Csepely-Knorr Luca: Barren Places to Public Spaces. A History of Publick Park Design in Budapest 1867-1914 (Budapest, 2016)
The Beginnings - The Urban Development of Pest-Buda and their Public Green Spaces Prior to the unification
A city centre without trees: Palatine Joseph, János Hild and the Embellishment Committee “Generally speaking it was very peculiar that Palatine Joseph, the creator of the fascinating greeneries like the City Park, Margaret Island and Alcsuth, the great gardener was an opponent of every single tree or bush in the city. As he used to say ‘Die Bäume gehören nicht in die Stadt'."46 Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary introduced his plans to the King on the ‘Embellishment of the city of Pest’ in November 1801. Francis I, King of Hungary,47 asked for a plan that described the main tasks of city planning on 16th November 1804. The city of Pest commissioned Johannes (János) Hild to create a so-called ‘regulation plan’ for the city.48 The basis of this plan was a 1791 plan by Schilson, which had already decided on the main roads, such as today’s Bajcsy Zsilinszky Street, and main squares such as Erzsébet Square.49 The 1805 city plan by Hild became the basis for all city planning activities until the 1870s. His plans covered the inner city of Pest at the time.50 He divided his plans into three distinct parts: the ‘Old Town’ (the old city centre surrounded by the city walls), the ‘New Town’ (today’s Lipótváros)51 and the ‘Outskirts’ (southern and eastern parts of the city).52 The regulation plan was the basis for the work of the ‘Embellishment Committee’ which was founded in 1808, and at that time, the Palatine, acting as Royal Commissioner, regarded Hild’s ‘Embellishment Plan’ as something to be implemented. In reality, most of the work done by the Committee was to create subdivisions of land, the division of building plots and the creation of a road system for the new areas. The main roads were determined by Hild’s plan. The Committee was also responsible for the supervision of the aesthetic quality of the new investments and the establishment of a unified cityscape.53 In his plans, Hild did not seek to ease the density of the built up areas. He only recommended the most essential amendments. The most important green space of the city centre, the Botanical Gardens,54 was relocated into the suburban areas, with the only remaining green space of a significant size being that of the Károlyi family’s private garden. In his plans for the city centre Hild only suggested three small squares: Joseph Square - named after Archduke Joseph (which today contains his statue), Vörösmarty Square, and a small square next to the so-called House of the Invalids.55 However, he recommended the creation of a built up area on the Servite Square. The biggest square closest to the historic city centre (but outside the city walls in the Lipótváros area) was Erzsébet Square (New Market Square on the plan). Hild designed the distribution of market stalls for market days, however he did not consider the possibility of planting trees there, parallel to the other squares in the city. He only wanted to create a tree-lined avenue on the northern parts of the embankments of the Danube, the ‘Dunakorzó’. The planting of the new promenade was very generous: in his plans Hild aimed to create six parallel lines of trees. He also regulated today’s Széchenyi Square, but in a much smaller shape. He recommended the planting of trees and the creation of green spaces on the outskirts of the city, such as in Üllői Street or the outer parts of Váci Street (today Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street). He allocated spaces for new squares, such as Kálvin, Kálvária and Teleki Squares. The major deficiency of the plan was that Hild did not use the space of the demolished city walls to create a continuous green ring around the city, such as the green systems of Krakow, Frankfurt am Main or Vienna. Nevertheless, there are two major public parks in Budapest, which justify Archduke Joseph’s reputation as an ‘outstanding Gardener’. These are Margitsziget (Margaret Island) and Városliget Park. Margitsziget was rented by the family of the Palatine from 1790 and became their property by a Royal Grant in 1810.56 The creation of an English landscape style garden on the island had been started between 1790 and 1795 by the brother and predecessor of Palatine Joseph, Archduke Alexander Leopold of Austria. From 1808 until his death, Joseph continued the creation of the park with the help of his Head Gardener, Károly Tost. The centre of the island was the Archduke’s summerhouse, with one floor and a balcony. During the creation of the park, a farm, cattle stables and vineyard was built as well. In 1838 the previously planted flora, was destroyed by an icy flood. Following this the island was replanted, and, as a result of the work, the remains of the former Dominican cloister and church were found. These uncovered features were included into the follies of the garden. The island was open to the public, however it was only possible to visit it with tickets. After the death of Archduke Joseph and the Revolution of 1848, the island was neglected. Its second golden age came almost two decades later in 1867, when the son of the Palatine, Archduke Joseph Charles, took over ownership of the island. Ideas for the creation of Városliget Park - one of the first major 19th century city parks in Europe - had already been mooted at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.57 The first afforestation was started according to the Forest Act byjoseph II in 1785. János Boráros, judge of the city of Pest, recommended the creation of a public park in the area in 1794, which he named the ‘New City Forest’. The first restaurant was built there because of his recommendation. Later, the city of Pest called for submissions to a design competition to create a public park in 1813. The winner was Heinrich Nebbien, who submitted his competition entry in 1816 with a thorough description, in which he outlined in detail the various buildings and garden areas. According to his essay, he wanted to create a real public park, which would be distinct from the previous ones, such as Hyde Park in London or the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, as those are “not the direct creation and property of the citizens”,58 In his design he did away with the straight roads and avenues, created high plantations around the site, and designed various buildings to create diverse functions in the park. Nebbien’s intention was to make Városliget Park suitable for active and passive recreation, serving as a meeting point, but also being suitable for the education of visitors by placing monuments depicting the heroes of the nation and their achievements. He designed a major classicist entrance gate, which was based on the stylistic solutions of the Brandenburg Gate. He designed an amphitheatre, a farm building in an eclectic style with real agricultural functions, and created a lake around the existing islands instead of the swamp. In his description he emphasised the importance of the garden being built with the contributions of the people of Hungary and not the King. Nebbien’s ideas for the park, both in terms of the financial solutions for its creation (public subscription) and of the ownership (the people of Hungary), and because of its design and functions, were very progressive. In many ways he relied on Hrrschfeld’s theory, to which he made explicit reference in his own writings. The outstanding idea of both works was the creation of public parks as national Pantheons; this was crucial to both the writings of ITirschfeld and Nebbien. The diverse functions and the complex design strategy Nebbien created only appeared again at the end of the 19th century. One of Nebbien’s most forward-thinking ideas was that of using public subscription for financing the park. The total construction cost was 700,000 forints,59 and he wanted to collect this through Previous page: János Hild, Regulation plan of the City of Pest, detail, 1808 / HU MNL-OL S 70 No. 129/2 19
