Szoborpark is the final resting place for the once eminent Communist statues which existed throughout the city of Budapest, before Communism went out of fashion and they were all trucked off. It’s an inspired solution; 'let’s not get rid of the Communist memorials or Glorious Leader statues', you can imagine a decision-maker saying, 'let’s put them in an tourist theme park'. The fact that the park is a fair way out of the city (accessible by bus) speaks volumes.
Over forty statues jostle with each other for prominence, attempting to rise above the embarrassment of their likeness being sold in candle form. Does their indignation bubble, having to bear the shame of being overthrown from their iron grip on power and being collectively junked in an old people’s home for statues? The likenesses of Lenin and Marx forced to simmer with resentment as old revolutionary tunes are played from an old radio set and camera-happy, tittering tourists gawp at them. I can almost imagine them muttering with fury at their treatment and bickering over the 'theory and practice of communism'. Whose voices are loudest, Engel's? Lenin’s? Stalin's boots? Not the Red Army soldier whose role was to once guard the Liberation Monument, although his disillusionment has overthrown his discipline and he and his sailor mate backchat Béla Kun.
No comments:
Post a Comment