Monument to Jewish Victims of the Holocaust

Milan Lukáč / 1995 – 1997

The monument, also known as _The Abandoned House under the Star of David, _was symbolically erected on the site of the demolished Neolog synagogue (built in the first half of the 1890s according to a design by the architect Dionýz Milch and demolished in 1969) in the vicinity of the busy SNP Bridge overpass. It commemorates our Jewish fellow citizens who were victims of the Holocaust. The work, by the sculptor Milan Lukáč and architects Peter and Lucia Žalman, is an abstract–symbolic bronze sculpture of vertical composition set on a square black stone pedestal. It expressively depicts an abandoned house, accentuated – among other elements – by two vertical panels with reliefs of people and a large Star of David set obliquely at the summit. 

The monument commemorates violent deportation of Jews to concentration camps, abandonment of their homes, and demolition of the Jewish quarter in Bratislava. According to Milan Lukáč, designer of the sculpture, the two panels represent doors, but also hint at gravestones. The relief depictions of people represent shadows of people entering and leaving – "symbols of those who did not return and those for whom return became a reality". 

One side panel of the pedestal bears the inscription "Remember!" along with its Hebrew equivalent. The base is enclosed by a protective square steel chain suspended at four corners by steel posts. Multi-coloured tiles accentuate the surroundings of the monument, while also indicating the location of the former synagogue, a representation of which is depicted in white on the highly polished black marble wall that forms a symbolic backdrop to the monument and separates this reverent space from the busy SNP Bridge overpass. 

The monument was built on the initiative of the Jewish religious community, and even before its completion received prestigious awards in France and, subsequently, Slovakia. It was ceremoniously unveiled on 28 August 1997. Preliminary sketches, bronze models, relief details from 1995 and 1996, and a series of monotypes from 2021 were shown by Milan Lukáč in the exhibition A Land That Does Not Forget 1941–2021 at the SPP Gallery in Bratislava in the autumn of 2021. 

Every year, the monument serves as a meeting place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27), the Festival of Lights (Hanukkah), and for various themed exhibitions. 

PB

Research status as of 15. 06. 2023.


Authorship

Co-authorship


Years

  • 1995 – 1997 – implementation

Type

Material

bronze, stone, steel

Technique

cutting, drilling, welding, grinding, polishing

Dimensions

sculpture – h. approx. 420 cm; pedestal – 240 × 59 × 234.5 cm

Inscription

The base of the sculpture is engraved with Milan Lukáč's logo and an uppercase inscription indicating the artist's name and date of creation: „1995 M. LUKÁČ 1996“.

Condition

  • preserved, maintained

Registration

  • Designated as a Bratislava Heritage Site (no. BA-VIII.-C.15), located within the Bratislava Monument Reservation.

Owner

  • Slovak National Museum

Administrator

  • Slovak National Museum

Address

Rudnay Square

Location details

east of the SNP Bridge overpass, north of the southwestern end of Panská Street

Plot number

464

GPS

48.1413450, 17.1048390

Other works in the area

Hans Christian Andersen Monument

Tibor Bartfay 2006

Ján Hollý Monument

Ervín Staník 1978

St Elizabeth Monument

Norbert Sadei 2001

Fountain

Juraj Gavula 1989