KesterTester123 - I suspect 90% of all people visiting Hungary (not counting mere transit folk of course) will have seen this statue, or at least had it in view. But where is it?
Photo: It's not clear to me what this chappie is holding, maybe someone will offer an answer, but the real question is where is he stationed? I'm also not quite sure if he is not entirely healthy - he's frame seems quite thin and fragile, but perhaps he really was like this in life.
I expect this is easy using some sort of internet photo matching app, but we want to play the game and do a 'proper' sleuth, don't we? Answers please via the site messaging system or in an email marked KT123 if you would.
And in an update to KT122, Steve Saracco was finally satisfied that indeed, the street was as stated, just he calculated the photo was taken a lot further away than I thought (or think, but I'd have to go on site to check). As he put it:
"The issue I missed is that the corner we are looking at in your photo is not Király utca but Dob utca."
Steve argues I must have taken the pic from somewhere like Akácfa utca 51, and not 65 or so, where I thought I was standing. Well, it was four decades ago!
Some sleuthing there by Mr Saracco, I must say. I'm sure the gent in the photo above would doff his hat, if he could.
Now, how about KT123?
UPDATE: Competitors & Glorious, Blessed Winner!
I was a bit surprised by the paucity of entries – correct or otherwise - for Mr Topper, thinking he would prove rather easy for the many Pestophile readers. But perhaps everyone is busy with pre-Christmas parties.
Anyway … Theodore Boone was an early punter, eager for the accolade and attendent fame for winning his first Tester, I'm sure.
“Hi Kester - Just a WAG but I am going to say Keleti train station. You didn’t ask who he was but I do note that he bears a remarkable resemblance to Honest Abe Lincoln. :)”
Ah, yes, I know where you are coming from, as there are two chappies way up there, right Ted. (WAG = Wild A? Guess I suppose?).
And it is also true that Mr Topper has an appearance rather like Abe, I hadn't noticed that previously.
Mihály 'have a go' Hollós was unusually flummoxed.
“Hello Kester,.
… As for the latest Kester Tester (the one about the top hat guy), I'm quite at a loss but will try and come up with a guess. I enjoy these KTs, although I never seem to come up with the correct answer, even when it's about a spot in my native Budapest. (Mind you, I never use the internet or any apps to find out where the pic was taken.)
Thanks and best wishes,
Misi”
Never mind, Misi, your entries are always in the true Tester spirit, and always welcome.
Then we had a fast, up-and-coming sleuther, no less than Stephen Saracco.
“corner of Zoltán utca and Széchenyi rakpart.
(yes I lived on Zoltán utca as well!)
Saracco”
And on his heels, young Alexander Faludy
On the Rakpart (Pest side) somewhere between parliament and Erzsébet Hid,”
Good grief, that's about 1 kilometer, Mr Faludy – I'm not sure the competition committee will be able to accept that. Next thing you'll be saying “twixt Budapest and Belgrade”.
“ —more specifically”
Ah, I should think so too. That's better,
“at corner of Széchenyi Rkp and Széchenyi u. If I remember correctly. I pass it quite frequently on my evening walk.
Sent from my iPhone”
Hmmmm. This will now have to go to the committee for consideration.
Champion KT winner Tom Chilton now waded into the fray.
“Hi KJ,
Well I dunno where this is but, as you kindly suggested, Google Lens does, It's good old Count István Széchenyi and the statue appropriately enough is at Széchenyi rakpart 8.
I attach a close-up of a better photograph .."
Er, I think you mean 'different' photograph here, Tom, if you don't mind.
"... that shows what he is holding. It's the plan of something."
Tom Chilton found this close-up of Mr Széchenyi holding his mysterious plan. (Photographer unknown).
Unfortunately the sculptor is no better at sculpting plans than he is at people so it's hard to make out what it is a plan of."
That's a bit scathing, Mr Chilton, it is Christmas after all, or nearly!
"Incidentally, anyone who has ever handled a 5,000 Ft banknote will know that Széchenyi was a fairly chubby chap.
This is not the worst Széchenyi statue however. I think this award must go to this wooden sculpture in a village in Serbia that Google found for me. (pic attached).
Another submission from Mr Chilton. It says on the description 'Kishegyes', which is clearly the Hungarian name for this location in Voivodina. Perhaps someone will know the current Serbian equivalent? Again, photographer not named.
Yr hmbl srvnt,
TLC”
Well, this use of modern internet thingy is not in the spirit of the game, but … anyway, you have provided some enlightenment in the form of these pics, Tom.
Next we had a heavyweight, in the form of Bob Dent esq.
“Hello Mr. K.
Below is my two pence worth.
Is my submission fair? After all, I did write a book about statues in Budapest, albeit that that was about 15 years ago.”
Well, I can't see why not, Bob, especially if we allow Tom Chilton into the Black Woolly Hat.
“Anyway, here goes.
Bob
The last time I saw this odd-looking statue it was rather high up, on the corner of Széchenyi rakpart and Zoltán utca, in Budapest near the Danube.
It is supposed to be a statue of the great Hungarian politician and reformer, Count István Széchenyi (1791–1860). He is depicted wearing ordinary clothes, with a stove-pipe hat on his head and he does look rather thin, as you say, Kester. In his hands he holds an open scroll.
The sculpture appeared here in 1988. I have read that the building behind the statue once belonged to the planning office of Hungarian Railways, which commissioned the statue, and presumably the location was chosen as an allusion to Széchenyi’s involvement with railway development.
It is perhaps odd that he is not looking at the plan in his hands, but apparently staring out across the Danube. Maybe it was a plan relating to the regulation of the Danube – another of Széchenyi’s pet projects.
Bob Dent”
I remember they were restoring (the facades at least) of a lot of these buildings along the Danube in around 1987-9, Bob, so the arrival of this statue fits in with that period.
I would also guess that the plans are meant to represent the Chain Bridge, but I couldn't say that when originally posing this Tester as I thought it would be a giveaway.
Whatever, we must announce the great draw results!
Four numbered slips went into the hat (the Committee, in the spirit of Christmas, allowed the dodgy entries of Messrs Faludy and Chilton, even though I warned of the dangers of falling standards) … and the winner was
… number 4 –
Robert Dent esq !!!
Congratulations Mr Dent, but you'd better be prepared to fight off the selfie seekers crowding round your front gate for at least week as your fame now expands exponentially!
Finally, let me post the full photograph of Mr Széchenyi’s statue, taken IIRC in 1993. (Yes, I cropped the original image as I felt the full pic was far too much of a giveaway for the super sleuthers in here.) I wonder if the happy young couple here are still together in middle age?
Anyone recognise them?
Have a great week!
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