Statue of Hungarian poet Petőfi defaced in Bratislava

Unknown perpetrators damaged the statue of 19th century Hungarian poet and revolutionary Sándor Petőfi in Bratislava (Pozsony) probably late Tuesday evening, Népszabadság reports. The statue was placed at its present location in the Medical Garden in downtown Bratislava on March 15th, 2003 after long renovations.

The statue made of Carrara marble was originally erected in front of the building of the Slovak National Theater in 1911. It was damaged on several occasions. After WWI, the Czechs destroyed its face, and it was kept in a storeroom until the 50s when it was placed next to the statue of Slovak revolutionary poet Janko Král in a park. It suffered numerous vandal attacks and eventually, the members of the Petőfi Statue Committee decided to move it to a safer location. The latest attack "shocked me because the rugged fate of this statue has always mirrored the situation of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia," said Péter Miklósi, chairman of the committee.

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