Louis Kossuth Monument, (sculpture).

Louis Kossuth Monument, (sculpture).

Toth, Andreas, sculptor.

Carabelli, Joseph, 1850-1911, carver.

Spargo, W. T., contractor.

Unknown (Hungary), founder.

Louis Kossuth Monument, (sculpture).

1901. Cast 1902. Dedicated Sept. 28, 1902.

Sculpture: bronze; Base: Dark Quincy granite.

Sculpture: approx. 7 x 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 ft.; Base: approx. 10 x 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 ft.

(Sculpture, bronze base, right side:) MINTAZTA, TOTH . A . SZUBRASZ/DEBRECEN 1901 (Sculpture, bronze base, left side:) ONTOTTE MIRMANNI/BUDAPEST 1902 (Sculpture, bronze plaque on back of bronze base:) A CLEVELAND I EGYESULT/MAGYAR EGYELETEK MEG-/BIZASABOL REITAVRALTA/KUTH (...inscription illegible) CSABA SZOBRASZ/1985 (Base, front:) KOSSUTH/1802-1894 (Base, left side:) HIS LIFE WAS DEVOTED TO/THE CAUSE OF LIBERTY (Base, back:) ERECTED BY THE/MAGYAR AMERICAN CITIZENS/SEPT. 28, 1902 (Base, right side:) IN COMMEMORATION OF HIS/VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES /1851-1852 (Base, bottom:) J. CARABELLI/CLEVELAND O.

Portrait of Louis Kossuth striding forward and gesturing with his raised proper right arm. His proper left hand is on a sheathed sword. At the foot of the sculpture is a small bronze base which rests atop a carved neoclassical granite base.

Portrait male -- Kossuth, Louis -- Full length

Object -- Weapon -- Sword

Ethnic -- Hungarian

Occupation -- Other -- Reformer

Outdoor Sculpture -- Ohio -- Cleveland

Administered by City of Cleveland, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Property, 500 Lakeside Drive, Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Located University Circle, East Boulevard & Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio

The monument was erected by the Magyar American Citizens of Cleveland in commemoration of the United States tour made by Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth, from December 4, 1851 to February 1852. Kossuth arrived Cleveland on January 31, 1852 and stayed two days as part of a campaign to raise money for Hungarian relief work. Kossuth was a Hungarian national hero who had led the unsuccessful Hungarian rebellion of 1848-1849 and became the prominent leader of the movement for liberal government reform.

The Kossuth Statue Committee commissioned Andreas Toth to reproduce the Kossuth memorial he had designed for Nagyszalonta, Hungary. He agreed and donated the sculpture. The sculpture was cast in Hungary and installed in University Circle on a foundation made with samples of soil taken from all but two of the counties in Hungary. J. Carabelli carved the granite base. In 1985 a small bronze plaque was added to the back of the sculpture's bronze base.

IAS files contain an excerpt from The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, edited by David D. Van Tassel and John Grabowski, Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press, 1987, which details events in the Kossuth visit and in the monument's dedication ceremony. For related information see the Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), July 24, 1928, pg. 1-6.

Lybarger, Helen Baldwin, "A Survey of Public Monuments in Cleveland," Cleveland, OH: Early Settlers Assoc. of Cleveland & the Western Reserve, 1979. (booklet)

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Ohio, Cleveland survey, 1992.

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, OH0034, 1989.

Monumental News, Nov. 1902; Jan. 1903.

Hungarian Americans and Their Communities of Cleveland, pg. 181.

Monumental News, Jan. 1903, pg. 50.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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