MaNDAHungarian National Digital Archive

Szabadság Square is an iconic place in Budapest, its name commemorates the War of Independence of 1848-1849. For a long time, however, the place was known more for a building symbolizing oppression, the Hungarian Bastille, the New Building. The present image of the square only developed after its demolition, so that the scene of bad memory became a memorial to the idealism of national independence and freedom. In our latest selection, you can track subsequent changes of the location.

Almost everyone remembers the Royal Castle and Queen Elisabeth about Gödöllő. The baroque castle and the park belonging to it are truly picturesque, and it is no coincidence that it was one of the Queen's favourite residential places. However, the settlement in the Budapest agglomeration still has many hidden monuments and intricate histories.

Public monument sculpture played a significant role in the image of 19th century settlements. However, the sculptures are not only about the changes that have taken place in the fabric of the city; they can also be used to trace the development of the cult of a given person, including the memory of Empress and Queen Elisabeth. Nowadays, the statue of Elisabeth looks at the Buda side calmly in the park next to the bridge named after her, even though it used to be an ornament of the Pest side. Most of the Queen’s monuments were made in the years after her death. Still, this monument in Budapest followed a series of statues more than 30 years later, when Sisi's memory had quite faded. What conditions hindered the completion of the work, and what was the cult of Elisabeth like at the beginning of the 20th century, will be revealed in our selection.

The 230th Article of the Act II of 1939 provided for the labour service of public interest, which ordered the obligation to male residents of Hungarian citizenship who were unfit for military service and had reached the age of twenty-four. The training provided within the military framework had to be completed in labour camps for persons specified by law, and the duration of service was set at three months a year. The first labour battalions began their work in July 1939, so by the end of the summer of 1940 it became clear that the incompetence was not interpreted by the legislature in terms of physical health, but by origin and political reliability. The decree is thus difficult to interpret other than the supplement to Jewish laws.

Count István Bethlen was one of the key politicians of the Horthy era, who managed to achieve during his decade as prime minister that Hungary, battered by the Trianon tragedy, was strengthened both economically and socially. This week, on the 75th anniversary of his death, we commemorate his life, merits, and the government he constituted a hundred years ago.