Monuments of Nations - Cyril and Methodius

The Monuments of Nations stand on the area bordered by the Kis-Balaton House and the Millennium Monument, from the direction of the highway. These monuments bear witness to the importance of this place in European history in the century preceding the Magyar conquest.

After the defeat of the Roman Empire, western Christianity was driven out from the Carpathian basin only to return back to the Pannonian region after the fall of the Bavarian Empire. The priests of the archiodese of Salzburg of the East Frankish Empire arrived here with Priwina to erect churches and to convert the local population. In addition to the Slavs immigrating with the Bavarians, the new empire also invited to settle down numerous Slavic subjects in the region of the River Zala. As a result, the Slavic liturgy brought in by Cyril and Methodius spread more easily than the Latin liturgy. The two apostles, whom the Slavic nations consider to be the creators of their church and own writing carried out a remarkable activity in this region, which is well documented.

These saints are probably the most highly respected in Bulgaria since it is their country of origin, so it comes as no surprise that this country erected the first monument here in 1985.

The bronze statues of the saints on the two sides of the column were cast by the sculptor Frigyes Janzer. The next work of art to be installed here was the Salzburg Monument which is a memorial of the converting activity carried out by the archbishopric.  However, other Slavic nations intended to erect their own monuments, as well. Of them, the Slovenians living in Hungary erected their monument in 2005. The Slovaks laid the foundation stone of the designed work of art in 2007, but the monument itself has not come to fruition so far.