Remember, but for What?! Critical Analysis of Hungarian Public Art Representations of WWI
Remember, but for What?! Critical Analysis of Hungarian Public Art Representations of WWI

Summary/Abstract: The paper introduces a special type of Hungarian public art the World War I memorials. It discusses each genre within this category as well as the institutional background throughout its history from the first memorials until today. After the terminological clarifications the reader will be given a brief historical overview concentrating on the legal/state requirements and the elements of the commemoration acts. The numerous examples are grouped and categorized according to more than one criterion, both the physical characteristics, such as the elements of the memorials and their psychological effects, such as motivating or a mourning memorial. The analysis of the Hungarian World War I memorials contains comparisons to the international examples as well. At the last section of the work the author introduces and thoroughly analyzes the center memorial that still exists in the capital of Hungary. The National Heroes’ Monument itself has a vivid history that resembles the main Hungarian political and historical events of the passt century. As a conclusion it can be stated that the Hungarian World War I memorials are political symbols and are more connected to the time of their establishment rather than to the historical event they represent.

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