In an increasingly globalized world, cultural exchange has probably never been as important as it is today.“Travel is fatal to prejudice and narrow-mindedness,” said the famous writer Mark Twain. Fortunately, several exciting places can be reached quickly from Vienna – whether it’s just a trip to neighboring cities worth seeing or to other countries with foreign cultures. Andwe don’t even have to leave Austria. There is a triangular picnic table at the border triangle of Austria, Slovakia and Hungary where you can sit in all three countries at the same time. This place symbolizes the connection between the three nations.
Szoborpark: the sculpture park that connects Austria, Slovakia and Hungary
The special border triangle is located in the “Szoborpark”, which means “sculpture park” in Hungarian. The iron border between the three nations once ran here. Until the early 1990s, the arbitrarily drawn line not only stood for the geographical separation between Eastern and Western Europe, but also for two ideologies. On the one side was the communism of the Soviet Union, on the other the Western democracies.
Today, the three-country point could not be further removed from its original self. Artists from all over the world have created a picturesque sculpture park that reflects the friendship between the three countries. Twelve sculptures stand for peace in Europe. All of them contain a triangular element that reflects the three countries. The highlight: the picnic table where you can have lunch in three different countries.
A picnic table as a symbol of community
Where barbed wire and watchtowers once dominated the scene, there is now a simple, triangular picnic table. This place is intended to bring people from Austria, Slovakia and Hungary together. Here, foreigners can talk to their neighbors from other countries without leaving their home country. A symbol of division has become a place of community and encounter.
However, the exact point where the three countries actually meet is actually a little further on in the park. It is marked by a small obelisk whose three sides face the respective country and which bears the first letter of each country’s name.
To get to this special place, you can either take the car from Vienna and be there in just over an hour. Or you can take the train to Bratislava. From there, a twenty-minute cab ride will take you to Szoborpark, or you can take a public bus that will drop you off about two kilometers from Dreiländerpunkt. It’s time to forget the lines on the map and start exchanging ideas at this unique meeting place!