“Martyrs of Katyn” memorial

2009

"Martyrs of Katyn" memorial, National competition, Óbuda


Architects: Levente Szabó, Jessica Dvorzsák, Zsófia Kovács
Co-designers: András Páll, Orsolya Kovács, Dr. Zsombor Nagy


We are far away in both time and space. Katyn: 1444 kilometres from Budapest, 1940: 69 years away. The act of remembrance in 2009, on the small and busy park named Martyr’s of Katyn in Budapest, can be produced by connections that can bridge the enormous distance in time and space. Our monument helps the receiving – remembering intensions’ wide spectrum: from the inquiring curiosity, the personal and collective festive commemoration, through the meditative empathy of the tragically unique event, and the wide range and free composition of the individual interpretations. We think that with the sacrifice of the 25700, mostly reservist soldiers, the connection cannot be represented with the idea of heroism or condolence. They have the in situ monuments, the memorial parks for these reasons. We believe in the works of personal remembrance and the collective recollection, we felt that this was very important when planning the memorial. This is why our concept is based on three important stages in which every single element can signify a station, or an emotional vicinity with the remembrance: the park, the well and on it: the soldiers oath written spirally in evenly growing letters on the mantle.