Heroes square, Budapest — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

Heroes' Square is one of the grandest public spaces in Budapest, a vast plaza at the end of Andrassy Avenue that celebrates 1,000 years of Hungarian history. The square was built between 1896 and 1906 to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of the Magyar conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 896 AD. The centrepiece is the Millennium Monument, a 36-metre Corinthian column topped by the Archangel Gabriel holding the Holy Crown and double cross of Hungary. At the base of the column stand statues of the Seven Chieftains of the Magyars, the tribal leaders who founded the Hungarian nation. Behind the column, two semicircular colonnades display statues of fourteen Hungarian kings and national heroes, from King Stephen I (who Christianized Hungary around 1000 AD) to Lajos Kossuth (who led the 1848 revolution). The square has been the site of many of Hungary's most significant modern events. In June 1989, a quarter of a million people gathered here for the reburial of Imre Nagy, the prime minister executed after the 1956 uprising, an event that helped trigger Hungary's transition to democracy. The square is flanked by the Museum of Fine Arts and the Palace of Art (Mucsarnok), and it marks the entrance to the City Park (Varosliget), home to the Szechenyi Thermal Bath. If you're on a Questo quest through Budapest, Heroes' Square is a stop where a thousand years of national identity are carved in stone and still shaping the present.