Statue of Liberty
History
On 6 October 1849, 13 Hungarian military officers (12 generals and 1 colonel) were executed in Arad. The executions were ordered by Haynau after the the Habsburg Empire managed to suppress the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence with Russian military intervention.
The monumental memorial to the martyrs of Arad, the work by Zala György, was re-erected in 2004 in what was originally Attila Square (now Reconciliation Park).
The sculptor Huszár Adolf was commissioned to make the monument in 1877, but he died soon after. His plans were modified by Zala György. Zala began work on the anniversary of the martyrs' deaths on 6 October 1885. The first figure to be completed was the Awakening Freedom in the spring of 1886, followed by the figures of the Readiness to Fight and the Sacrifice in the summer of 1887. The Dying Warrior and the Hungaria, the main figure of the group, were left at the end.
The statue was inaugurated on 6 October 1890 in Liberty Square (today Avram Iancu Square). The ceremony was attended by family members of the martyrs (Mrs Damjanich János, daughter of General Schweidel, son of General Leiningen) and Klapka György, one of the officers of the Hungarian War of Independence.
After the Romanian occupation, the idea of dismantling the statue was immediately raised. In 1923, the monument was boarded up to prevent vandalism. In 1925, the monument was removed by decree 1512/925 of the Romanian government led by Ion I. C. Brătianu, and afterwards it was stored in various places, most recently in the moat of the Arad Castle.
On 6 October 1999, the Statue of Liberty was moved to the courtyard of the Minorite monastery by the government led by Radu Vasile, following an agreement between Hungary and Romania. It was here that the restoration process began. The statue was unveiled in its new location on 25 April 2004. In the new location, in Fireman's Square, which has been named "Reconciliation Park", the monument stands opposite a 9 m high triumphal arch, dedicated to Avram Iancu and his rebels.
Avram Iancu committed genocide among the Hungarians during the Hungarian War of Independence, taking advantage of the Hungarian forces being busy with the liberation of Transylvania from Habsburg oppression.
On 13 April 2011, a diadem, a dagger and a sword were stolen from the statue.
On 14 February 2015, six of the bronze reliefs depicting the thirteen martyrs were painted in Romanian national colours - red, yellow and blue - and inscriptions were written on the pedestal using black spray paint to insult the Hungarians.