Budapest Guide
Gellért-hegy and the Tabán
The Liberation Monument
Whether you walk up or get there by bus (bus #27 from Móricz Zsigmond körtér to the Busuló Juhász stop, followed by a 10min walk), the summit of Gellért-hegy affords a stunning panoramic view, drawing one's eye slowly along the curving river, past bridges and monumental landmarks, and then on to the Buda Hills and Pest's suburbs, merging hazily with the distant plain.
On the summit, beside the citadel, stands the Liberation Monument (Felszabadulási emlékmű) – a female figure brandishing the palm of victory over 30m aloft. There is a famous tale that the monument was originally commissioned by Admiral Horthy in memory of his son István (who was killed in a plane crash on the Eastern Front in 1942), and that, by substituting a palm branch for the propeller it was meant to hold and placing a statue of a Red Army soldier at the base, the monument was deftly recycled to commemorate the Soviet soldiers who died liberating Budapest from the Nazis. While the story may not be true, the monument's sculptor, Zsigmond Kisfaludi-Strobl, certainly succeeded in winning approval as a "Proletarian Artist", despite having previously specialized in busts of the aristocracy – and was henceforth known by his compatriots as "Kisfaludi-Strébel" (strébel meaning "to climb" or "step from side to side"). The monument survived calls for its removal following the end of Communism, but its inscription was rewritten to honour those who died for "Hungary's prosperity", and the Soviet soldier was banished to the Memento Park on the outskirts of Budapest.