besides the gigantic works depicting Lenin, Marx, Engels, Dimitrov, or Captain Ostapenko, stand here allegorical monuments of ‘Hungarian-Soviet Friendship’ and ‘Liberation’ other statues of personalities from the labor movement and soldiers of the Soviet Red Army.
The Statue Park is not about introducing the statues, the depicted persons, or events of the time. Its mission is to summon the historical period that produced these artworks matching the needs of the centralized party propaganda and commands of the political will.
The architectural design of Memento Park follows a deliberate concept. It meant to unmask dictatorships to be.
‘This Park is about dictatorship. And at the same time, because it can be talked about, described and built up, this Park is about democracy. After all, only democracy can provide an opportunity to think freely about dictatorship. Or about democracy, come to that! or about anything!’
(Ákos Eleőd, conceptual architect of Memento Park)