Józsefváros, Keleti Railway Station - Budapest, Hungary

Location:

GPS coordinates: Latitude 47°30'1", Longitude 19°5'2" (N47 30.02 - E19 5.03) Map

Statue of George Stephenson (1781-1848) English engineer on the main wall of the Keleti Railway Station

The statue is standing in the left side large sculpture niche, created by Ferenc Vasadi Ferenc in 1884.

The track gauge (the distance between the two rails) that was used by George Stephenson English engineer for his steam locomotives was 1435 mm. Finally this value became the standard track gauge for more than 60 percents of the railways in the world.

Four allegorical figures in the statue on the top of the Keleti Railway Station, above the main entrance

The four statues on the facade of the Keleti Railway Station over the main entrance were created by Gyula Bezerédi in 1884. But in the 1930s these were disappeared, seemingly mysteriously. For a while even the Russian (Soviet) army troops were suspicious that after the World War II they took the statues with themselves, but after analyzing some old photos it was revealed that the statues were disappeared from their place sometimes between 1935-1936. They were probably simply damaged and that's why removed from here. The statues were recreated in 2003 by Frigyes Janzer and Ferenc Gyurcsek.

These allegorical statues under the central clock refers to the close relationship between the railway and the other actors in the economy. Concretely: the miner represents the heavy industry, the spinning woman the light industry, the picker woman the agriculture, as well as the merchant symbolizes the trade and commerce.

The allegorical statue on the top of the facade of the Keleti Railway Station

On the top of the front wall of the Keleti Railway Terminal at 43 meters high there is a sculpture group called "The allegory of the transportation". The composition represents the birth of the railway with a unique metaphor: between the gods of the fire and the water (in the ancient Roman mythology Vulcan and Nepune) a female figure symbolizes the birth of the steam.

The artwork needed to be completely recreated during the renovations of 1990, because the original tin plate statues were very ruined. Now the new statues were casted of aluminum alloy.

Considering the sculptor of the original statue from 1884 there is no clear consensus. Some sources say the maker was Gyula Bezerédi, others claim it was created by Ede Mayer and Béla Brestyánszky based on the idea and sketches of Leó Feszler (or Leo Fessler).