Hans Christian Andersen Monument

Tibor Bartfay / 2006

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.

PB

Research status as of 20. 05. 2023. 


Authorship


Years

  • 2006 – implementation

Type

Material

bronze, granite

Technique

casting, patinating, cutting, polishing

Dimensions

figure without base – h. approx. 254 cm, longest w. approx. 89 cm; pedestal – floor plan 90 × 110 cm

Inscription

On the lower rear of the sculpture, the artist's surname is engraved in a combination of printed and scripted characters: „Bartfay“.

Condition

  • damaged
In 2006, an unknown person stole the sculpture of a duckling from the monument; it remains missing to this day.

Registration

  • Located in the Monument Zone – Central Urban Area, Bratislava.

Owner

  • Bratislava the Capital City of Slovakia

Administrator

  • Marianum Burial Services of the City of Bratislava

Address

Hviezdoslav Square

Location details

in the southwestern area of the square in front of the left corner of the façade of the building at 13 Hviezdoslav Square

Plot number

21377/10

GPS

48.1408700, 17.1056200

Other works in the area

Drinking Fountain on Hviezdoslav Square

Alexander Bilkovič 1988

Monument to Jewish Victims of the Holocaust

Milan Lukáč 1995 – 1997

Ján Hollý Monument

Ervín Staník 1978

Bird Fountain

unidentified 2002