City Park
The City Park ( Hungarian Városliget ) is located in the XIV. District of the Hungarian capital Budapest . The park, which was laid out from 1817 by the Lübeck landscaper Christian Heinrich Nebbien (1778–1841), is a popular local recreation area . It extends over an area of 1.2 km² and was once a swampy hilly landscape. Heroes' Square at the end of Andrássy út forms the southwest entrance to the park . In the northern part of the city park , the Kós Károly sétány promenade, which is open to traffic, runs through it.
Over the years, many recreational and cultural facilities have settled on the site.
Vajdahunyad Castle
Vajdahunyad Castle (Vajdahunyad vára) is on the right as seen from Heroes' Square. Like many monuments and buildings, the castle was built in 1896 on the occasion of the celebrations of the Millennium of the Hungarian Empire under Árpád . The castle-like building complex built in the medieval style with a castle gate, pointed towers, gables and battlements was used for the Budapest Millennium Exhibition in 1896 , which was organized on the occasion . It was built under the direction of the Hungarian master builder Ignác Alpár . Ignác Alpár tried to unite the architectural styles typical of Hungary in his work.
As a starting point for his planning he took the festival of Johann Hunyadi , which is located in what is now the Romanian town of Hunedoara . At the entrance of the castle is the Gothic castle gate, on his left, a copy of Upper Hungary tower, and on the right the copy of the tower from the Transylvanian Sighisoara . In the chapel behind the Romanesque wing on the east side of the courtyard, Ignác Alpár took over the portal of the former monastery church in Ják one-to-one. To the east, the castle closes with a castle-like part of the building in classical and baroque style . Otherwise, elements from northern Hungary and Transylvania mainly determine the image of the castle, especially the Hunedoara castle .
The part of the building to the right of the castle gate is completely reserved for the Agricultural Museum. Rural tools, agricultural machinery and various documentation of Hungarian agriculture and forestry are exhibited here.
Monument to Anonymous
In front of the Agricultural Museum, but still on Castle Island, is the statue of Anonymus designed by Miklós Ligeti in 1903 . It was in honor of one in the 12./13. Century-living anonymous historian Anonymus built here. It is believed that he wrote the first Hungarian chronicle ( Latin Gesta Hungarorum ) on behalf of King Béla IV .
rink
On November 12th, 1869, the “Pest Association for Skaters” was founded in the Café Korona in Budapest. At the same time, the first ice rink in the capital was opened on the lake of the city park. At first there was only a small pavilion in which the ice skaters could warm up. The popularity was soon so great that the association regularly organized events and festivals. This included the city's first ice skating competition on February 2, 1870. Later, when Buda and Pest united in Budapest, the “Pest Club for Ice Skaters” was renamed the “Budapest Club for Ice Skaters”. The first president of the new association was Count Manó Andrássy.
The popularity of this new attraction continued to grow, so the idea of replacing the much too small wooden pavilion with a new one was considered. The still unknown Hungarian architect Ödön Lechner won the tender . For his first work, he designed a functional building made of wood, each with a dressing wing for women and one for men, as well as a hall that everyone can use to warm up. This new building was expanded in 1895.
To promote the sport, the artificial ice rink (Műjégpálya) was opened on November 26, 1926 , which enabled the athletes to train in the city park for 105 days during the winter. After being destroyed in World War II , the ice rink had to be closed for one season in 1944 and was only partially reopened in 1945 after a long reconstruction.
Szechenyi bath
The Széchenyi Bath (Széchenyi-gyógyfürdő) was opened in 1881 and is now one of the most popular baths in Budapest. It is located in the northern part of the Stadtwäldchen and consists of three outdoor pools and an indoor pool built in the neo-baroque style with a thermal and therapy area, some of which has been completely renovated in recent years. The outdoor pool is open until 10 p.m., the thermal area until 7 p.m. It is interesting that the tickets are valid for both and cost the same, but the duration of the bath depends on where the tickets were purchased. Tickets that are bought in the thermal area are only valid for a surcharge until 10 p.m. in the outdoor pool, because the changing area of the thermal pool is not open that long.
Zoological-Botanical Garden
The zoological-botanical garden (Fővárosi Állat- és Növénykert) is located on the north-western side of the city park . As early as 1840, the first considerations arose in Budapest about establishing a zoological garden . But it was not until 1859 that concrete considerations were made as to how this could be achieved. It was ultimately the result of a private initiative by four scientists: József Szabó (lecturer), József Gerenday (director of the botanical garden ), Ágoston Kubinyi (director of the national museum ) and János Xántus (collector and zoologist). In order to get the necessary financial means, the “Aktienfirma Zoologischer Garten” was founded and discussions were held with the city of Pest about possible locations for a zoological garden. The municipality of Pest proposed two plots of land, both of which were located in the city park. On the advice of the Viennese professor Gustav Jäger , the decision was made in favor of the property in the west of the Stadtwäldchen. On September 5, 1865, a 30-year lease contract was signed with the then still independent city of Pest for an annual rent of one piece of gold.
The renowned Antal Szkalnitzky was won over as the architect . The “Budapest Zoological Garden” was opened for the first time on August 9, 1866 and is therefore one of the oldest zoological gardens in Europe today. This numbered around 500 animals, bought and donated. Among other things, some animals from the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna were left. A special gift came from Queen Elisabeth , who gave the zoo a female giraffe in 1869 who, surprisingly, brought offspring to the zoo in the same year.
In the first few years the zoological garden tried to specialize in certain animal species, including monkeys, parrots, birds of prey and game. Since this project did not bring the required number of visitors, the zoo director Károly Serák thought about new ways to make the zoo more attractive. However, these ideas earned him a lot of criticism. Offers such as zoo lottery, acrobats, tightrope walkers and fire-breathers were not seen as appropriate for a zoological garden. In retrospect, it can be assumed that precisely these measures ensured the zoo's survival.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Budapest Zoo resembled other European zoos in many respects. So many animals were kept in cages that are far too narrow for today's conditions, and the focus was more on acquiring new animal species than improving the conditions for the existing animal species. In the decades that followed, the zoo faced many difficulties. It has been closed and reopened and faced bankruptcy several times. 1909 to 1912 the garden was expanded to include enclosures and animal houses. From this time only a few parts of the building have survived, including a mosque-like elephant house and the bird house built by Károly Kós , which is reminiscent of the reformed church in Magyarvalkó. Károly Kós was mainly inspired by the popular architecture of Transylvania in his buildings . With the building architecture, too, he always tried to find a reference to the corresponding animals.
In total, the zoo has received 100 million visitors since it opened. Today there are around one million visitors a year. This makes it the most visited cultural institution in Hungary. In total, over 4,000 animals from 500 species and around 2,000 plant species live here today. The last major renovation took place in 2004, after which the listed aquarium was reopened to visitors. The palm house with its birds, bats and alligators is still something special today. With its plane trees and ginkgos , some of which are several hundred years old , there is a large tropical house here.
Major city circus
The main city circus (Fővárosi Nagycirkusz) on the eastern edge of the zoological-botanical garden and opposite the Széchenyi bath is one of the most popular facilities of its kind in Europe with 320,000 visitors a year. The circus building, which at the time consisted of corrugated iron and iron framework, was opened on May 7, 1891 by the German-Dutch circus director Ede Wulff . Since the building was still located within the zoological garden at that time, the circus could only be visited with a zoo entry ticket. Although the size of the building has not decreased since it was founded, the circus held 2,290 visitors at that time, of which 1,850 are still available today.
In the following years, the establishment was very successful and played more and more often in front of a sold-out house - until 1896 the Ősbudavára amusement park in the immediate vicinity, also on the grounds of the zoological garden, opened its doors. Director Ede Wulff had left the circus in 1895 and handed over the lease to the zoological garden. In the next few years the circus had a hard time competing with the amusement park with its famous artists and attractions. After much back and forth a new tenant was found: The clown and art rider Mátyás Beketow rented the circus in 1804 and began to renovate it from his private fortune.
A few months later, on April 30, 1804, the circus reopened. In 1908 the building was finally relocated to its present location east of the zoological garden. In the 1920s, as a new member of the circus family , Sándor Könyöt became the new partner director in the Beketow circus. The successful era of Mátyás Beketow as director ended in 1935, when the city administration again put the circus out to tender.
The contract was awarded György Fényes who is already the "Little circus" had led in the City Park before. In July 1936 the new program was premiered under Fényes. Many famous and internationally recognized artists performed their skills in the circus under Fényes in the years that followed, including the music clown Gábor Eötvös , whom Charlie Chaplin held in high regard. In 1944, György Fényes had to stop playing because the city administration was forced to withdraw its license to play in the large circus due to increasing bombing.
In 1950 the State Art School was founded, which laid the foundations for a reopening of the large circus. The state circus company was founded in 1954 and is still in charge of the circus today. It later became part of the “Hungarian Circus and Variety Theater”. (MACIVA) "renamed. In 1955 the large circus finally reopened its gates regularly, and visitors were able to see the performances of the now qualified artists.
On March 15, 1966, the circus closed for a longer period of time, as the dilapidated circus building was demolished and replaced by a new one. The new building is said to have little resemblance to a circus from the outside, because essential style elements are missing. Inside, however, it shows the typical charm of a classic circus ring. A special feature is that the seats of the audience occupy almost 360 ° of the roundabout. As in circus tents, only the area above the artist's entrance is reserved for the in-house circus band. The circus was run by Miklós Göndör , Rezső Árvai and Lajos Fekete until 1966 . After several years of construction, the house opened at the beginning of 1971 under Eötvös Gáborné . Gáborné, from the famous Picard dynasty, was the only female circus director until then. She was later replaced by Tamás Radnóti , who in turn was replaced in 1988 by István Kristóf . He still holds the office of director today.
The most successful years of the circus were at the end of the 19th century, as the numerically growing upper class in particular liked to pay a visit to it and the city park. Necessary renovations are currently being planned, including a dome, to accommodate equipment as in other circuses.
Since the Budapest circus does not have to look for winter quarters, it can present its program 12 months a year. In recent years, additional events such as classical concerts, fashion shows, banquets, sporting events, dance, theater and operetta performances have been added to the program plan.
amusement park
The amusement park (Vidámpark) in the north corner of the park attracted over a million visitors a year with various attractions such as: B. the ferris wheel, the bewitched castle (Elvarázsolt kastély) , the carousel built in 1906 (Körhinta) and the one kilometer long roller coaster (Hullámvasút) built in 1922 with wooden construction and other facilities. The Vidámpark , founded in 1950, covers an area of 6.5 hectares . It emerged from the Wurstels and the English Park . The visitors are offered more than 40 rides. Five of them, including the above-mentioned roller coaster, carousel and bewitched castle, are listed buildings. The bewitched castle, with a mirror labyrinth and trembling armchairs, burned down in the early 1980s and was rebuilt in 1987 according to plans by Ferenc Török and Antal Puhl.
The park had to struggle with financial problems again and again in the 1990s and has even been closed once. The concept was then changed so that the park no longer charged an entrance fee, but that the attractions that you wanted to use had to be paid for separately. Ultimately, this concept could no longer save the park and so the park was finally closed in 2013. The site was annexed to the adjoining Budapest Zoo in 2014. This resulted in the so-called Holnemvoltpark (park “Once Upon a Time”), a mixture of zoo, petting zoo and amusement facility with passenger shops from the former Vidámpark.
Gundel restaurant
Located in the Art Nouveau Built Gundel Restaurant is one of the oldest and most prestigious restaurants in the city and still enjoys a special reputation internationally. It is located at Állatkerti út 2, in the north-eastern part of the City Park, right next to the Museum of Fine Arts and the Botanical-Zoological Garden. Its outstanding position is proven by a report in the New York Times from 1939: "The Gundel restaurant does better advertising for Budapest than a shipload of tourist brochures could."
Transport Museum
The Hungarian Transport Museum (Közlekedési Múzeum) is housed in a functional building in Városligeti körút 11, on the eastern edge of the city park. It emerged from a show on the occasion of the millennium celebrations in 1896 and shows the developments in transport from antiquity to modern times on 8,000 m² . You can also find models of old Danube and Balaton ships as well as locomotives and aircraft. The basis of the collection are the exhibits on display for the millennium celebrations. The Transport Museum, founded three years later, builds on this. The museum was badly damaged in the Second World War , so that it could not be reopened until 1966. In 1987 the building was expanded. The permanent exhibitions in the museum cover the entire area of traffic and transportation over the past 100 years. Exhibitions such as “100 Years of Hungarian State Shipping”, “100 Years of Hungarian Motoring”, “History of Road Traffic”, “History of Urban Transport” and “History of the Steam Locomotive” can be found here. The museum is closed until 2019 and has been completely demolished. A new building is being built on the site.
Petőfi multipurpose hall
The Petőfi Csarnok , also PeCsa , which was completed in 1985 , has three areas of use:
- Cultural events, both pop and classical concerts and theater performances.
- Trade fairs and exhibitions
- Various youth clubs are housed there. Youth care , for example the Kapocs self-help center for young people
The main hall has 1,100 seats and 2,500 standing places, the open-air arena has 2,500 seats and 6,000 standing places. Around 600 events are held every year. Rooms of various sizes can be rented there.
Blueprints
A few years ago, the government decided that as part of a mega-project in the City Park , five new museum buildings should be built: the Hungarian National Gallery , the Ethnographic Museum , the House of Hungarian Music, the Museum of Hungarian Photography and the Hungarian Museum of Architecture. The parliament has already anchored this in law, although numerous Budapest citizens, civil organizations, environmental activists and architects have been protesting against this development since the plans became known. For example, in September 2015, a large demonstration took place on Andrássy út in the direction of Parliament. The demonstrators handed over 20,000 signatures against the mega-investment to President László Kövér . Opponents argue that due to an urban development competition, the buildings in the new museum quarter are to be built mainly in the peripheral areas and partly on areas that have already been sealed. Nevertheless, the development of the Stadtwäldchen would double from the current six to 12-13 percent. In the city forest, which is already overcrowded on weekends, the public and road traffic, i.e. the noise and environmental pollution, would increase further. In contrast, the government expects the proportion of green space to increase from 60 to 65 percent. Certain buildings would be built instead of existing ones, for example the new National Gallery would be built on the site of the Petőfi Hall. The expansion and new construction of museums, the redesign of Heldenplatz and the city park are expected to cost around 200 billion forints , half as much as originally planned. The construction of the new Architecture Museum and the Museum of Hungarian Photography have since been taken off the agenda. On the other hand, a park theater and an underground car park have been added . The Japanese architecture firm SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) won the tender for the planning of the new National Gallery at the end of last year. The gallery is scheduled to open in summer 2019.
Monuments
On the grounds of the city park there are statues with the portraits of the following personalities:
Web links
- www.iit.bme.hu (information about the city park and the facilities in it)
- www.vidampark.hu (homepage of the amusement park)
- www.zoobudapest.com (Homepage of the Zoological and Botanical Gardens)
- www.rcdb.com (details about rides in the amusement park)
- www.mujegpalya.hu (Homepage of the artificial ice rink)
- www.maciva.hu (Homepage of the Capital Circus )
- www.km.iif.hu (Homepage of the Transport Museum)
- www.gundel.hu (Gundel's homepage)
Individual evidence
- ↑ With the Vidampark a piece of old Budapest dies. Retrieved March 11, 2017 .
- ↑ No more fun in Budapest. Retrieved March 11, 2017 .
- ↑ Vidampark in Budapest is now finally closed. Retrieved March 11, 2017 .
- ↑ The Budapest Zoo - Facilities. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 12, 2017 ; accessed on March 11, 2017 .
- ↑ http://www.budapester.hu/2016/03/06/budapester-gegen-bebauung-des-stadtwaldchens
Coordinates: 47 ° 30 ′ 50 ″ N , 19 ° 5 ′ 5 ″ E