Faurest, Kristin: Ten spaces - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)
Teleki László tér
along with a few pungently-fragranced bars. Pretty much every element of the square is worn down or broken. Few functions can be seen in the square — there is no playground, furnishings are barely usable, and the dog run is virtually indistinguishable from the rest of the park save a dilapidated fence. An inexpensive food market still functions there to this day - a typical one, with butchers and fruit vendors mingling with cheap imported clothing sellers, with plenty of cheap bars mixed in. But let’s go back to the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Teleki was the archetypical market. What followed was a slow process of the city, as it grew, continually trying to push its tacky used-goods market increasingly further away to its outskirts. The original, official Budapest used goods market from 1897 functioned here until 1950 before moving to Ecseri út, where it remained until 1964, then to Nagykőrösi út, where it is today. In that time it evolved in its primary wares from a used clothing and shoe market to a cheap western smuggled clothes and appliances market to an antiques and fine art market. The irony in all this is that in the public consciousness, the geographic changes of such a familiar institution were reluctantly absorbed. In common parlance, the market was still called "Teleki’' long after it moved to Ecseri. It was, and is still called, "Ecseri" after it moved to its third, and current location. At Teleki tér, the red brick exchange building bustled with business from morning to night. Much of it was done through auction, with so much money changing hands that those there were required to show authorization. There was, too, much low-end commerce going on: rags, used shoes and other cheap goods — but there was quite a significant market for this level of merchandise. The market spread to adjoining streets, and the merchants in the evenings took advantage of neighbouring nightclubs, cinemas and other institutions. The decision was made by the city assembly in 1882 to build up the square, and such plans were included in the regulation plan for the area though finances eventually prevented the project's realization. One resident wrote to the city government in support of making improvements in the area, noting that the infrastructure was not up to handling the area’s traffic: "At Teleki tér there's been a haymarket for quite some time now, and this would rightfully call for it to be a more developed transportation hub. But
