Az Andrássy út - Budapesti Negyed 1. (1993. nyár)

AHOGY VOLT - JALSOVSZKY KATALIN -TOMSICS EMŐKE Politika a főváros tengelyén

The Road, where in 1896 - for the first time on the Continent - a tramway for public transport was taken underground, beneath the avenue, in order that the original architectural sights be preserved, and to reduce the traveling time needed for getting out of the downtown into the green area. Consequently, right from its inauguration, the road changed radically the space and time perception of the city dwellers, who earlier could only have dreamed a coach or hansom-cab as the fastest vehicle imaginable. The Road - which not only broke radically with the traditional perception of space, but was among the first places to submit to the temptation of darkness, daring to expose itself not just to the daylight, but to night also. Where the artificial light of the first gas lamps, and later on the electric ones not only served the public safety, but also showed the way to the theatres, cabarets, restaurants and other night haunts. The Road, which - as the man it was named after originally intended - should be to any traveler pasing by the central lifeline of (as he put it) „the Capital of the East", a „brilliant shop window" of prosperity and urban awareness - a 45 meter wide, two kilometer long show of elegance and modern civilization. * Péter Hanák's essay is an introduction into the history of Budapest, the city that gave birth to the avenue Andrássy. In his brief overview from the Hungarian Conquest of the 9th century to modern times he outlines the surviving vitality of this ancient settlement, which in the midst of stormy centuries, political defeats and alien occupations has managed to save itself from final annihilation. With the help of ethnic, social and income statistics the author also present the city dwellers on their path from privileged guild-members to citizens of a modern metropolis - sometimes in concordance with, sometimes against the intentions of the prevailing town principals and the political elite. István Diószegi'

s study explores the life and career of Count Gyula Andrássy, the personality who gave his name to the avenue. Andrássy, as the first Hungarian Prime Minister after the Austrian-Hungarian Compromise in 1867, and later the Minister of Foreign Affaires of the Monarchy, was one of the few outstanding Hungarian politicians who could actively influence the main courses of history in his age. The reader can also get a sense of the political principles characteristic of the men who initiated this great project of building an avenue, which proved to be a uniquely successful urban experiment for the whole region. Károly Vörös provides an urban planning and architectural description of the avenue in the context of the overall development of the city network, the fitful starts and stops of building activities, modern conceptions and practical obstacles, ultimately guiding the reader through the preparatory and actual building processes of the avenue and its environ in the period of 1872-1876.