The comprehensive scientific and restoration condition assessment of the statue of Archangel Gabriel from Heroes’ Square has been completed. The statue may return to its original place by the end of this year, said Benedek Gyorgyevics, CEO of Városliget Zrt., at a press conference on Thursday in Budapest presenting the examinations carried out so far.
The investigations revealed that the artwork had been in a deteriorated condition, but it also became essential to restore the nearly 30-meter-high stone column that had supported the statue for 120 years. Gábor Móczár, Director General of the National Heritage Institute, highlighted that Heroes’ Square, as a national memorial site, is one of the most important symbolic spaces in Hungarian history. At its center stands the statue of Archangel Gabriel, that is not only an iconic element of the Millennium Monument but also one of the most significant symbols of Hungarian statehood and Christian tradition.
Heroes’ Square, Budapest. Photo: Pixabay
He recalled that
the statue created by sculptor György Zala was placed in Heroes’ Square on October 24, 1901.
The angel figure, about five meters tall and made of bronze castings with wall thicknesses of 3–6 millimeters, had stood atop the 36-meter-high Corinthian column ever since. Although smaller renovations had taken place over the past decades, these were only aesthetic interventions and did not affect the statue’s internal structure.
In the early 2020s, several examinations made it clear that both the statue and the Corinthian capital were in critical condition. Therefore, in the autumn of 2024, the statue was removed in several pieces and transported to the restoration workshop of Museum Complex Ltd.
A piece of the Archangel Gabriel statue at the press conference on the statue’s restoration in the Museum Complex workshop in Budapest on March 12, 2026. Photo: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka
Sculptor-restorer Csaba Laczik explained that the statue’s condition had mainly deteriorated due to rainwater that had entered its interior. Experts carried out the most advanced instrumental material tests to determine precisely the composition and layers of the statue’s materials. During the investigations it was even suggested that a significant part of the bronze body might need to be recast, but the in-depth material analyses ultimately confirmed that the original statue can be saved and restored.
While exploring the concrete spherical base of the statue, restorers also found a broken glass container containing a rolled piece of paper and eight metal coins.
The time capsule was presumably placed in the pedestal around the time of the monument’s inauguration in 1901 and remained undiscovered until 2024.
The paper was recovered in a wet and heavily contaminated condition, with glass fragments and concrete particles on its surface. Restorers from the Hungarian National Archives unrolled the document millimeter by millimeter, but no traces of writing were visible to the naked eye.
Contents of the time capsule found inside the Archangel Gabriel statue. Photo: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka
However, during special laboratory imaging using ultraviolet-induced luminescence, faint traces of earlier writing appeared, said Béla Kónya, director of the National Museum Restoration and Storage Center. The analysis identified four names: Béla Romy, head of department at the Prime Minister’s Office; Albert Schickedanz, architect of the Millennium Monument; Gyula Aggházy, painter and teacher; and Adriaan Willem Weissman, chief architect of Amsterdam, who was present at the statue’s unveiling. Due to the damage to the paper, the text is fragmentary and only partially readable.
The surviving part reads:
On the twenty-third day of October in the year one thousand nine hundred and one, when the great column of the monument is completed with God’s help (…) placed (…) in the presence of the undersigned.”
At the City Park Visitor Center, an experience exhibition titled “Hungary’s Guardian Angel – The Gabriel Statue of Heroes’ Square” has opened, where visitors can see a full-size replica of the statue as well as learn about the historical background of the monument and the capital at the time.
Via MTI, Featured image: Pixabay
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