Csepely-Knorr Luca: Barren Places to Public Spaces. A History of Publick Park Design in Budapest 1867-1914 (Budapest, 2016)

Public Park design in Budapest during the second half of the 19th Century

The landscape plans for the southern parts of the hill, closer to Ferenc József Bridge (opened in 1896), were worked out by the Board of Public Works in 1901. According to the plans, two parks were intended to be built: one opposite todays Gellért Baths, the other on the southern and western side of the Citadel; the first was to be 8.5 hectares, and the latter 12 hectares. Out of the gully running through the area, the plan suggested the creation of a path with ramps and steps.400 On the lower levels terraces were meant to be created, which showed the impact of Hein’s earlier ideas, while the upper levels were to be planted with wild grasses and clumps of trees, so that visitors “can breezily walk up and down, organise games and lie down".40' The realisation of the plan only started in the 1920s, and at that time Béla Rerrich reported that the plan corresponded to the latest theories by Willy Lange, the designer who devised the ecology-based planting strategies in Germany.402

The construction of Eskü Square Bridge (later Erzsébet Bridge) only started in 1898, although it had already been decided on in 1893. The delay was caused, on the one hand by the long, drawn-out preparations for the city development, which meant the demolition of parts of the old city centre in Pest, and on the other hand, by the flow of the thermal waters in Buda. The plans were prepared by the Duna-Bridge Building Department at the Ministry of Commerce. The construction was finished in 1903.403 The erection of the Gellért statue was closely connected to the building of the new bridge. The statue itself was one of ten monuments given to the capital by Franz Joseph in 1897 to "immortalise the memory of the greatest figures of the past, who had excelled in various fields of the life of the nation". Béla Jankovics was commissioned to create the statue, and at Gellért Hill, the site of the bishops martyrdom was selected as its location. The planning of the monument made the landscaping of the surrounding parts of the hill and

Engineering Dept, of the Board of Public Works, Regulation plan for the northeastern slope of Gellert Hill and Döbrentei Square, 1900 / HU BFL XV.16.e.2S3 58

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