Pop back in time with Hungary's communist statues

By Krisztina Than

BUDAPEST (Reuters Life!) - Statues of Marx, Engels and Lenin which once commanded Budapest's squares as the power symbols of communist dictatorship, have been gathered in a park on the outskirts of the Hungarian capital.

After a short bus drive from the centre of town, visitors to Budapest's Statue Park or Memento Park can travel back in time, walking around some 40 statues and monuments which once filled the city, and get a feel for the regime which collapsed in 1989.

They can also learn the tricks of the communist-era secret service trade -- spotting "the potential enemies of the system", spying on people and recruiting informants.

A documentary explaining the operation of the secret services, which once spied on 70,000 people at a time in the central European country of 10 million, is shown continually.

"This is a memorial to the collapse of communism," says Akos Rethly, general manager of the Park which is run privately.

Rethly says he is proud that they display the monuments in a neutral setting, without either making a mockery of them, or honoring them.

Four years after the communist regime ended, in 1993 the Budapest municipality decided to place the statues in a park instead of demolishing them.

"I'm happy that they collected them ... you cannot hide history by destroying the statues as they can show you a very important part of history and help you think about it," said Maria Laine, a tourist from Finland.