Somewhere in the region - But where? UPDATED with Winner!
Photo: Heroes and heroine? The latter, probably not - she looks to be about to greet someone, possibly starting her weekend (I think it was a Friday when I took this pic).
In truth, I don't know if the male busts represent heroes or statesmen or even scientists or inventors, but I suspect more likely they are folks in the former categories. (Perhaps someone will write in to let us all know.)
My first visit to this city, back in the 70s, was not a pleasant affair. I somehow found it rather a cold atmosphere, unusually so, in fact. But later visits proved friendly enough.
Can you identify the location, or do I need to give more clues?
Answers please via an email or the site reporting system, and mention KT104 if you would.
I know I haven't done the draw for KT103 yet, somehow just haven't had the time, so you can still have a crack at that one if the mood should take you. I promise to get down to that sooner rather than later, I know many are eager for the results :)
Whatever, I wish all a great weekend!
UPDATE: Additional clues!
I thought this one might be difficult, and thus it has proved, indeed even more so than I first imagined.
So I could be heading to winning my second KesterTester, but my soft heart has once again prevailed, so I shall offer some extra clues, although this always poses the difficulty of what to add without making it too easy.
Well, ok, let's be upfront and state here that this is not in Hungary (Tom Chilton was homing in on Debrecen, but couldn't nail it. Now he knows why!).
In spite of this, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has taken considerable interest in the place and made a visit or two here I believe in recent years.
At the same time, one might say the city has been trying to act above its station now for a decade or two, certainly critics would say that.
I believe historically it was a significant centre for defence, and probably still is, although that is probably true for most settlements of any size in this part of the world.
Again, like many locations, this city has sadly seen it's ethnic variety much reduced in the past.
There you go, I don't think I can say much more without giving it to you on a spoon :) Happy sleuthing!
UPDATE – Competitors and the WINNER! Right – apologies for long wait, work, family, cold etc etc preventing you from becoming a global celebrity. I really worry I might get sued for psychological trauma if I don't start catching up on KesterTester results. KT104 certainly proved to be a tester extraordinaire, some people definitely wore their thinking hats long and hard in the quest to nail this one. Quickly in, soon after publication, Mr Tom Chilton complained: “Hi KJ, I need more.... The names seem to have diacritics, so I'm thinking it's Hungary. ... Debrecen ... but can't find these chaps on Google. üdv,Tom” Ian Wraight reported in that same evening: “This looks very Yugoslavia of the mid 80s - my end. Maybe Cro[atia] or Slo[venia] or Bos[nia-Herzegovina]. I'll guess Zagreb - the woman is definitely twee enough love IW”
Les Szabo next swung in with: “Hi, my best clue is the car - the alloy wheel looks mid late 80's the rubber strip will confirm that so the picture is early 90's, assuming its 2nd hand . that is my best but l will sleep on it” But Les, we don't need the date, we need the place and who these heads belong to! Anyway, Les slept on it … and maybe still is. Feeling sorry for you all, I gave more clues, whereupon all Tom Chilton could come up with was: “I still dinna ken the KT even with the rather vague clues.” You may be losing your 'super-sleuth' title, Mr Chilton. Come on, please keep up at the back! Gábor Rimner swooped in, much more appreciative: “KT104 I'd say it is the town of Arad, which is now in Romania, and those are the busts of the 13 executed leaders of the rebellion. Gábor” I rather think Arad thinks of itself as a city, Gábor, but we won't quibble. Then, like London buses, Nigel Thorpe quickly followed up. "Kester, I think this is Arad, and the memorial to the 13 Hungarian generals executed there in 1849 by the Austrians. Nigel” Meanwhile, after the extra clues, Ian Wraight began to have doubts (it's ok Ian, we allow that). " 'Above its station' shoah? Now you've got be thinking Warsaw.” I was wondering what to do next to help you all, when Bálint Dömötör jumped into the mix. “Hello Kester, I have to admit, that I "cheated" a bit …” What? This is your first KesterTester and you 'cheated', Bálint?
Honestly, the youth of today know no boundaries, do they?
“ ... I used every source and tool available, as a good journalist should), but I'm pretty confident that I have a solution for you. You have taken the picture in Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is the Partisan Memorial.
My first thought was Belgrade but couldn't find statues like this anywhere in the city. I was pretty confident that the photo was taken in the Balkans so I tried to look for statues in Sarajevo and Zagreb as well. After many unsuccessful attempts I decided to run the Google image search on your photo and found Banja Luka pretty quickly. This was the 9th search result.
It was great fun!
Best, Bálint”
Truth be told, Bálint, it is in Banja Luka, which thinks of itself as the capital of Republika Srpska – the Serbian 'entity' (rather than 'state' or 'country') that makes up the Serbian bit of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
And I'm sure you are right as to what the busts are, but I wrote to the City Hall for confirmation. In spite of a nice website and a thoroughly bright and modern young mayor urging people to write in, unfortunately the services seems, alas, rather, er, Balkan. I got no replies.
So, I have to give it to you as a 'walk over' as we say in English – you win without any numbers going into the hat.
When you feel the full furry of global celebrity status after news of this win goes viral, you may wish to return to anonymity in view of all the fan attention and selfies you'll be required to stand for – but that won't get you off the hook – it'll be two beers for me at our next meeting, you'll be thrilled to learn.
Meanwhile, all the best in London. Thanks to all who 'had a go', with a special shout out to Ian Wraight, who started out close, even got the country correctly (though he did mention three, which is a bit cheating), but then wavered.
KT 105 is still open, if you fancy a bit more sleuthing. Otherwise, have a great weekend!