Szablyár Péter: Step by step - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)

Margert Island with its extra stairs

he is curious can now find out about. Lo and behold: the fountain works! Not only does it provide spring water from three founts in the frost-free months, but it even plays music. Its original used to be a curio of the Transylvanian city of Marosvásárhely. According to the plaque on its side the well was built in 1820—22 by the Erdő- szentgyörgy-born handyman Péter Bodor, to be dismantled and removed from the site in 1911 (an Orthodox cathedral is now towering in its place!). The cylindrical substructure served as a reservoir holding water to be used for fire-fighting purposes. The dome supported by six columns is where Bodor installed the clock mechanism and the hydraulically operated music machine. The statue of Neptune topping the dome makes a full turn around its axis in 24 hours thus showing the passing of time.

But who was Péter Bodor? The talented boy, who employed himself with woodwork as a child already, continued his studies at the Vienna University of Technology after graduating from the Protestant lyceum of Marosvásárhely. On his return home, he built a bridge across the river Maros, but the organ of the Kibéd church also bears witness to the high quality of his craftsmanship.

The structure damaged in World War II was first restored in 1954, then in 1984, 1996 and again in 2007. The fountain plays music every half-hour, and at quarter to, it tells its own story in Hungarian, German and English.

■ Spiral itairway in the Water Tower

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