In 1956, during the days of the revolution and the Soviet intervention, those who died in the street fighting were temporarily buried in several locations across Budapest. The exact number of victims resting in temporary public graves is unknown. Their memory is preserved solely by photographs of the time, quite a few of which can be found in the collection of the Fortepan photo archive.

When determining the positions of the memorial steles marking the locations of the former graves, in addition to the images in the collection, we used contemporary aerial photographs to define the photographer’s original position as accurately as possible. The orientation of the steel steles placed at these points also follows this principle, allowing passersby to compare the current view with the past one and imagine the view of the former temporary graves in locations that have changed everywhere since then.

The central element of the artworks is the photograph itself, elevated to eye level by a steel pillar that intentionally bears the marks of processing, left raw and exposed to corrosion over time. The pillar is primarily a technical element, expressed also by its rawness, emphasizing for passersby the significance of photography in preserving otherwise unknown, undocumented stories for posterity. The 1956 mm height of the steles and the shape of the circular photo cutout recalling the flag with a hole carry the meaning for which these objects were created.

Out of several dozen affected locations, the memorial markers have been completed at three locations in the first phase: Ferenciek tere, Rákóczi tér, and Markusovszky tér. These three public points located in different districts invite passersby to remember and connect: ’56 happened here, exactly 70 years ago at the time of the inauguration of these memorial points.

The project’s website: itt-tortent-56.hu