The tragic outcome of the war was not conducive to any memorials, which, apart from representing power, served merely as plots for military parades. Both military and municipal leadership admitted that more serious problems had to be solved, namely the care for war widows and orphans.

World War 1 was still going on when it was ordered that each municipality should set up a monument for the fallen ones. Originally, the monument would have been dedicated to the 31th Royal Hungarian Infantry Regiment and the 7th Royal Hungarian Artillery Regiment. It would have stood in the spacious Búzapiac (‘Grainmarket’) Square, as it seemed to be an ideal scene for spectacular military parades.

The gate and its environment have been created with the unconcealed intention of projecting historical dimensions on each other. Our exhibition presents the Gate itself along with the memories that the Gate evolves. The gate is an integral part of the recent past, since we know that it has been set up as a war memorial in the first half of the 20th century.