Budapest memorial marks 2006 storm that killed three during St. Stephen's Day

Full text

Budapest has had a range of controversial memorials erected in the last decade, some of which seem bent on rewriting the nation's history through somewhat rose-tinted glasses. This less-than-official-looking simple, unique and very colourful sign-cum-statue has until very recently been in a state of disrepair.

During the annual 20th August St. Stephen's Day celebrations, people line the Danube in central Budapest to remember the founding of the Hungarian state around 900 AD, to bless bread, and to enjoy a firework show above the spectacular architecture that lines the river.

In 2006, however, those celebrating along the river banks were in for a shock. A freak thunderstorm, along with 100 km winds, flooded the banks of the river and took the lives of three people, injuring at least 250 others. Since Budapest is a city that loves to memorialise...well, pretty much anything, a tree was erected to mark the spot on the river where those people lost their lives. Incredibly, that tree itself came down in a storm two years later, injuring pedestrians and resulting in two more deaths. The tree was then replaced with a more permanent memorial.

What currently marks the spot of the disaster is this less dangerous and wonderfully characterful plaque. The odd placement of the face atop the board bearing the description of the event and the rather folk-art approach, the signature style of its creator, Boldiszár Kö, make this plaque stand out against the muted colours of the classical architecture of Bem Quay, on the Buda side of the river.