World Art Utopia

Szomorú tank

A tiny bronze tank on a stone ledge by the Danube, with the blurred Hungarian Parliament building across the river behind it.
Artwork FileBudapest · Hungary

Szomorú tank

SeenSeptember 2023

Mihály Kolodko · 2017 · Budapest

Photo: kolodkoart. Resized from the Street Art Utopia archive; full composition retained.

Mihály Kolodko's small bronze tank faces the Hungarian Parliament from Budapest's Bem embankment. Its gun droops towards the ground: in an interview, Kolodko suggests that the tank might be ashamed of what it has done. Source Checked

Köztérkép has a photo uploaded on 10 August 2026 without a capture date. September 2023 remains the latest securely dated photograph in these sources. Source: Köztérkép. commons.wikimedia.org

Köztérkép upload record

💡 4 things to know

  1. A weapon with a lowered barrelThe Goethe-Institut interview connects the tank to the 1956 uprising and explains the artist's idea of shame. Source Checked
  2. Across from ParliamentKolodko describes the miniature as facing the Hungarian Parliament across the river. Source Checked
  3. An inscription that disappearedThe artist says the inscription about Russians was rubbed away. His account distinguishes the surviving sculpture from its lost lettering. Source Checked
  4. Returned with stronger fixingKöztérkép reproduces a 28 January 2019 artist update saying the tank had returned and its mounting had been reinforced. Source Checked

📍 Where it is

Bem rakpart 27, near the Kossuth Bridge memorial stone, Budapest, Hungary Source Checked

Open in Maps

Map location; no clearly framed Street View image was verified.

🗓️ Sightings

  1. 2017Apr

    Installation recorded by Köztérkép

  2. 201928 Jan

    Artist reports return and reinforced mounting

  3. 201919 Feb

    Juhász Gábor photographs the tank for the national photo archive

  4. 2023Sep

    Globetrotter19 photographs the miniature on Bem Quay

  5. 202610 Aug

    Photo uploaded to Köztérkép; capture date unspecified

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark reports, records or uncertain photo dates. Publication and upload dates are not camera dates.

✅ The facts

Artist
Mihály Kolodko Source Checked
Installation
April 2017, according to Köztérkép Source Reported
Material
Bronze Source Checked
Address
Bem rakpart 27, Budapest Source Checked
Documented return
28 January 2019, in an artist update reproduced by Köztérkép Source Reported
Photo evidence
September 2023 Source Checked

🔗 Related

All sources & image credits

Photo: kolodkoart. Resized from the Street Art Utopia archive; full composition retained.

Last checked: 25 October 2026 · How we verify art