Szablyár Péter: Step by step - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)
The Queen of all Budapest stairs. the Fishermen' Bastion
level of the square beneath the bastions. That is where the undivided series of 45 steps start and then continue in the covered flight of another 45 steps flanked by the bastion walls and forking out, eventually close off the stairway as the two flights arrive at the final landings that open into the area surrounding the church from the east. The north flight leads to the vaulted colonnade behind the chancel of Matthias Church, a spot from where the panoramic view of the Pest Plains can be freely admired. Taking the flight on the left one ascends to the square, a place commanding respect and yet preserving its intimate atmosphere. The visitor is here greeted by Alajos Stróbl’s equestrian statue of King Stephen 1. The relief decorating the plinth with scenes taken from the reign of St Stephen was designed by Schulek and features two figures modelled on the sculptor and the architect respectively. Two important sculptural compositions can be seen at the start of the main stairs. The statue of János Hunyadi is one of ten sculptures donated by Francis Joseph to the capital of Hungary. It is here that a replica of St George's statue, whose original, made by the Kolozsvári brothers, stands in the Hradcany, Prague's castle area. Scheduling the events to mark the millenary celebrations entailed unforeseen expenses. Although the Board of Public Works proceeded to prepare and implement the large-scale millenary investments with utmost circumspection, by June 1896 wooden stairs had to be installed to the spot where Schulek's main stairway would subsequently be built to provide public access to the Matthias Church when the holy crown was exhibited. The success of the provisory measures speeded up the construction of the planned-for instalment. Work on the latter lasted from 1899 to 1902. The Fishermen's Bastion became one of the best-liked destinations for foreigners and locals alike. Its 1928 floodlight system is one of the essential components in the night lights of Budapest. During the siege of Budapest in World War 11, the Fishermen’s Bastion was severely damaged with parts of Schulek's stairs being wiped out, rendering the whole stairway impassable for years. In line with the political fashions of the nineteen-fifties, a huge five-pointed star was attached to the south section of the Fishermen’s Bastion as a counterpart of the galvanized iron star topping the Danube-side exit of the Castle Hill Tunnel. Luckily, this one was blown away in the winds of change. The forgotten Chapel of St Michael As the ruins of the former chapel named for St Michael were being unearthed during the excavations that preceded the construction of the Fishermen’s Bastion, 8
