N. Kósa Judit - Szablyár Péter: Underground Pest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)
Roaming the mysterious tunnels of the Parliament building
Roaming the mysterious tunnels of the Parliament building The truth is hard to imagine. The enormous building of Parliament, which dominates the cityscape of Budapest with its spires and giant dome, was actually designed to float on the sheet of water moving below it. A hundred years ago it was raised over an area whose well had provided the capital with its drinking water. These wells in what was Tömő Square had first to be stopped, then thick foundations were to be made to prevent the movement of the building. Imre Steindl, winner of the international tender competition invited in 1882, placed the neo-Gothic palace on an enormous sheet of concrete. During construction, which lasted from 1884 to 1904, a two-metre thick concrete foundation, increased to more than 4.5 metres beneath the dome, was put below the building that occupies a ground plan of 17,745 square metres. Beneath the assembly halls and offices lies an exciting subterranean world. Steindl, who designed one of the most modern buildings of his time, made provisions for a system of heating and ventilation as well as up-to-date lights and lifts, facilitating movement between the floors to this day. The four boilers producing steam for heating were located at a distance of 150 metres from the north wing in Balassi Bálint utca. At first these were fuelled with coal, then with oil and eventually with gas. The maintenance block has tra■ The well at Kossuth tér where air is "sucked in"
