Anton Sailer

In Timișoara, Romania, Anton Sailer stands before the children’s hospital as a bronze bust on marble. Miklos Ligeti, a Hungarian sculptor, created it in 1906. The memorial recalls a merchant and philanthropist born in Arad in 1820, who spent most of his life here.

Sailer directed his fortune towards hospitals, homes for elderly people, and institutions serving blind, sick, and poor people. His contributions helped Leopold Loffler build the children’s hospital, funded jointly by the city and the White Cross Union. In 1902, Timișoara made him an honorary citizen for his charitable work. In 1904, he gave 200,000 crowns towards a hospital for blind people, but died before construction ended.

A mother holding a boy and a girl carrying flowers form the allegorical group beneath the column. The children look upwards, linking the bronze portrait with gratitude for families and children in need. Attempts to move or steal the bust have occurred, yet the monument remains beside the hospital after more than a century.