Your Key To Budapest Hungary- 2024 Les Clefs d’Or Award Nominee

Budapest is the dazzling, vibrant, energetic, and never-resting capital of Hungary.

Mihaly Kolodko’s mini statues all over the city to tell you stories on the communist era, raise awareness on diabetes, remember iconic locals of different districts, campaign for more public toilets in the city, or educate you on how Hungarians contributed to the Moon landing.

When we are walking around casually, we often do not pay attention to our surroundings, but stare at our smartphones. Kolodko’s mission is that all these statues just suddenly appear in the city without any warning – you will recognize them if not only you look but see what is happening around you.

The Moon buggy on Moon street

The artist and his family decided to move to Budapest in 2016. They lived on Moon Street (Hold utca in Hungarian) for a longer period. The statue portrays an astronaut waving at us from his buggy. The Lunar Rover, which was used in the Apollo program, was – no surprise here – designed by a Hungarian, who left Hungary after the ‘56 Freedom Fight, Ferenc Pavlics. He received an award from NASA for his contribution to this historic first step.

“Franz Joska”

This mini is located in Liberty Bridge, that used to be named after our emperor, Franz Joseph II., who used to be our emperor during the 19th century, when we formed a monarchy with Austria. After taking back the bridge he is resting in his hammock. Also, in 2016 the bridge was closed from car traffic – locals took back the bridge, hosted sunset yoga lessons, organized picnics – they took the bridge back too!

Aranka néni és Béla bácsi (Auntie Aranka and Uncle Bela)

Auntie Aranka and Uncle Bela used to run their flower business, and according to locals they were a charming old couple; always happy to spoil the residents nearby with fresh flowers. Uncle Bela passed away during Covid-19, 9 years after Aranka. The community of Pasarét district were so touched by their legacy that they started brainstorming on how they could honor their memory. Can you tell how much they loved the elderly couple – I took this picture recently, they dressed the statues up in scarves, to make sure they are not cold during Christmas!

Winnie the Pooh (a tribute to Frigyes Karinthy)

The house (Damjanich Street 27.) where this statue is located, is where Frigyes Karinthy (one of the most famous Hungarian writer, poet and translator) was born. To celebrate the anniversary of the writer’s birthday, a mini appeared underneath; Winnie the Pooh, holding the honey jar, sipping the last drops of honey. Karinthy contributed greatly to translate Winnie the Pooh to Hungarian, however he himself did not speak English – his sister, Emília Karinthy (by nickname Mici Karinthy) prepared the translation and for him to do the literary editing. Therefore, he named the main character after her: Micimackó.

Rezső Seress and the Gloomy Sunday (Szomorú Vasárnap)

Rezső Seress (a former trapeze artist, songwriter, and Holocaust-survivor) was the grizzled pianist of Kispipa bar on Akacfa street. He is the author of a quite infamous song: the Gloomy Sunday (which he wrote in 1933). It is often dubbed as the Hungarian Suicide Song, due to its heartbreaking lyrics and melody. There were more understandable factors that played a huge role in the unusual number of misfortune deaths: The Great Depression post war, and bigger and bigger headway of the Soviet Union. The British government thought the song was so harmful and had such negative effects on wartime moral, that the BBC banned the song – this ban was lifted in 2002.

Anna Salgó is a candidate for the 2024 Les Clefs d’Or Award. This article has been published in its original form.