Tanulmányok Budapest Múltjából 31. (2003)

A MÚLT RÉTEGEI - A SZENT GYÖRGY TÉR TÖRTÉNETE - Magyar Károly: A budavári Szent György tér és környékének kiépülése : történeti vázlat 1526-tól napjainkig 43-126

MAGYAR KÁROLY was of course replaced by a new one, but it was broken again-and-again, the reason of which has been clearly pointed out by the archaeological researches. A number of canon-balls well over hundred have been found behind even one single, short section of this wall. For the flanking protection of this wall a huge, round-shaped bastion, the Khasim pasha kuleszi was erected on the northern end of it, next to the Fehérvári gate - named in the Turkish age as Ova kapusu (Field gate). (The new fortification of course protected the gate as well!) This bastion - that was preceded by a smaller one of the same type (and perhaps also by a medieval gun-tower!) - was completed by 1667-68. In spite of this the wall was very heavily damaged during the siege of 1684, so that beside the necessary renovation of it a second line of defence had to be erected well behind the first one. This new, inner wall was built over the ruins of medieval and Turkish age houses that were destroyed during the aforementioned siege as well. On the other hand - as it seems now - by the end of the Turkish period, i.e. 1684-86 there was an abandoned space - a kind of a wide and empty stripe - taking shape to the north from the northern curtain wall. A space that is clearly visible on the engravings and maps of that age. The formation of this can mainly be explained by the devastation of the sieges but we can not entirely exclude a sort of conscious 'town-planning', i.e. creation of a security zone before the fortifications of the palace. Whether it was thus or so, we can consider this empty stripe as the one later to be emerged to the Szent György tér - St. George Square - of our days. The Formation of the Baroque Square -1686-1780-ies After the reconquest of Buda in 1686 the former Hungarian capital became of a great military importance: the whole city worked practically as a large fortress, even if the different aspects of civil and ecclesiastical life returned step-by-step among its walls. This is true for the area under discussion. Also military functions moved among the ruins of the former royal palace: barracks of guards, powder magazine, and - shortly after the siege - an enormous new Arsenal {Zeughaus) building was erected. The later one occupied the eastern half of the former northern forecourt, and on the north it was bordered by a section of the northern curtain wall. Although this early Zeughaus burned up during the great fire of Buda in 1723, the newer one that replaced it was standing here until the end of the 19

th c, and became a decisive element of the southern view of the St. George Square meanwhile taking here shape. Beside this seven(!) military barracks were set up within a very short period in the closer area. Two of them were built on the south-east, upon the ruins of the eastern and western wings of the former Franciscan cloister; one on the opposite, western side, upon the inner Turkish-age fortification-wall; two to the north of it, just beside the Fehérvári gate (at that time: Stuhlweißenburger Thor); and two on the northern part of the block between the two streets. (One of the two later mentioned buildings - the Hauptwacht - faced already to north, to the so called Parade Platz, i.e. Parade Square, which at that time used to be the main square of Buda. The Hauptwacht controlled the two nearby gates and the connection between them, as well as the 120