History

The statue of the Hungarian prime minister stood on the former Tisza Kálmán Square. It was the artwork of Szentgyörgyi István (1928). With the advent of Romanian rule, it was no longer possible to erect the statue in Nagyvárad, Tisza Kálmán's hometown, so it was inaugurated in Berettyóújfalu, where it stood until 1942. It was then transferred to Nagyvárad, which returned to Hungary thanks to the Second Vienna Award. After the Soviet-Romanian occupation in 1945, the statue was removed from its pedestal, which remained empty until 1970.

In 1945, the Groza government offered the Hungarian People's Republic to return the statue of Tisza Kálmán to Berettyóújfalu. In the 14 April 1948 issue of the Nagyvárad daily Fáklya, it was reported that the Hungarian government had no claim to the statue, and their ambassador in Bucharest even resigned from its material, proposing the Romanians to melt it down so that they could cast the bronze statues of Petőfi and Bălcescu.