N. Kósa Judit - Szablyár Péter: Underground Buda - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)

The Devil's Ditch: Buda's rapid brook imprisoned

■ The vault of the Devil'i Ditch

progress between Szent János tér and the Áldásy Mansion (today No. 57 Krisztina körút, the building housing the offices of the National Institute and Museum of Theatre History) and by 187; the work was to have reached Városmajor.

Around 6 p.m. on 26 May 1875 a torrential rainfall hit the city. Contemporary press reports speak of immeasurable destruction: "the old, southern vaults of the Devil's Ditch caved in at several points; the houses built on the collapsing vaults were washed away and buried together with their inhabitants; while the inundation lasted, the Vérmező and Kelenföld appeared to be covered by a flat sheet of sea water.”

The downpour devastated the catchment basin of the Devil's Ditch, too. This is how Farkas Horváth, a contemporary witness, described the scene-. "The beautiful scenery of the Buda Hills, a delightful scene before, together with the vines whose plentiful grapes promised a particularly rich harvest, offered a sight after the tempest that was impossible to contemplate without shedding tears of utter anguish. The highways were covered with mud 3 to 6 feet deep, the streets were filled with debris, and every means of

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