Liberty Square (Szabadság tér) is a large, leafy square in Budapest's Lipótváros district, between the Parliament and St Stephen's Basilica. It stands on the site of the Habsburg barracks where Hungary's first prime minister was executed in 1849, and today it holds a Soviet war memorial, a statue of Ronald Reagan and the US Embassy within a few steps of each other.
Liberty Square at a glance
- Where: Szabadság tér in District V (Lipótváros), a few minutes' walk from the Hungarian Parliament.
- Created: laid out at the end of the 1890s, after the old barracks were demolished in 1897; its two grandest buildings were completed in 1905.
- By: the architect Ignác Alpár designed both the Hungarian National Bank and the former Stock Exchange Palace that face each other across the square.
- What it is today: a public square and park with lawns, a playground and cafés, framed by the National Bank, the US Embassy and a row of monuments.
- Time needed: 30–45 minutes to walk round the monuments and read the inscriptions.
From Habsburg barracks to a square of memorials
In 1786 the Austrian authorities built a huge barracks here, known as the Neugebäude (New Building). After the defeated revolution of 1848–1849 it was used as a prison and a place of execution, and its most famous victim was Count Lajos Batthyány, Hungary's first prime minister, shot on 6 October 1849. The barracks were pulled down in 1897 and a new square was laid out on the site, named after the freedom fought for in 1848.
The monuments tell the rest of the story. In 1921 the square was given statues mourning the territories Hungary lost under the Treaty of Trianon; they were removed in August 1945. That year the Soviet army put up an obelisk for its soldiers who died taking Budapest, on the spot of an earlier Trianon memorial. After 1989 the statue of the American general Harry Hill Bandholtz returned, a bronze of Ronald Reagan followed in 2011, and in 2014 the government added a memorial to the victims of the German occupation of 1944, which drew strong criticism and a protest memorial in front of it that is still there.
What to look for
- The Soviet war memorial: a stone obelisk topped with a five-pointed star, with a hammer and sickle and a relief of battle scenes. Its inscription reads 'Glory to the liberating Soviet heroes' in Hungarian and Russian. It is one of the few Soviet monuments still standing in Budapest; moving it has long been treated as a diplomatic question.
- Ronald Reagan: a bronze of the former US president by the sculptor István Máté, unveiled in 2011, the centenary of his birth, to honour his role in ending the Cold War.
- The Hungarian National Bank: on the east side, with limestone reliefs by Károly Sennyei on the theme of money, trade and commerce. Opposite, the former Stock Exchange Palace has two temple-like towers; after the Communists closed the exchange in 1948 it became the headquarters of Hungarian Television.
- The Bandholtz statue: near the bank, a memorial to the US general who in 1919 stopped Romanian troops from looting the Hungarian National Museum.
- The occupation memorial and its answer: the Archangel Gabriel, representing Hungary, is attacked by a German imperial eagle. In front of it, citizens have laid out photos, letters, stones and personal objects recalling the Hungarian victims of the Holocaust, as a protest against what they see as a whitewashing of history.
The cardinal in the embassy
The US Embassy on the square, in a building inaugurated in 1901 as the Hungarian Commercial Hall, has been home to American diplomats since 1934. In November 1956, as Soviet tanks crushed the Hungarian Revolution, Cardinal József Mindszenty, the head of the Catholic Church in Hungary, was granted asylum there. He stayed for almost 15 years, unable to leave without being arrested, and only left Hungary in 1971.
Tips for your visit
- Walk the whole square: the Soviet obelisk and the occupation memorial, a short walk apart, show how differently each era wanted to remember the past.
- The US Embassy is fenced and guarded. Keep to the public side of the barriers and follow any instructions from security staff.
- Mornings are quiet; on warm afternoons the lawns, the playground and the café pavilions fill with office workers and families.
Nearby
- Batthyány's eternal flame: a lantern-shaped memorial at the corner of Báthory utca and Hold utca, on the spot where Batthyány was executed. Designed by Móric Pogány, it was unveiled on 6 October 1926.
- Postal Savings Bank: Ödön Lechner's Art Nouveau building on Hold utca, just behind the square, with colourful ceramic roof decoration and bees, a symbol of saving, climbing the walls.
- Hungarian Parliament: the neo-Gothic parliament on the Danube, a few minutes' walk to the west.
- St Stephen's Basilica: Budapest's largest church, with a dome you can climb for a view over Pest, a short walk to the south-east.
See Budapest with World City Trail
Our Budapest scavenger hunt turns the city centre into a game you play on your phone. The route links 11 stops and takes around 3 hours, with about 64 minutes of walking. Liberty Square is one of the stops, along with the Hungarian Parliament and St Stephen's Basilica.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Budapest.
Play the Budapest scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Budapest →
Play the outdoor escape game in Budapest →
Facts checked in October 2026.