Csepely-Knorr Luca: Barren Places to Public Spaces. A History of Publick Park Design in Budapest 1867-1914 (Budapest, 2016)

Public Park design in Budapest during the second half of the 19th Century

The very complex and generous creation by Pecz outlined a real People’s park with various opportunities for leisure.334 The plan was developed for an area of 118 hectares, and it consisted of five separate gardens that were linked together with a 76 metres wide formal, oval-shaped circular track. The central, main garden was inside the track, and the other four gardens were laid out on the outer side of it. Tire central garden was designed with a large fountain, a vast basin and a lake. In the middle of the lake, an island with a kiosk was placed. As a counterpoint to the fountain, a hill was planned with a restaurant and a concert hall. Views of the city of Pest were intended to be enjoyed from here. Bandstands, smaller kiosks, tents and a fishing lake enriched the central garden, as well. Besides this central, ‘main park’, the other four gardens were intended to be ‘pleasure parks’. In these latter parts there were show gardens, a space for dancing, children’s parks, a children’s and a ‘monkey theatre’. This unrealised concept was outstanding, not only in Hungary. This can be proved by the fact that at the 1871 International Exhibition in London the plan was awarded a prize.335 Although the plans were accepted, with minor modifications, the Board of Public Works wanted to create a manufacturing district instead, and the construction was not started.

The creation of Népliget Park was shelved for decades, and it was only in 1888-1889 when the General Assembly of the Municipality took the decision to create a public park with the amalgamation of the

nursery of the Municipal Parks Department and the meadows next to it.336 After the agreement of the Home Secretary in 1890, the planting of the area started using plans by Vilmos Klenszky and Ferenc Kulcsár.337 The planting, which used trees from the nursery, first started next to the track around the borders of the site. The first major building in the park, the water tower, was built in 1892-1893, and provided the residents of the surrounding housing estate for civil servants, called Tisztviselőtelep, with clear water.338 The brick tower was built according to the plans of Mihály Kájlinger, and it consisted of a well, an engine room and a small water tower. The creation of the English landscape style garden was one of the first designs of the newly appointed Head Gardener, Keresztély Ilsemann, after the retirement of his predecessor, Emil Fuchs. Ilsemann took over the direction of the work in 1893, and the park was finished in 1896.339 According to contemporary sources, the opening was not marked with a ceremony. However, visitors could already enjoy a prominently important and outstanding quality park, even then. The daily newspaper, Fővárosi Lapok, described the park thus: “Quietly, without any sensation, the new Népliget Park was opened two weeks ago. Until now, only the residents of Ferencváros, and Tisztviselőtelep have visited it, but now on the signs of one or two carriages of the horse tramway a new terminus Népliget at Üllői út appeared, and the whole of Budapest now knows that is has been completed. »The New Városliget« Thousands are talking about it, but mostly tauntingly, they have not even bothered to visit it.

Bois de Vincennes, 1860 / A. Alphand, Les Promenades de Paris. Párizs, 1867-1873 / BME-OMIKK

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