The starting points of the design of the
memorial were those well-known photos, which depict the
undergraduates marching to the sculpture of Jozef Bem from the
Polytechnic University, on October 23 1956. The wedge-like shape
symbolizes the people going arm in arm, trusting each other, and the
power of community.
The memorial stands at the border of the City
Park. The base of it is a square, that evocates the contemporary
streets, the “square of silence”, that gives an opportunity to
personal, engrossed remembrance. The rustically corroded, man-sized,
iron columns emerge from here, and it is possible to walk among them
until the tierce of the work.
The spectator can become a segment of the
community, marked by the columns; can seek for the opportunity in
himself, that led common men to heroism in 1956, and that is still a
part of our humanness nowadays.
Moving forward along the axle of the work, the
columns are located increasingly tighter, their material gradually
brightens, they become higher and higher, when finally they unite by
formulating a perfectly consistent, eight-meter tall, stainless
high-allowy steel block. This wedge refracts the overlay of the
Felvonulási street, referring to the force of the revolution, what
appeared at this location also.
The monument commemorates to that unique
moment, when the citizens of Hungary overcame their own
individualities, in order to stand up as members of the united
community, for the idea of freedom and independence.
The monument does not wish to illustrate, but
intends to make it possible for the spectators to imagine themselves
living through those events of history, thus the remembrance should
have an effect on the present days.
Foto: F o r t e p a n / J uricza Ti bo r