If I really wanted to do something with this post, I’d start at the end and work my way backwards, Christopher Nolan style.
But that’s not going to happen. But I will do a few time jumps… not because of artistic imperative but because I’m a pretty lousy and loose writer when it comes to things like structure, grammar, character, tenses, and clarity of thought. So, yeah, maybe it IS a little Christopher Nolan style.
ZING!
It was 4900 HFT. That included roundtrip minibus transport and admission to Memento Park. It did not include the guided tour. Had I booked 24 hours in advance online I could’ve saved 40% supposedly but I as I’m wont to do was stubbornly planning on going today, not tomorrow.
I already knew therefore that I was overpaying. But once I got to the park, I realized just how much of a scam this was. I was experiencing a tourist corruption scheme worthy of a Politburo spook of old.
Memento Park’s ticket price at the door was 1500 HFT. As I got there I heard folks who had arrived via other means (public transport, hired car, walking) asking about buying a ticket in the return bus. It was 1000 HFT per person. So assuming the same price for roundtrip, I was cheated out of 1400 forint for my ticket… or roughly USD$5.60. I try and rationalize that it’s a tribute to rampant corruption and abuse of power under communism … and in current capitalistic societies. Doesn’t make me feel any less cheated but I guess maybe I feel I got a bit more experience for my added money. Not added value mind you. Just saddened value.
On the 30 minute ride to the park, they played an audio CD giving us a brief history of the park and some tips.
Amidst communist propaganda musical selections, the Hungarian voice told us there were currently 42 statues in the park and the historical theme park was being built in stages. Right now in addition to the park, there was a phone booth where you could hear in their own voices the world’s communist leaders giving speeches throughout the years; you could sit in a Trabant car, a crappy car but the dream of workers to own; see a photo exhibition on the failed 1956 Budapest Uprising; see an exhibit on the 1989-1990 democratic revolution; and watch a documentary on the Communist Secret Agent Training Films incorporating contemporaneous industrial how-to films.
There were also several commercials in the audio overview, promoting language specific guides for sale at the Red Star gift shop, souvenirs as well (mementos from Memento Park!), a DVD copy of the “Life As An Agent” documentary as well as a CD of the anthems playing over our minibus’s sound system.
Communism is dead; long live commercialism.
***
Some said the park opened in 1993. Others said it was part of a plan 2006. In either case, that’s a long time for what essentially amounts to a statue graveyard and a dank, dark log cabin for some poorly lit photos and a makeshift movie projector living room.
I wandered the grounds snapping photos and posing for timed tripod assisted selfies. Was it disrespectful to pose like the chiseled monuments to a tyrannical, fallen ideology? People suffered at the hands of leaders who claimed they were leading the people’s revolution; people died fighting for basic human rights and the freedom to be, well, free. And here I was posing like Lenin or running from a tribute to the revolutionary worker. I tried again to rationalize that the freedoms fought for, won, and that we must still continue to fight for today through eternal vigilance, all those freedoms also include the right to be silly ad goofy amidst such pretentious foreboding monuments. I’m not sure it helped me emotionally, but at least it made me willing to keep snapping pics.
In 1956, Budapest was rising. Amidst the fervor, a group of citizens marched on a statue of Stalin and toppled him at his knees. All that remained were his boots. In 1956, Budapest was falling once more into the iron grip of oligarchical strong arm Communism. Yet they never rebuilt Stalin. Those boots were a symbol of defiance and revolution that stood the test of time.
And all I could think of was the six toed statue on “Lost.”
***
A few shots in and around the gift shop:
***
My favorite photo of the day was in the bunker underneath Stalin’s boots. The area is a construction site but visitors were allowed free range access… provided they accepted ALL liability.
I assume they are working on a new exhibition hall and have just strewn about potential pieces for placement later. There’s a makeshift exhibit dedicated to Baby Lenin, a thing which apparently garnered feverish cult status at some point in the Communist era.
But there also was this statue of Lenin, sitting cross legged, reading a book. Maybe he’s flipping through the Communist Manifesto. Maybe he’s plowing through a spy novel. Whatever the case, it inspired my favorite photo of the day:
***
My second favorite photo came about in posing with the Trabant automobile. It’s a helluva car, made from duroplast, a recycled rubbery material that feels like lineolum. Workers had to pay half the cost upfront, then wait 6-8 years to finally get it.
As it was adjacent to the speechifying phone booth…
…there could be only one way to photograph this thing:
Are you telling me they built a TIME MACHINE… out of a Trabant?
And though I should just leave it there, here a few other Trabant-ing photos:
***
Overall, I was overcharged and underwhelmed by Memento Park. Maybe I had too high expectations. Maybe I should have bought the visitors guide to get more info. Maybe I should have joined the guided tour (at an extra fee) but it was all in Hungarian.
Thus once again during my trip here to Hungary, I admired the concept without particularly loving the execution.
I probably shouldn’t say “execution” in reference to a Communist statue park. Or is drawing attention to the word even more insulting/disrespectful/culturally insensitive?
Comrades, every story’s ending is just a beginning to the next….