Building Rating 70% of readers like the Freedom Monument (Budapest).
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T his is evidence that Freedom is in the eye of the beholder, and a reminder to view things within their historical context, not just take them at face value. The monument is at the top of the 430-foot-tall Gellérthegy (Gellért Hill) on the city's western edge. It is 132-foot-tall woman holding a palm leaf symbolizing victory. In this case, the victory of the Soviet Army in Budapest. She faces the city from across the Danube River, and at the base of the monument the names of the Soviet soldiers who died liberating Budapest are carved. People in the city don't see it as a "liberating" experience anymore. They refer to it as an occupation by a foreign army.