Buza Péter: Spring and Fountains - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1994)
fairy of the Sió. Farther off Kelén and Helka, lovers in a romance by András Fáy, were engaged in amorous play. Kamór, wizard of Lake Balaton, approached from the left. (The figure of the magician bore a striking resemblance to Vince Wartha, a renowned chemist of the period, who lived next door to the artist in Kispest. Mátray himself admitted the resemblance.) Kamór was surrounded by shepherd boys playing the flute. In the background were further nymphs, with frolicking mermaids all around. The engineer who designed the mechanical parts of the work was Marmorek of Vienna, the era’s uncrowned king of visual effects. Contemporary observers claimed that the spectacle was peerless among the similar fountains of the period worldwide. In 1931 its renovation, financed by the city, was carried out by Mátray’s son. It was on that occasion that a lengthy newspaper report was written, which described the detailed schedule of the “programme” and also uncovered the secrets of the mechanism. There was a multi-storey control room under the surface, packed with all manner of electric equipment and water engineering devices. The hour long spectacle started at nine in the evening and entertained the public with a veritable ballet of various combinations of water jets. Every moment of the spectacle was precisely coordinated as in a choreographed fire-work display, except that the medium here was water. Even in 1940 the Sió Fountain was still one of Budapest’s greatest tourist attractions. Nothing remains of it today-the ground over the spacious control room is grown over by green grass, providing a spot near Petőfi Hall where the ordinary citizens of the capital hungry for simple pleasures can sun themselves. Another result of the tell-tale fashion of ornamental fountains at the turn of the century has more fortunately weathered the storms of these inclement times. It is still an attractive feature of the Castle District, and tourists take photos of it against the otherwise plain and unarticulated back wall of the so-called Sigismund Chapel. Thus the renovator of the building, Alajos Hauszmann, designed a highly decorative construction for this spot, whose plan he himself drew on tracing paper. The hunting scene features King Mátyás in Zugliget-a place we have already visited in search of springs serving the great ruler-accompanied by a falconer dressed as Galeotto. Another member of his entourage sounds a hunting horn, while an older warrior keeps some hounds on a leash. “Beautiful Ilonka” awaits the king so that the romance as sung by the poet Vörösmarty can unfold. In 1901 Alajos Stróbl, who modelled thefigures, was awarded his first state prize, a great golden medal for the hunter 40
