Szablyár Péter: Step by step - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)

The roofed stairs of the Buda Castle

rigid dress-codes and behaviour policies. The "Rules Regulating Entry” to the Youth Park dating from 1962 can now be read as cultural documents of a bygone era:

"Information pertaining to admittance to the Budajlouth Park: exclusively boys above the age of 18 and girls above 16 are admitted. Patrons must wear a tie. a light shirt and a jacket. Denim trousers are prohibited. The following instances of misbehaviour will result in removal from the premises: all repulsive modes of dancing, twisting to music other than twist, more than one boy twisting with one girl, boys twisting with boys, and any other behaviour attracting public attention."

To the regret of its regular patrons and the relief of local residents, the Park was permanently closed down on 23 September 1984 with a farewell concert Clectric Burial given by the rock group P. Mobil. In the twenty-five year period that has passed since the event, the condition of the monument, which has been included in the area appearing on the World Heritage List in the meantime, has further deteriorated. Designs prepared in 1998 by the Bureau of Public Buildings Design (KÖZTI) have not been implemented. It is a reasonable expectation on the part of Budapest’s residents and visitors to the city alike that the former Castle Garden and environs be modernized and that convenient and unimpeded access to the cul- turally-important quarters of the Castle area be established soon.

The roofed stairs of the Buda Castle

It is at the gates where castle walls were the most vulnerable, which is why these were protected with separate bastions and they were limited to the smallest possible number. In years of peace, such considerations were of much lesser importance, and the residents of the burghers' town and other regular visitors required new stairs leading up to the castle area (which could be quickly removed at times of armed hostilities). That was how the roofed stairs of the burghers' town evolved in the 18th century on the eastern and western sides. Both stairways lean against the castle walls with the steps resting on vaulted pillars, and the stairways, which are open on one side, covered with shingled pent-roofs.

The stairs on the eastern side, reaching the top in a street between the Hilton Hotel and the building in which the National Office of Cultural Heritage is housed, were built by Máté Nepauer and Xavér Niedermayer in 1778. This stairway is called School Stairs, which refers to the fact that it was meant, as a sequel to Ilona Stairs, to help school- children quickly get back to the burghers' town (or else those living there descend to the Watertown). With its open sides and several landings the stairway simply called