Memento Park

'Memento Park' socialist sculpures - darkometer rating : 2 (but weirdness factor 8) - A permanent open-air exhibition of more or less wacky socialist realism sculptures and statues from the communist era, all moved to a communal place on the edge of Budapest . There's also a small indoor exhibition. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: After the end of the Cold War and the fall of the communist regimes in the former Eastern Bloc , the traces of that era in the form of the many statues and sculptures celebrating workers or socialist leaders were mostly removed and often simply destroyed. Very few such statues remain in their original place in most Eastern European countries. However, the further east you go, the less this is true, especially in Russia – but there are also pockets where the Soviet look, including the statues, has been retained, Transnistria being a prime example, parts of Kazakhstan too. Occasionally, the statues were not destroyed but removed from their original locations and transported elsewhere, often out of town (and out of general view). In Hungary 's capital Budapest , they followed a special approach: statues were not simply moved away out of view but were actually collected in one place and arranged to form a weird kind of fenced-in exhibition. So 'Memento Park' (formerly known as "Szoborpark" – simply 'sculpture park'), on the outskirts of the city, is something like an enclosure for the extinct species of socialist realism statues (and other art) that used to celebrate communism and its heroes. Another, more (in)famous such park is Grutas Park in Lithuania , also (unofficially) known as " Stalin World".