Szatmári Gizella: Walks in the Castle District - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2001)
“Released from bondage, Royal Buda was reborn in liberty, in the 1686th year of the Lord”. (It is also the glory of 1686 which is commemorated by the inscribed plaque set in the wall of the Magdalene Tower in Kapisztrán tér in 1926 to mark the third centenary of the victory. And as homage to a valiant adversary, a monument to Abdurrahman, the last Pasha of Buda, was set up in the form of a symbolic gravestone on the Anjou Bastion on 2 September 1932.) At the corner of Bécsi kapu tér and Táncsics Mihály utca there is a small Lutheran church built in neoclassical style for the Millenary Celebrations to plans by the Austrian-born Mór Kallina. (As well as elegant apartment buildings in the inner city and the Buda Vigadó, Kallina designed the buildings of the Ministry of Defence and the headquarters of the chief army commander, both in the Castle District.) The first time the Lutherans of Buda were allowed to hold a service was in 1844, in the Palatine’s residence, on the ground floor of the palace, under the sponsorship of their Württemberg-born co-religionist Archduchess Maria Dorothy. In 2001, the congregation unveiled a memorial plaque in honour of the archduchess at No. 2 Dorottya utca (Dorothy Street). Their first church was built in 1846 by Lajos Kimnach by the Water Gate standing in the direction of the southern wall running towards the Danube, on a spot at the southern end of the square called Dísz tér—Parade Square—today. When the area was claimed by the chief army commander’s headquarters, the building was pulled down (in 1895) to be replaced by the church that now stands in Bécsi kapu tér. On the side facing Táncsics Mihály utca there is a relief by Tamás Vigh (1986) commemorating the activities of the network set up by Pastor Gábor Sztehlo to save the lives of children during the war. Opposite this, dominating the square, is the tűrret- ed, neo-Romanesque, castle-like building of the Hungarian National Archives. The building was raised to plans by Samu Petz between 1913 and 1917. Designed by Miksa Róth, the stained glass windows of the staircase render the escutcheons of Hungary’s cities, while Andor Dudits’s frescos depict episodes from the country’s history. (In the 18th century master builder János 9
