Gál Éva: Margaret Island - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2000)

The musical well

spring-water cascading down rock wall originally flowed directly into the Danube as the semi-circular basin now holding the water was built later.)

What is now missing is the pump-room built by the eastern wall of the waterfall by Ybl on a semi-circular floor-plan; this fell victim to the war, as did the Flóra Villa, the Little Villa, and the Little Hotel (later called Hotel Dahlia). However, the musical fountain which was also badly damaged during the war was restored. This neoclassical structure was originally built by a master craftsman called Péter Bodor in Marosvásárhely in 1820, but it had to be pulled down in 1911 to give way for the city’s new theatre. The Budapest Board of Public Works had an exact replica built in 1936, which was then badly damaged during the war. Rebuilt in 1954, the musical well was again reconstructed by the municipality of Budapest in 1997; thanks to this most recent renovation, the well plays music again (and an account of its history can also be heard in Hungarian, German and English).

At this point we might as well turn back unless we wish to admire the splendid view afforded by the spot.

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