N. Kósa Judit - Szablyár Péter: Underground Pest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)

The renewed phantom of Miklós Ybl in the Opera

■ The hall where the stone relics oft the Roman era are exhibited (the Lapidarium)

The cellars that had been in place before were restored during the reconstruction work to admit engine and maintenance rooms, store rooms and workshops. Set against the backdrop of the massive walls a century and a half old, the modern heating centre is a peculiar sight indeed.

The ongoing project of arranging the lapidarium and restoring the Museum Gardens is among the last jobs of the reconstruction. Part of the latter is the construction of a sub-surface car-park beneath the statue of János Arany. The garage is designed to be connected, beneath the main stairs, with the spaces of the basement, which would simplify freight conveyance and thus relieve the Museum Garden. This has to be preceded by the archaeological clearance of the areas around the main stairs and the spot of the underground garage. Such excavations could easily yield exciting finds. The'high-ceilinged, unused spaces beneath the stairs are very likely to hide the remains of ancient buildings and, according to local oral traditions, it was from here that one of the tunnels started connecting the Inner City with the outlying areas of Pest beneath the city walls.

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