Two New Tiny Bronze Friends Have Landed in Budapest

If you thought Budapest had already shown you every quirky secret it has to offer, think again. The Hungarian capital’s favorite guerrilla sculptor, Mihály Kolodko, has just added two brand-new miniature bronze figures to his ever-growing collection, and this time they’ve popped up along the fence of the Bethesda Children’s Hospital on Hermina Road in the city’s XIV District, not far from City Park. Meet the wide-eyed, ever-panicked rabbit and the unmistakably competent Dr. Bubó, a bespectacled owl doctor who has been a beloved figure in Hungarian pop culture for half a century.

For visitors wandering Budapest with a good eye and a sense of curiosity, these two additions are the perfect excuse for a little detour, and honestly, they’re the kind of discovery that makes exploring this city on foot so rewarding.

Who Exactly Is Dr. Bubó?

Before you go hunting for the statue, it helps to know the backstory, because Dr. Bubó isn’t just a random cartoon owl. He’s the star of “Kérem a következőt!” (roughly translated as “Next, Please!”), a Hungarian animated series that first aired in 1975 and has charmed generations of Hungarian kids ever since. In the show, Dr. Bubó is a short-eared owl who earned his medical degree with top marks and set up a clinic inside a hollow oak tree, where he treats the forest’s sick and troubled residents with a mix of medical seriousness and gentle humor.

He doesn’t work alone, either. His loyal assistant is Nurse Ursula, a warm-hearted brown bear whose name comes from the Latin word for bear, and who happens to be quietly smitten with the confirmed bachelor doctor. Rounding out the cast is Csőrmester, a no-nonsense falcon police sergeant and Bubó’s old schoolmate, who handles the forest’s law enforcement with the same seriousness Bubó brings to medicine. Even if you’ve never seen a single episode, the tiny bronze figures capture that same charming, old-school cartoon energy that makes you smile on sight.

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The Rabbit Who’s Afraid of Everything

Standing right next to Dr. Bubó is his most memorable patient: a permanently nervous rabbit who is terrified of, well, pretty much everything and everyone, all the time. This character comes straight from the show’s second episode which first aired on January 4, 1975, and follows a rabbit suffering from an acute persecution complex that Dr. Bubó has to gently untangle. It’s a genuinely funny bit of animation history, and the sculpture nails that same comic anxiety in miniature bronze form, guaranteed to get a laugh out of adults and kids alike as they walk past on Hermina Road.

The Man Behind Budapest’s Secret Statues

The artist responsible for this delightful pair, and for dozens of similar surprises across the city, is Mihály Kolodko, a Ukrainian-Hungarian sculptor originally from Transcarpathia who trained at the Lviv Academy of Arts before moving to Budapest around 2016. He’s earned something of a cult following for placing his small bronze statues in public spaces without ever asking for official permission, which is exactly why locals affectionately call them “guerrilla sculptures.” His subjects range wildly, from beloved Hungarian cartoon characters like the Checkered-Eared Rabbit perched near Buda Castle, to historical figures, to cheeky commentary on current events, and each piece is typically no taller than 10 to 15 centimeters, tucked into spots where stumbling upon them feels like winning a small prize.

Since his very first Budapest piece appeared around 2015 or 2016, near Bem Quay on the Buda side, Kolodko’s growing family of statues has become something of an unofficial scavenger hunt for both locals and visitors, with new pieces appearing every so often in unexpected corners of the city.

Turning Your Walk Into a Treasure Hunt

What makes these tiny statues so special for anyone visiting Budapest is that they reward the kind of slow, attentive wandering that guidebooks rarely mention. The Bethesda Children’s Hospital location sits conveniently close to City Park, so it’s easy to combine a stop here with a visit to Heroes’ Square, the Museum of Fine Arts, or the Széchenyi Thermal Bath, turning a simple sightseeing day into something a bit more playful. Bring the kids, bring your camera, and keep your eyes peeled at knee height rather than eye level, because that’s usually where Kolodko’s magic hides.

Whether or not you’ve ever heard of Dr. Bubó before landing in Hungary, there’s something universally charming about a tiny bronze owl doctor and his perpetually frightened rabbit patient standing quietly by a hospital fence, waiting patiently for the next curious passerby to stop, smile, and snap a photo.