Gál Éva: Margaret Island - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2000)
upper restaurant, the villas, and the utility buildings. Already in 1869 the management of the complex put out a brochure in Vienna to promote Margaret Island (Der kurzweilige Cicerone auf der Margarethen-Insel). According to the booklet, the Buda “high society” were already frequent visitors on the island, cherishing its beautiful location as well as its thermal waters, for not far away from the noisy bustle of the big city, there was no dust, nor wind here, only quiet, greenery and shady walkways; and the prices, too, were reasonable: a round trip by boat cost a mere ten krajcár, a ride on the horse tram just five, while one could get a mug of medicinal water for 25, an ice cream in the restaurant for another 25, a cup of espresso coffee for 15, and a pint of beer for no more then ten krajcár (at a time when a day’s average earnings came to 1 forint 72 krajcár for a skilled worker at the Óbuda shipyards and 1 forint 19 krajcár for an agricultural labourer). On the lower island, a military band played tunes to the delight of visitors on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The author hoped that the island which had already become an “Eldorado” of Pest-Buda’s citizenry, will soon be the same for the rest of Europe. By the time the unification of Pest, Buda and Óbuda resulted in the single capital of Budapest in 1873, virtually everything that was meant to be built in the first phase on Margaret Island had in fact been built. The finest of the buildings was undoubtedly that of the Margaret Medicinal Baths, of which numerous drawings, photos and enthusiastic descriptions survive. According to a scholarly monograph by art historian Ervin Ybl, the building was one of the most inspired works by Ybl... it blends Hellenistic, Romanesque, and Renaissance forms into a perfect harmony, and resurrects the spirit of basilicas in the manner of a Brunelleschi .... The Margaret Baths is but a domed quattrocento basilica without the nave, with identical transepts and a sanctuary. The wings opening from the right of the circular hall beneath the gilded central dome to the right, left and back contained a total of 52 tub, marble, porcelain and mirror baths, which were, according to contemporary descriptions, 24
