Csernus Lukács - Triff Zsigmond: The Cemeteries of Budapest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1999)

Mosaic-covered cupola in the Gries vault

The Farkasrét Cemetery

Although its opening in 1894 was met with vigorous protests (some objected to the use of the fine plots of land on Sváb Hill for such purposes, while others feared that medicinal springs here might dry up) the cemetery soon became popular. It was in 1921 that the graveyard had to be expanded for the first time, a site in the angle formed by Hóvirág utca and Denevér út being added. Farkasrét, with its roads winding down the gentle slopes of the eastern side of Sváb Hill, is quite different in its layout from the other, geometrically arranged cemeteries located on flat ground. Within the confines of this brief volume, unfortunately few of the nation’s deceased great who lie here can be recounted, despite the wealth of memories attached to the place.

Just inside the main entrance on Németvölgyi út is Mihály Mészáros’s “Phoenix” in the space formerly occupied by János Horvai’s statue “The Good Shepherd”. Standing in the wall of the square in front of the funerary chapel, designed by architect Imre Makovecz, is the vault of the celebrated actress Gizi Bajor. The columbarium built on the remains of a chapel destroyed by a bomb dropped during the war contains the ashes of writer Milán Füst, professor

53