Key Memorial Sites in Paris

On the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, in Plot 44 of the Père Lachaise Cemetery, stands a monument to the 1956 Revolution and War of Independence — depicting a ship with a broken mast which was erected on June 16, 1988, the 30th anniversary of the execution of Imre Nagy and his associates. The initiative came from the Hungarian League for Human Rights, and the costs were covered through public donations.

The monument was designed by László Rajk and created by sculptor Ernő Nagy. The site for this symbolic grave was donated by Jacques Chirac and the Paris City Council. It serves as a symbolic burial place where a wreath-laying ceremony is held every year on November 4.

Since 1957, the French-Hungarian Memorial Committee for the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, together with other French organizations, has paid tribute to the heroes of the War of Independence every year at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe by lighting the eternal flame and laying wreaths.