The Millennium monument in the Heroes’ Square in Budapest was built in 1900 in remembrance of one thousand years since the Magyars came to Europe, lead by Arpad. The Hungarians were nomadic tribes that came from the Ural region or could be related to the Huns. The seven mythical leaders of those tribes are also represented with equestrian statues in the Millennium monument. Since when the monument was commissioned, Hungary was part of Austria-Hungary, Habsbourg kings and queens used to be represented also. But the monument suffered different alterations. The Austrian kings were replaced with Hungarian historic figures. During the brief communist revolution in 1919, the national figures were replaced by a statue of Marx and the columns were covered with red flag. During that pre-stalinist era, the communists were acting under the orders of Comintern (the international communist organization), but followed strictly the orders and interests of Moscow. The communist revolution of Bella Kuhn was defeated with the Romanian army taking Budapest and restoring the legal system.
The monument in the Heroes Square is a semicircle of columns, interrupted in the middle by a column on top of which is a statue of Archangel Gabriel, holding the crown of St Stephen, the first Hungarian king, and a double cross. Allegoric statues represent Work, Wealth, War and Peace. On the two sides of this large square there are important museums of Budapest: The Museum of Fine Arts and The Palace of Art (Kunsthalle). Both are built by Albert Schickedanz and Fulop Herzog in a neo-classical, eclectic style in the beginning of the XX century, again for the millennium of Hungarian European history celebration.