Produced by Asha Trivedy, Unyime Mfon, Tsewang Chozom, Yu Fujioka
Interviewees: Tamás Wachsler, András Török
Kossuth Lajos Tér. Often referred to as the center of Hungarian political life, this square has been the site of coups, political contestations, violence, falling statues, reorganisations, protests and tourism. The history of the square has ran in tandem with the history of the Hungarian parliament, which located in front of the square. The flag displayed on the parliament changed several times, with the Red flags and EU flags. And today, you can see both the flag of Hungary and Szekely.
Our podcast asks the questions:
What do the flags displayed on the Parliament building mean?
What do the public think about the Square?
To what extent is the meaning of the square important in Hungary?
To answer these questions, we interviewed to Mr. Tamás Wachsler, former member of the Hungarian parliament and designer of renovating the square, as well as Andras Török, Historian and one of the founders of Fortepan. Along with archival and social media research, as well as making use of archival music and sound bites, we investigate these questions of one of the most contested sites of public history in Budapest.