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Lófara
Magyar Ede tér · hussar statue and Law Faculty · nickname means “the horse's arse”
Every morning, the law students walk straight out into a horse's backside.
Facing the Law Faculty stands the equestrian memorial of Szeged's 3rd Hussar Regiment. It has its back to the building, so the first thing you see when you step out of the faculty gate is the horse's rear end.
The name stuck so well that locals now call the faculty building itself Lófara. The Law Faculty even uses the name on its own website.
In 2009, during the city-centre renovation, the statue would have been pushed closer to the Reök Palace and its little garden made smaller. The locals protested. The horse still turns its back on the lawyers.
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- TrueThe equestrian statue is the work of István Lipót Gách, unveiled on 9 May 1943.
- TrueThe original aluminium statue could not be saved: it was recast in 1994 and unveiled again in 1995. Pieces of the original are kept by the Móra Ferenc Museum.
- TrueThe faculty building was built in 1881–82 from flood-relief donations and was first a girls' school. The lawyers have been there since 1951. In 1963–64 a floor was added and its tower was demolished.
- AllegedlyAnother explanation says the name comes from a former pub that operated in the Reök building.
People say
Many people believe that the position of the horse's legs on an equestrian statue shows how the rider died: if all four legs are on the pedestal, a peaceful death; if one or two legs are in the air, battle wounds or a hero's death. At the Lófara, all four of the horse's legs are on the ground, even though the memorial honors fallen hussars.
What we know: Szegedma went around the city's equestrian statues and concluded that the legend does not hold up in Szeged either.
Where it was said: Kilóg a lóláb - nem őriznek rejtett titkot a szegedi lovasszobrok (Szegedma)