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
with a central building, which was a church used by all denominations to oversee funeral services. He also wanted to relocate the remains of famous Hungarians buried abroad within the new necropolis, such as Queen Beatrix, buried in Naples, or the remains of Princes Imre Thököly380 and Ferenc Rákóczi II,381 leaders of 17-18th century anti-Habsburg wars of independence.382 The last decade of the 19th century was immersed in preparations for the Millennium, which resulted in concepts for the Hill interlinking with these celebrations. As a site for the Millennium Exhibition, Antal Palóczi recommended Lágymányos, the southern part of Buda.383 The idea of linking Gellért Hill with this area and using it as a place for the exhibition appeared in various designs. In 1892, Gyula Kolbenheyer and Sándor Straub published their ideas. They imagined the Hill and the banks of the River Danube in front of it as a main site for the exhibition.384 As a precedent, they referred to Parisian exhibitions, where the River Seine played an important role, and to the Columbian World Exhibition of Chicago, which was built on the shore of the lake in South Park, and designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The importance of the Hill was also justified by the example of the 1879 Berlin exhibition, where the idea of the creation of an artificial mound also appeared.385 Kolbenheyer and Straubs complex plan also suggested the creation of a national monument on the high ground, which would have allowed space for art salons during the exhibition. To build it, they recommended using the stone from the demolition of the Citadel. Below the new building, they imagined the creation of a major waterfall system, emphasising its importance in improving Budapest’s climate. Below the triple waterfall, they designed a tunnel, with room for exhibitions about mining and viticulture in Hungary. The landscaping of the whole hill was also part of their plan; besides public pathways, they argued for the creation of exhibition pavilions, coffee houses and restaurants. It was this idea that gave the first published proposal for a funicular railway leading to the top of the hill. The recreation of the hill, and the potential for using it during the exhibition raised the interest of both architects, town planning professionals and laymen, inspiring them to publish sometimes quite peculiar ideas. Among these diverse ideas, one appeared which advocated using the hill as a unique feature which would be at the same level as the gardens of the Palace of Versailles or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The author of the article said: “let there be everything on that hill that artistic imagination, with the support of technique, together with the natural benefits and paired with good taste without overexertion, can produce. Some colossal creation by humans on the top of the hill - as we all want - terraces, paths, waterfalls, water jets, roller-coasters, grottoes, a funicular railway."3*6 Although theMillennium Exhibition finally ended up being built in Városliget Park, and the millennial monument was built in Heroes’ Square, the idea of creating a national monument on the Hill lived on. István Medgyaszay, an important architect of the period, worked on the idea of the National Pantheon on Gellért Füll from 1903 until his death, and in his design, published in 1908, he referred to his forerunners and precedents as well.387 He stressed that previous plans failed to take advantage of the connection between the building and the natural environment which surrounded it. To create an “imposing unity” in his monumental ensemble, he utilised the whole hill; his design unfolded along the whole length of the slope next to the Danube. He divided the hill with paths, steps and terraces, and the artistic and conceptual shape of these was strongly associated to the notion of the main building. Medgyaszay’s plan overshadowed earlier plans in both its concept, which viewed the whole hill as a unit, and in its style, which aspired to a monumental and a Hungarian national style at the same time, instead of the previous neo-classical schemes. In the description ofhis plan, published in a 1907 Paris exhibition catalogue, he described his work as one of the first attempts to create a Hungarian national style.388 After the First World War, the large scale plans and the pantheon ideas were forgotten. Béla Rerrich recommended the building of a mausoleum on the hill.389 Although these imposing plans were not realised, the executed plans for the park next to the Danube (analysed later in this chapter) with the Gellért statue began to implement the concept of a national monument, although on a less ambitious scale. The statue, placed on the axis of Erzsébet Bridge, became an emblematic feature of the capital, commemorating Hungary’s past. Gyula Bérezik, Design for a National Pantheon, elevation, 1882 / Vasárnapi Újság, 1891. p. 439. / ADT 121
