Fabó Beáta - Gall, Anthony: I came from the East to a City of Great Palaces. Károly Kós, the early years 1907-1914 (Budapest, 2013)
Kós' First Steps as an Independent Architect
week the council published tenders for the various craftsmen to be involved in the construction to ensure the best value. The winning entrepreneurs signed contracts that set not only deadlines, but also a 3-year warranty. They were to meet the general and special terms and conditions, including those pertaining to construction costs. Work was to begin immediately and to be finished on time, or the entrepreneurs were to pay 1% of the settled price for each day of delay. The next council meeting, on 23rd June, decided on the construction of an aquarium, a palm house and a flower house as well. This entailed further expenses, for which 1,728,000 crowns were allocated, to be spent on 'completing the landscaping, the purchase of equipment and furnishings, the acquisition of animals, and for building and furnishing of the aquarium, the palm house and the flower house’. 1909 saw the beginning of the three-year construction work of the ‘small’ and the ‘big’ rock, based on plans by Gyula Végh, engineer, and with contribution from sculptor Gyula Benke. For the shape and design of the two artificial rocks a professional recommendation was requested from the Institute of Geology. Using this, on 12th June a contract was signed by engineer and entrepreneur György Pohl, who undertook the construction of both formations. Because the management of the Zoo requested that 'real blocks of stone and boulders be put in place in order to make the rocks more life-like•’, György Pohl and Gyula Benke went to the Buda hills to hand-pick some suitable boulders. These were transported to the building site during August and September. The Small Rock has a height of 22 m, while the Big Rock is 35 m tall. Both have a set of zigzagging footpaths that lead up to their peak, where visitors can enjoy the splendid panorama. The two rocks were the most complicated and thus most expensive structures to be built in the Zoo, which required two additions to the originally allocated sum during their construction. They have a skeleton of reinforced concrete, with cavities inside. On the outside, various animal holding areas were made, while the surface gives an artistic imitation of real rock, with patches painted white to give the impression of snow. Inside the Small Rock a movie theatre was opened, but the problem of finding any proper use to the cavities inside the Great Rock was solved as late as 2012. The two rocks took the longest to complete, so the workers were rewarded at the end of each major stage, when a spectacular ceremony was held every time. On 30th October 1424 crowns were distributed among ‘the builders, engineers, foremen, masons, joiners, concrete workers, daily labourers and construction hands participating in the construction of the rocks’. The topping-out ceremony to celebrate the completion of the highest wall was held a year later. This time the ‘engineers, sculptors, foremen, workers, labourers and hands’ working for contractor György Pohl received a sum of 3481 crowns altogether. ■ The Great Rock under construction, circa 1911 FÁNK fotógyűjtemény H Goats on the slopes of the Great Rock FÁNK fotógyűjtemény 75 Lions at the Great Rock, no date FÁNK fotógyűjtemény The Great Rock under construction, circa 1911 FÁNK fotógyűjtemény
