American Park

Today I visited Americké Námestie, a block from my classroom building. I was looking for some hint as to why it is called American Square or its history or what it means to anybody – a plaque, a statue, a placard – but could not find anything.

The park, bordered by Špitálská, Zahradnická, and 29 Augusta, has large, well-manicured green spaces, benches, trees, and shrubs.

The building in the distance is the backside of an office building for the Faculty of Medicine for Comenius University.

Colorful playground equipment is at the eastern side of the park. Plenty of red, white, and blue here.

I did find two statues in the park, but they do not seem to have anything to do with the U.S. that I could find out.

This statue of Sándor Petőfi, a 19th-century Hungarian poet and revolutionary, was originally located in front of the National Theatre in 1911. Repeated vandalism led it to be moved to different locations until a safe one could be found. The vandalism is seen as a symptom of the resentment of Hungarians which lingers to this day. Asylum in America?

This statue of Martin Kukucín honors a popular Slovak novelist who relocated to South America, where he died in 1928. A reminder that "America" has a North, South, and Central?

NOTE: Click on any image in this blog to see it full-size.