Csepely-Knorr Luca: Barren Places to Public Spaces. A History of Publick Park Design in Budapest 1867-1914 (Budapest, 2016)
An appraisal of Public Park design in Budapest at the Thurn of the 20th Century
An appraisal of public park design in Budapest at the turn of the 20th century “The shaping of extensive parks and urban woodlands not just in Budapest but also in other major cities of our country, became an important everyday question, that is economically as well as socially important, and the implication of which is year by year more recognised in our modern public life."426 It was in the second half of the 19th century that public parks began to generally spread in Budapest and also in Hungary. Although Városliget Park is a very early example of public parks, even by European standards, it remained an isolated phenomenon for a long period of time. By the last decades of the century, the Western-European capitals offered complex examples of public park design, due to the theoretical development that had started much earlier. The creation of the Hungarian capitals green spaces got under way at the time of the Compromise, and developed continuously until World War I. The vast professional development happened due to the establishment of the Municipal Parks Department, and the formation of other professional institutions. In newly-created parks such as the first phase of the Népliget Park or Erzsébet Square, the implementation of the then current international examples - both in formal solutions and in the use of dendrological curiosity in planting plans - can be observed. During the period from the turn of the 20th century to World War I, the design theory behind the creation of the capital’s public parks did not only reach the level of complexity in other countries, but can also be assessed as progressive even by European standards. The knowledge and successful implementation of the international ideas resulted in such complex works of art - both in terms of functionality, planting design, educational goals and conceptual messages - such as the second phase of Népliget Park or the first parks on Gellért Hill. Hungarian designers knew about and used the functional layouts and aesthetic principles of contemporary European public parks, but they also succeeded in responding to the decisive theoretical questions of the period related to the needs of their hometowns, specifically related to those. Both international and Hungarian theoretical writings exceeded the theoretical principles summarised in Gustav Meyer s writings in many ways, and defined propositions that are models even for today s designers. While Meyer regarded urban squares only as ornamental elements in the city, by the end of the 19th century the need for functionalisation appeared. The growth in the area of the main European cities, and the densely built urban fabric, meant that for the residents of these cities public parks were the only experience of nature. The big parks of Budapest - Városliget or Népliget - were relatively far from the centre of the city, therefore their use was restricted mainly to the weekends. As a consequence, the landscaping of urban squares became even more necessary. Along with the creation of new public parks, a new task appeared at the end of the 19th century in Budapest, which showed the changing - constantly simplifying - stylistic signs of the period. This tendency can be traced in the professional journals as well: while during the 1880s the publications were concerned with ornamental carpet beds, reports about the landscaping of market squares only mentioned spaces arranged with shrubs and grassy areas.427 Initially, the primary role of small urban green spaces and public gardens, as with private parks, was to transmit aesthetic values, besides being important in ameliorating the urban climate. Later, along with the changes in the use of these spaces, they gained new functions. To mention only one line of change: from small spaces for strolling first play areas and later specialised playgrounds evolved. Instead of the aesthetic viewpoints of ornamental carpet beds, various functions came to the fore, and instead of densely-planted dendrological gardens, extensive lawns were designed to be used for active recreation. By the end of the period analysed, formal questions lost their importance compared to the functional needs that became primary. János Hein defined his principle aim for design: “It is not a question of: a natural garden (landscape garden) or a geometrical garden, tortuous paths or straight paths, not what is fashionable and what is not, rather: how the modern garden needs to be created to fulfil the requisites of our new life, and our new circumstances? !”m Pond at Döbrentei Square with the Gellért Hill in the background. Postcard from the 1920s / HU BPL XV. 19.d.2.c 403 144
