Faurest, Kristin: Ten spaces - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)

Mátyás tér

square, in fact most of the quarter, has what might be described as very "good bones", so much so that one looks around in wonder as to why this isn't a more sought-after neighbourhood. After all, there are none of those classic neighbourhood blights capable of condemning an area to being forever unfashionable — such as a polluting factory, a multi-lane highway overpass, a deteriorating housing estate. There are stunning 19th and early 20th century buildings, some of which have astonishing inner courtyard gardens. There are sidewalks with old trees - though of course not nearly enough of them, and the parking is fairly anarchic — and there are streets of human scale, some of which are slated to be partly or totally pedestrianized.

Serving as a fine anchor for the square is the Glove Factory Community House - named, needless to say, for its industrial past - which has recently been beautifully and stylishly renovated in a sort of homage to Piet Mondrian and serves as a centre for creative activities for the neighbourhood, particularly the children.

The Factory's programs seek to build community, strengthen neighbourhood identity and make the Magdolna quarter an integrated part of Budapest's cultural life. It’s an honour the square has long deserved, for it has, since living memory, always had its unique role in the city's artistic world. As the newspaper account put it:

"Small is the country, and small is this Mátyás Square, which teems with all these talented musicians. They go, travel, see the world, everywhere their fate is better than here, their life is better than it is here at home... Yet something pulls and ties us to this city, just like the Roma to Mátyás tér."

Teleki László tér

According to custom of the time, certain spaces — until they got a proper name — were just generically called "Tér". There again, that ambiguous word. This was the case with Teleki tér in its earliest years. And in spite of various municipal plans over the years to reshape or build up the space — including current ones that are supposed to be implemented in the near future — it still remains a loosely-defined, dishevelled, seamy wedge of this part of the inner city known as Józsefváros.

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