Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875), Danish prosaist, poet, and playwright, is primarily known throughout the world for his fairy tales. At the beginning of June 1841, he visited Pressburg, mentioning it in his works.
On 2 June 2006, the 165th anniversary of this event, a sculpture of Andersen was ceremoniously unveiled in his honour in Hviezdoslav Square. The sculptor Tibor Bartfay created the stylised-realistic bronze work as a gift without claim to remuneration. The statue’s installation was the result of an initiative by the Hans Christian Andersen Civic Association and the Bibiana International House of Art for Children.
It should be noted that experts have criticised the design and location of the sculpture from the outset. As a gift, the statue was not the subject of a competition or any other professional evaluation, and the work is considered to be of questionable artistic value. Its location on a busy pedestrian route has also proved unsuitable, particularly as the statue was designed to be viewed primarily from the front.
The larger-than-life figure stands in a contrapposto, his left hand holding a top hat beside his leg, and his lowered right hand extended in front of him. Around and about Andersen, Bartfay depicted as sculptures and reliefs the main characters from the writer's most famous fairy tales – the duckling, snail, monkey, soldier on a boat, naked king, and three swans.
The sculpture stands atop a low square pedestal of pale polished granite. In its immediate vicinity, polished stone slabs of various colours symbolising flower petals are embedded into the pavement of the square. Above the pavement northeast of the sculpture was a bronze plaque inscribed with a dedication and an excerpt from Andersen's work: “_Perhaps you will someday recall the stranger who visited your city”. _This plaque is now missing, as is the sculpture of a duckling that stood on a granite pedestal next to Andersen, stolen by an unknown individual just three months after the monument was unveiled.
Another of Bartfay’s sculptures of Andersen – one of his earlier designs for the monument on Hviezdoslav Square, but rendered in a different style – stands in the grounds of the Ján Albrecht Elementary Art School on Topoľčianska Street in Bratislava.
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Research status as of 20. 05. 2023.