Kossuth Memorial is an imposing statue of former Hungarian Regent-President Lajos Kossuth

Lajos Kossuth

Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.-Family:Lajos...

 in front of the Hungarian Parliament Building

Hungarian Parliament Building

The Hungarian Parliament Building is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, one of Europe's oldest legislative buildings, a notable landmark of Hungary and a popular tourist destination of Budapest. It lies in Lajos Kossuth Square, on the bank of the Danube, in Budapest...

 on Lajos Kossuth Square

Lajos Kossuth Square

Lajos Kossuth Square is situated in the Lipótváros neighbourhood of Budapest, District V, on the bank of the Danube. Its most notable landmark is the Hungarian Parliament Building...

 in Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

. The memorial is an important Hungarian national symbol and scene of official celebrations.

After the death of Lajos Kossuth (21 March 1894) and his sumptuous funeral in Budapest a public subcription was almost immediately announced to build an imposing memorial for the late leader of the 1848 Revolution. During the next years 850 000 forints came together, a huge sum in those days. In 1906 the competition was won by János Horvay

János Horvay

János Horvay was a Hungarian sculptor, who earned reputation with his statues about Lajos Kossuth, leader of the Hungarian national uprising in 1848-49. However his most important work, the great Kossuth Memorial in Budapest proved to be a failure.Horvay was born on 29 May 1873 in Pécs...

 after long debates about the style and message of the memorial. Although the public was dissatisfied with Horvay’s idea the sculptor began working. Until 1914 all the figures of the group were completed except Kossuth himself but then the work came to a halt because of World War I. The colossal marble plinth

Plinth

In architecture, a plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests. Gottfried Semper's The Four Elements of Architecture posited that the plinth, the hearth, the roof, and the wall make up all of architectural theory. The plinth usually rests...

 remained in the mine of Ruszkica (today Ruschiţa

Ruschita

Ruşchiţa is a reddish, pinkish or white marble found in Romania. The marble deposit is located in the north of Caraş-Severin County, about 10 km northwest of the village of Rusca Montană, in the Poiana Rusca Mountains....

, Romania) and later was confiscated by the invading Romanian troops. In the years following the war Horvay completed the Kossuth statue and a new plinth was made of simple limestone.

The first Kossuth Memorial was officially inaugurated on 6 November 1927 by Governor Miklós Horthy

Miklós Horthy

Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944. Horthy was styled "His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary" .Admiral Horthy was an officer of the...

 before a crowd of 100 000 people. The speaker of the celebration was Albert Apponyi

Albert Apponyi

Count Albert Apponyi de Nagyappony was a distinguished Hungarian nobleman and politician from an ancient noble family dating back to the 13th century. He was born on 29 May 1846, in Vienna, where his father, Count György Apponyi, was the resident Hungarian Chancellor at the time...

. The group depicted the members of the first Hungarian parliamentary government: Lajos Kossuth (in the middle), Pál Eszterházy, Gábor Klauzál

Gábor Klauzál

Gábor Klauzál de Szlavovicz was a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Trade during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 in the first government of Hungary. He studied in Szeged...

, József Eötvös

József Eötvös

József baron Eötvös de Vásárosnamény was a Hungarian writer and statesman, the son of Ignacz baron Eötvös de Vásárosnamény and Anna von Lilien, who stemmed from an Erbsälzer family of Werl in Germany....

, István Széchenyi

István Széchenyi

Széchenyi committed suicide by a shot to his head on April 8, 1860. All Hungary mourned his death. The Academy was in official mourning, along with the most prominent persons of the leading political and cultural associations...

, Prime Minister Lajos Batthyány

Lajos Batthyány

Count Lajos Batthyány de Németújvár was the first Prime Minister of Hungary. He was born in Pressburg on 10 February 1807, and was executed by firing squad in Pest on 6 October 1849, the same day as the 13 Martyrs of Arad.-Career:His father was Count József Sándor Batthyány , his mother Borbála...

, Bertalan Szemere, Ferenc Deák

Ferenc Deák

Ferenc Deák de Kehida , , was a Hungarian statesman and Minister of Justice. He was known as "The Wise Man of the Nation".-Early life and law career:...

 and Lázár Mészáros

Lázár Mészáros

General Lázár Mészáros , was the Minister of War during the 1848 Hungarian Revolution....

. Horvay’s composition was totally misguided because Kossuth played only a minor constitutional role in the first cabinet. The press heavily criticised the melancholic atmosphere of the memorial and the sculpture remained unpopular.

In 1950 the government of Mátyás Rákosi

Mátyás Rákosi

Mátyás Rákosi was a Hungarian communist politician. He was born as Mátyás Rosenfeld, in present-day Serbia...

, the Stalinist dictator of Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 ordered the dismantling of the „pessimistic” memorial. Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl

Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl

Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl was a Hungarian sculptor and artist. His sculptural style integrated elements of realism and academism style mainly engaged in creating portrait busts.-Early life:...

 made a new bronze statue of Kossuth pointing towards a brighter future with a raised hand. Although the sculpture is a typical product of its age, Kisfaludi Strobl was a talented artist who managed to picture Kossuth as a great orator. The new memorial was inaugurated in 1952. The six other figures (among them poet Sándor Petőfi

Sándor Petofi

Sándor Petőfi , was a Hungarian poet and liberal revolutionary. He is considered as Hungary's national poet and he was one of the key figures of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848...

) were made by András Kocsis and Lajos Ungváry. The plinth was clad with red marble blocks.

The dismantled Horvay-group was given to the town of Dombóvár

Dombóvár

- External links :*...

in 1959 where the figures were separately re-erected in 1973 in the City Park.