Szatmári Gizella: Walks in the Castle District - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2001)

The statue of Pope Innocent XI in Hess András ter

up in the middle of the square in 1936, the 250th anniversary of the recapture of Buda from the Turks. (The pope played a major role in establishing the Holy League, an alliance under which the anti-Turkish forces of Europe were united, and he made a significant contribution to the expenses of the war of liberation.) The location of the statue had earlier been occupied by a well-figure depicting the goddess Artemis, which now adorns the small square by the side of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. In 1936 Iskola tér was named after Pope Innocent XI. Although the statue of the pontiff was left undisturbed after 1945, the square was once again renamed, this time after King Matthias’s printer.

It is worth taking a look at the building closing the square (No. 5 András Hess tér). This, too, housed the Ministry of Finance for a while—in 1867. It was given its neo-Gothic appearance between 1901 and 1904 to plans by Sándor Fellner. Fortuna utca opens from its eastern fagade and takes us back to the beginning of this walk.

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