Liberty Square

Few places sum up Hungary's 20th century as well as this square. Around you, a few steps apart, stand monuments that contradict one another.

1From barracks to square

This was the site of the Újépület, the barracks where Batthyány was executed. When it was demolished in 1897, this square was laid out, and in 1900 it was named Liberty Square in tribute to the memory of 1849. Around it rose two palaces by Ignác Alpár: the Hungarian National Bank and the former Stock Exchange, with its façade of colossal columns.

2Monuments face to face

The obelisk in the centre is the memorial to the Soviet soldiers who fell in the siege of Budapest, completed in 1946 by Károly Antal. It is one of the few Soviet monuments still standing in the city, protected by an agreement between the two states.

Right opposite is the US Embassy. Cardinal József Mindszenty took refuge there after the 1956 revolution was crushed, and lived inside for fifteen years, until 1971. Not far away, a statue of Ronald Reagan, put up in 2011, strolls towards Parliament. And in front of the embassy stands the American general Harry Hill Bandholtz: in October 1919, according to his own report, he sealed the doors of the National Museum with a US censorship stamp so that Romanian troops couldn't carry off its collections.

Statues arguing with each other: Budapest's best history lesson is to read them together.

3What to look for

• The golden star on top of the Soviet obelisk.
• The 2014 memorial to the victims of the German occupation at the southern end, and opposite it the photos and objects left by residents in protest.
• The reliefs on the National Bank, telling the story of trade and money.