Faurest, Kristin: Ten spaces - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)
Hunyadi tér
The Siege of Budapest in the Second World War caused the garden great damage. The first restoration works meant it could again be used for outdoor concerts. From the 1960s the garden wasn’t still the prettiest in the city - the plants were sparser and the proportion of asphalt far too great. But in the recent past it has again begun to show its old glory. The garden itself was again designed by Ildikó Szabó Kecskés in 1978, and the sandstone fountain was placed there in 1979. A journalist’s eloquent description from 1880 still seems true today, even though at the time he was writing the garden was not open to the public. The writer, noting that the garden at least helped absorb dust and smoke even if one couldn’t actually go inside, described it as a perfect balance of sun and shadow. He also noted that the owners of Magyar utca houses used its adjacent beauty to justify higher rents. "How bleak this place would be without the garden? The meandering Magyar utca would be unliveable, but the Count's garden so brightens it and fragrances it." Hunyadi tér Hunyadi tér is anchored by its magnificent market hall, the last one of the 1897 group to still stand in unrestored condition. Hunyadi tér is tucked away off majestic Andrássy út, and surprisingly obscure, given its central location and its marvellous atmosphere. Hunyadi tér is defined by Csengery, Vörösmarty and Szófia utca. It is visible on an 1861 military map as Hunyady Platz and already belonged to the built-up part of Terézváros in the mid 18th century. The square is tucked away just a few steps from the intersection of Andrássy út and the Great Boulevard. (An interesting aside: if an 1860s plan by city architect and engineer Ferenc Reitter had been accepted, this main artery would be not a road but instead a navigable canal originating from a swampy branch of the Danube and surrounding the inner city. Imagine taking the number 4 or 6 gondola instead of the Combino tram?) For some in the Terézváros neighbourhood, the square's name is synonymous with conflict and struggle. In the last few years, local activists have 25
