Since that eureka moment, Dániel has catalogued dozens and dozens of the city’s statues, taking photos and researching each one’s history, which he recounts on Facebook.
“What I’m interested in are the specific details,” says Dániel, “and what has changed”. Many statues in the city sustained damage during the war, and post-1945 brought about lots of alterations.
In this way, Dániel says, statues tell the story of what is happening in a city, or what has happened already. “The buildings, they are erected and it’s difficult to move or change them. But the statues – when ideas change or a new regime comes, they’re the ones who choose the monuments.”
Dániel has spent hours poring over books and newspaper clippings, carefully noting when statues are first mentioned or described. “Often the local news will mention a new statue,” he says. “I once found an article on the statue at Kossuth tér, and after ’45, all of the statues were damaged and had to be replaced. They didn’t have an image source for what used to be there, so they created something new. But actually, I had an image source! Because I had been looking for the data.”
Dániel gets no income from his statue archive, and he does the work around his day job in international business. “I studied Art History,” he explains, “but I realised this is not a field where I can make a lot of money. But my passion is still in the statues.” It’s a passion which has attracted 7,000 followers on Facebook, many of whom send Dániel questions. “They are very curious, very involved,” says the statue hunter.
Sometimes Dániel will post statues he sees in other cities alongside similar ones from Budapest, so fans can compare them and decide which they like best. “But of course,” Dániel stresses, “it’s about personal taste”. Other side-by-side images include pre-1945 statues with their modern counterparts, noting what has been changed or what was damaged.
“It’s important to me not to tell people what I think about the statues,” he says. “I try to be objective. This is the statue, this is what happened, and you can decide whether that makes you happy, or not.”
Occasionally, Dániel will lead walking tours, often coordinated by small businesses. “I take them on the route from their homes to their work,” he says, “and tell them about the statues they pass on the way each day. That way they can appreciate their commute.”
When asked if he plans to publish a book of his work, he smiles and says simply, “Maybe one day!” For now, the pictures and the stories can all be enjoyed on Dániel’s Facebook page.
