It's strange how a small piece of fabric like me can have such significance. I am the cockade worn by the Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi during the 1848 revolution. I currently live in the Hungarian National Museum. Who was Sándor Petőfi? Well, he was a fantastic Hungarian poet, intelligent and definitely fiery. In addition, he played a decisive role in the outbreak and execution of the revolution of March 15, 1848, but my importance does not stem from this alone. Before I tell all, I have to say that I loved being Sándor Petőfi's cockade. Who wouldn't be proud to be worn by such a special revolutionary-poet? He fell in one of the last battles of the 1849 War of Independence, the Battle of Segesvár on July 31, 1849, and the War of Independence was crushed not long after. His death affected not just me, but the entire Hungarian nation. The revolution and and War of Independence was a brief period of Hungarian history, but it opened the door to the country's subsequent development, making it possible for the previously feudal society to begin to establish and expand the middle class. Hungarians have been celebrating March 15 every year since then, and wear a cockade to commemorate the revolution. Although not me, obviously. I forgot to tell you exactly what a cockade is. A kind of rosette made ribbons in the national colours of the kind worn during the Great French Revolution. In the case of the Hungarians, the colours are red, white and green. The red one is on the outer edge of the ‘rose’, while the green one is inside it, and the bottom is decorated with two small ribbon-tails.