Liberty Square (Budapest)

Liberty Square (Hungarian: Szabadság tér, pronounced [ˈsɒbɒt͡ʃːaːɡ ˈteːr]) is a public square located in the Lipótváros neighborhood of Budapest, Hungary.

Szabadság tér - Budapest

The square is a mix of business and residential. The United States Embassy in Hungary and the historicist style headquarters of the Hungarian National Bank abut the west side of the square.^[1][2] Some buildings on the square are designed in the Art Nouveau style.^[1] Ignác Alpár designed two of the buildings.^[2] The square houses monuments to Ronald Reagan and Harry Hill Bandholtz and a monument to the Soviet liberation of Hungary in World War II from Nazi German occupation. In 2020, together with the United States Embassy, it built a large statue of US Pres. George H.W. Bush.^[1][3] Some of the monuments like the WWII liberation sculpture were designed by Károly Antal.^[2] The Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation portrays Hungary as an angel being attacked by Germany in the form of an eagle -- symbolism that obscures Hungary's willing participation in the Holocaust. A counter-monument that includes photos of Hungarians who were sent to Auschwitz was created in 2014 in front of the memorial.^[4]

History

A barrack-prison ("Újépület") that previously occupied the space, was the site where Prime Minister Lajos Batthyány was executed in 1849, following the Hungarian Revolution.^[2] The building was destroyed in 1897 and the square constructed on the site.

Gallery

• 
  The former Budapest Stock Exchange looking southeast
• 
  The former home of the Budapest Stock exchange
• 
  Hungarian National Bank
• 
  Monument to US General Harry Hill Bandholtz
• 
  Monument to the Soviet Red Army (1946)
• 
  Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation (2014)

See also

• Liberty Square, Łódź, Poland