Budapest Journals

Communist Budapest

Best of IgoUgo

A travel journal to Budapest by idared

Statue Park Photo - Memento Statue Park, Budapest, Hungary

Quote: Hungary has just switched from a suppressed planned communist society to a free market society little more than a decade ago. I want to show you a few places where you can see what the last communist era has been like for this small country in the middle of Europe.

9 Photos

Communist Budapest

Overview

Quote:

The places i describe in this journal are all not-to-be-missed highlights of a "communist tour of Budapest". I recommend you start your day by going to the House of terror, which will show you what the communist era was like for the *people*. Then head to the Szoborpark for a change, the open air museum is a relaxing, but very interesting sight to walk around. Have lunch at the Marxim and finish your tour at the National Museum. Quick Tips: Best Way To Get Around: Because the sights i am describing are scattered all over the city, you will need a few bus tickets or a day ticket (better value). Everything is very easily accessible, but involves about 20 minutes of travel between the ...Read More

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Marxism

Restaurant | "Marxim - the communist pizzeria"

Quote:

On the Buda side there is a small but very popular and hip pizzeria that decided to mock the 50 years of communist regime in Hungary in a unique way - on a menu. What you get is a delicious pizza that offers nothing too revolutionary, but how you get it - that's unprecedented. First off, you will have no trouble finding the place. It is hid in a small street but there is a huge hard-to-miss glowing red star above the entrance so you will know which direction to go once you spot that. (Reserve a table because the place is small and always crowded!)The decor is true to the name, you get iron curtain, huge communist posters and flags, military items galore and minimalistic furnitu...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on February 25, 2002

Marxism
2nd distrcit, Kisrokus utca 23
Budapest, Hungary

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Memento Statue Park

Attraction | "Szoborpark - Statue Park"

Quote:

All around the country, and all around Budapest you can see mementos of the almost half century long communist era among the modern buildings and normal daily living facilities. Closed formerly state-run department stores with their socialist-realist design, and 50's typography. Rundown apartment buildings in the city with bullet holes on the facade that haven't been renovated beacasue the residents don't have the funds even for daily living, no to mention renovations or decoration. But Budapest also offers something unique, a piece of history preserved in its orginal state, for the world to see and draw the conclusions.The Budapest Szoborpark is an open-air museum of communist statues tha...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on February 25, 2002

Memento Statue Park
Bathori utca, 22
Budapest, Hungary 1054
+36 1 424 7500

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House of Terror

Attraction

Quote:

Budapest - and the whole country - suffered both totalitarian and gruesome regimes of WWII, the Nazis and the the communists. There is a house on Budapest's most beautiful boulevard that has served as the central house of terror under both systems. In 2002 a museum opened in the building to educate the people about the horrible acts of terror that were carried out in this building and to be a memorial to those who were tortured and killed here - or anywhere else under these two brutal regimes. In March 1944 the Nazis occupied Hungary. The Hungarian leaders were weak and the nazis elevated the extreme right wing politicians into the regime. They started the deportation of the Hungarian Jew...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on February 25, 2002

House of Terror
Andrassy ut 60.
Budapest, Hungary

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Hungarian National Museum

Attraction | "National Museum - history exhibit"

Quote:

The Hungarian National Museum has an extensive collection of Hungarian history and fine art. The history collection is orgaznised as a timeline and there you can follow the line of events that led to Hungary's 50 years of communist rule and years of oppression. You will see propaganda posters, newspapers, photos detailing the events of the 1956 revolution when the people of Budapest tried to turn the country into a democracy but were suppressed by the Russian army. After the revolution an even strciter and more horrible dictatorship followed. Here you can also see the famous flag of the revolution with the hole in the middle. The revolutionaries cut the communist table from the...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on February 25, 2002

Hungarian National Museum
Muzeum korut, 14-16
Budapest, Hungary 1088
+36 1 338 2122

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Social Situation in Hungary 12 years after the change

Story/Tip

Quote:

After introducing you to a few of the interesting monuments and sights that remain to be seen about the communist era in Budapest, I also want to add some thoughts about the lifestyle and overall atmosphere of living in the country now, 12 years after the change to a democracy. Before 1990, life was severely restricted but very certain. If you had a job in a factory or a shop or a school, you had a job for life. You may not have had many chances of getting a promotion, but you lived OK. You didn't have luxury, you had to wait 15 years to buy a car, but you had a roof above your head, the buses ran regularly, etc. In 1990, when communist planned economy was replaced almost overni...Read More