Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 28, 1993                   TAG: 9306280122
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY                                LENGTH: Medium

THOSE QUIRKY COMMUNISTS - BUT DISNEYLAND IT'S NOT

The quirky tribute to fallen totalitarian states includes larger-than-life statues of Marx, Lenin and Ho Chi Minh and an entrance path that runs straight into a 50-foot-high brick wall.

"Long Live the Militant Unity of Socialist Statues," blares a red-letter banner over the entrance to Eastern Europe's first post-Communist theme park, dedicated to the preservation of memories many would rather forget.

When communism collapsed in late 1989, crowds across Eastern Europe vented their hatred of the system on scores of statues of state-sanctioned heroes.

Budapest decided to preserve some of the artworks, and on Sunday, officials opened half-acre "Statue Park," where 42 examples of Socialist Realism stand proudly in a leafy, middle-class suburb.

The park is scheduled to be finished in August, but Mayor Gabor Demszky opened it for the day as part of the festivities marking the second anniversary of the departure of Soviet troops from Hungary.

The entrance is flanked by Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin and a composite statue of philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A path between the statues runs for 150 yards before it slams into a wall.

"This path leads nowhere, just as we were led nowhere," said Janos Imre, 38, a chemist. "I brought my kids to see these monstrosities, but they just laughed."

An eclectic range of Communist notables is represented. Local ex-heroes include Bela Kun, who led Hungary's brief 1919 Communist revolution, and lesser-known politicians Tibor Szamuely and Ferenc Muennich.

Conspicuously absent is Josef Stalin. His statues were destroyed in Hungary's abortive 1956 anti-Communist uprising and never were replaced.

"I did not intend for the park to offend anyone," said Akos Eloed, 31, the architect in charge of the $670,000 project.

Eloed arranged the statues thematically in concentric circles. The outer circle includes monuments to Red Army "liberators" of Eastern Europe in World War II. The second exhibits Communist political and social heroes.

The inner circle is devoted to Hungary's first Communist republic of 1919 and the workers' militia.

"It was a civilized idea to bring together these works, to let everyone judge them according to their own subjective history, to view them in fear or with nostalgia," said director Peter Basco, whose film "A Tanu" ("The Witness") is a biting satire on 1950s-era communism.

When the park opens officially, it will include a capitalist ticket-taker at the gate. The fee: $1.10.