In Budapest with Road Scholars

Contents

Introduction to Hungary
Heroes' Square
Along the Danube
Downtown Pest
Castle District
Mathias Church
Visit to Ócsa
The Jewish Quarter
City Park
House of Music
Liszt Academy
Danube by Night

Hungary was a country in which history was not part of the dead past but part of the tendentious present and future, and where even statues were potent and troublesome symbols.
Michael Korda, "Journey to a revolution"

Our major trip for 2025 was a Road Scholar tour of Budapest and Prague, cities referred to as "Jewels of Central Europe". In this travelogue we summarize our time in Budapest. Our goal while there was to learn something about Hungary, it's past, it's present, and its prospects.

We spent five nights at the Mamaisson Hotel, a comfortable hotel located on an attractive, wide boulevard. One pleasant feature was a garden restaurant, a perfect place to have a beer on a warm afternoon. A metro station was close by, making it easy to reach the center of the city.

Gordon had spent a month or so trying to learn basic Hungarian, a notoriously difficult language for English speakers. In fact, almost everyone we met understood English, although they usually appreciated visitors trying to use a few words of Hungarian.

Hungarian is mostly phonetic, which helps, but it often requires double letters for a single phoneme. For example, "sz" is pronounced /s/, while "s" alone is pronounced as /sh/. So the "pest" in "Budapest" is pronounced "pesht"; the composer "Liszt" is pronounced "List". Knowing all this makes it easier to interpret signs like this one.

Armed with a little knowledge of the language and the public transportation system (free to anyone over 65), and a sense of adventure, we were able to explore the city center in our spare time. We investigated interesting restaurants, and usually found the food to be pretty good.

We could also explore interesting buildings not on the planned itinerary, like Saint Rokus church and hospital.

Most of our time, of course, was taken up with activities planned by Road Scholar. The first morning, led by our guides Anna and Maria, we walked from the hotel about a quarter mile to Heroes' Square, built as a tribute to the founders of Hungary. On one side of the square is the Museum of Fine Arts, a memorial to the country's historic figures.

The square was also a site for other ceremonial activities. One evening Gordon was sitting in the hotel garden and heard drums. He walked up to the square and saw a group of drummers packing up to leave. They were replaced by a different group that looked like supporters of a Portuguese football (soccer) team. They raised their flags and eventually marched off, goodness knows where.

Near Heroes's Square is the Museum of Ethnography, an interesting building in its own right, opened in 2022. The central area is installed under the ground. The wings soar upwards, as if the exhibition hall were emerging from layers deep down, thrusting the vegetation upwards.

On a concrete wall beside the Museum of Ethnography we saw our first example of Mihály Kolodko's "guerilla art". These mini-sculptures always have some connection to their location, but blend into the setting. The museum reminded Kolodko of the "half-pipes" used by roller skaters, so the sculpture is his comment on the dangers of skating. There are some 40 others scattered throughout Budapest. We saw two more later on.

From Heroes' Square we drove by bus to the center of Budapest, where the River Danube divides the city into its two parts, originally the towns of Buda and Pest. Buda occupies the West bank, and is quite hilly. Pest occupies the East bank, which is quite flat. We drove along the East bank, looking across the Danube to the hills of Buda.

There are nine bridges connecting Buda and Pest. The first permanent bridge was the Chain Bridge, completed in 1849. It was considered a marvel of engineering at the time.

Several interesting structures in Buda are visible from the other side of the river. They include the narrowest house in Budapest, and Szilágyi Dezsö Square Church, which dominates the Buda waterfront below the castle. Although Gothic in style, it was actually built in 1896. The most obvious feature in Buda when seen from the Pest side of the river is the Budapest Castle, which we explored further the next day.

After the drive along the river, we walked around the central area of Pest for a while. We passed the Hungarian Houses of Parliament, a very elaborate structure in the Neo-Gothic style. It was built between 1885 and 1902, one of the largest parliament buildings in the world. It was inspired by the British parliament in Westminster.

We saw examples of several architectural styles: the Piarist Gymnasium (a college of theology) is a good an example of Budapest's Neo-Baroque architecture. An apartment building on Liberty Square exemplifies the Romanesque Revival. The Inner City Parish Church is a historic Roman Catholic church. dating back to 1046. Although the west side of the church faces an open park, on the south side it comes within centimeters of a busy road.

At one point we were rather surprised to see a statue of Ronald Reagan. Reagan was admired in Hungary for his strong anti-communist stance, as was George H. W. Bush, also commemorated here, who was credited with presiding over the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Liberty Square is the site of a Soviet Army Memorial, commemorating their defeat of the occupying German army in World War II. The memorial is very controversial, since the Russians were regarded by most as just another occupying force. It is not surprising then that we encountered another Kolodko mini-sculpture. The area had become the site for numerous protests. Protest signs would be destroyed by opponents, so Kolodko created this tiny axe as his own commentary.

The Road Scholar group had lunch at a nearby restaurant. The restaurant featured a "retro museum" in its basement, with a collection of artifacts from homes of earlier days: a sitting room, elegant furniture from a bedroom, and a collection of objects that might be seen in a typical home. The old "Urban Bakery" was still in operation. The baker seen here was producing bread for the restaurant upstairs.

In a similar retro museum nearby, Gordon found an old motor cycle which he tried to take off with. It turned out to need petrol, and the petrol tank was empty.

Next day we spent the morning exploring the Castle District in Buda. Perched on a hill overlooking the Danube, the Castle District dates back to the time of King Bela IV, who founded the city of Buda in the 13th century. After a devastating Mongol invasion of Hungary, Bela decided this was a good place to ward off the Mongol attacks.

First stop on our walk was the tower of the Church of St Mary Magdalene. The tower is all that is left of a 13th century church. It has a history that reflects the many years of conflict that ravaged much of Hungary.

While the Castle District is not really a residential area, the streets are lined with historic and well-maintained buildings. Several have been converted into restaurants or even hotels.

Eventually we stopped at a building containing the Museum of the History of Music. One of the resident scholars gave an illustrated talk about the history of musical instruments and their connection to important Hungarian composers and performers.

Near this museum is a small statue of King Mathias Corvinus, a 15th century ruler whose reign is considered a golden age for Hungary. Mathias was known for military modernization and major administrative reforms. He was also strongly influenced by the Italian Renaissance.

The tower seen here was originally part of a Dominican monastery, built in 1254. A statue representing the crowning of King Mathias was later cast into the stone of the tower. The statue is very detailed, depicting the coat of arms of the regions that were under the rule of the king.

The group stopped for lunch in a section of the castle fortifications known as the Fisherman's Bastion. The unusual name honors the medieval guild of fishermen, who built the defensive installations to protect their fishing territory. Now the bastion houses a restaurant that feeds the many visitors to the district. There we enjoyed a pleasant lunch.

After lunch we climbed two flights of steps to a lookout post. There we had a fine view of the Danube looking both north (upstream) and south (downstream). Across the river we had a perfect view of landmarks such as St Stephens Basilica and the Houses of Parliament.

In front of the Fisherman's Bastion is a statue of St. Stephen, who founded the kingdom of Hungary and became its first king.

Near the Fisherman's Bastion and in front of the statue of St. Stephen is a magnificent church now named after King Mathias, although the church was constructed much earlier than Matthias's reign. It was built on the site of an 11th-century church, and completed in 1269. It reached a peak in its prosperity during the reign of King Matthias.

Reflecting a distinctly Baroque style, the Church went through many renovations. It was even used as a mosque during the time of the Ottoman empire, when the Ottomans ruled much of South Eastern Europe. The structure is now famed for its Gothic elegance, colourful roof tiles, and the Art Nouveau frescoes and mosaics within.

In front of the church is the Holy Trinity statue. It was erected by the Council of Buda in 1694 to protect the people from regular outbreaks of plague.

The elaborate gothic structure is nowhere more evident then in the complex roof with multiple steeples. One steeple appears to be black. It is called the Hussar Tower, because it sits on the roof like a hussar on a horse. It is made of wood and covered with oxidized copper.

At the top of another steeple is a raven bearing a ring. It represents a legend about King Matthias, whose surname Corvinus means "raven" in Latin. A raven holding a ring had become the king's emblem.

The inside of the church may be even more elaborate than the exterior. During the Ottoman occupation much of the interior decoration had been removed. Photos of the nave and the altar show how much has been restored. Gothic paintings of holy scenes decorate the walls, and elaborate patterns adorn the pillars.

One morning we left Budapest to visit the village of Ócsa, about 30 km south. In the village we visited the church, built in the 12th-13th centuries in Romanesque style. One sign of those times are the marks of swords being sharpened using bricks in the wall beside the main entrance. In an interesting example of cross-cultural cooperation, during Ottoman times the church had been used as a mosque by Turkish soldiers from Monday to Friday, but on Saturday and Sunday the Hungarians used it as a Reformed church.

The church was thoroughly reconstructed in 1996. When an old monument is reconstructed, new construction must be kept distinct from original sections. This can be seen in the way an old section of frieze near the entrance is kept distinct.

Some of the original interior decoration can be seen in the sanctuary, in the remains of the murals of Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary..

Our guide Maria explained the history of the church, and introduced a local resident who helps to maintain the church. At one point the resident gave a demonstration of the acoustical properties of the church. She sat by a pillar and sang a chant quite softly. The song could be heard easily in any part of the church.

In its simplicity, the church is a marked contrast to the Mathias Church we visited in the city.

Next door to the church is an old farmstead that had been converted into a museum, illustrating what life was like in older times. It contained numerous examples of farm implements from those times.

Outside there was a communal oven. Inside the building was a second oven. In cold weather an extension of the oven into the adjacent room would have provided warm seating for the family.

In another building there was a demonstration of typical clothing worn by members of the community.

One morning we spent visiting the Jewish Quarter in Budapest. Before describing what we saw, it may be helpful first to say something about the recent history of Jewish people in Hungary. The brief summary here was taken from the publication Yad Vashem (opens in a new tab or window; may not work on some devices).

After Hitler rose to power in 1933, the Hungarian government pursued an alliance with Germany. Since the two governments followed similar authoritarian ideologies, they felt that such an alliance would be beneficial, and the Nazis might help Hungary to retrieve land it had lost after World War I. Over the next five years, Hungary moved closer to Germany.

Hungary began issuing anti-Jewish legislation in March 1938. Jewish participation in the economy and the professions was cut by 80 percent, and in 1939 Hungary created a labor service draft, which Jewish men of military age were forced to join. Many Jewish men died of the forced labor pursuant to this draft.

With some notable exceptions, most of the Jews of Hungary lived in relative safety for much of the war. However, Hungarian authorities became more and more entrenched in their alliance with Germany. In June 1941, Hungary joined Germany in its war against the Soviet Union. In December 1941 they joined the Axis Powers in declaring war against the United States.

Then, in Germany's disastrous invasion of Russia, Hungary lost tens of thousands of men. Hungary tried to back out of the alliance with Germany, but in March 1944 German troops invaded Hungary, to "preserve loyalty".

Fron late 1941 onwards, Jews had been deported or murdered. Eventually a ghetto was set up in Budapest, to which Jews were forced to relocate by a decree of the Government of National Unity during the final stages of World War II. The ghetto existed from November 29, 1944 to January 17, 1945.

One man did what he could to save Jewish lives during the war years. Carl Lutz was a Swiss diplomat, serving in Budapest from 1942 until the end of World War II. He is credited with saving over 62,000 Jews, possibly the largest rescue operation of the Holocaust. A memorial to Lutz has been installed, with a telling quote from his diary placed beside it. ("I get angry when I suddenly have to decide who to save. Where is God?")

The location of the ghetto itself is now marked, perhaps insignificantly, by lines marked on the sidewalk. What can be found within this area now? Many things you would expect: Streets with houses dating back to that time; markers set in front of buildings where the names of occupants during the ghetto years are known; shops providing Jewish products.

There are many signs that other things have changed since the war years: street jugglers have appeared; contemporary Ruin Bars (a feature of Budapest, occupying once abandoned buildings, filled with mismatched furniture and quirky decorations); and walls overrun with Graffiti.

And, of course, there are synagogues. Budapest features several, three of which are situated within the Jewish Quarter. We walked by two without going in, the Rumbach Street Synagogue, a Neológ congregation and synagogue, recently restored, and the Orthdox Kazinczy Synagogue, the interior designed in Art Nouveau-style.

We spent some time visiting the Dohány Street Synagogue, also known as the Great Synagogue. It is the largest synagogue in Europe and second-largest in the world, seating 3,000 people. It was built in the middle of the 19th century, in Moorish Revival and Romantic Historicist styles.

The dominant feature of the interior is the Torah Ark, housing sacred Torah scrolls. It is a majestic, white-domed structure with intricate gilding and molding. Outside the main building is a courtyard and cemetery and the Tree of Life memorial. Metal leaves on this tree are engraved with the names of Hungarian Jews murdered by the Nazis and Hungarian collaborators during the Holocaust.

We spent one afternoon in City Park, adjacent to Heroes' Square. We visited Vajdahunyad Castle, a romantic castle located by the boating lake. Despite all appearances, it was built in 1896. It is a pastiche, showcasing architectural evolution in Hungary through the centuries. The castle is the site for several festivals, concerts and the exhibitions. We crossed a moat, and entered the castle grounds.

We passed the west portal of the castle's Romanesque Church of Ják, but did not enter. Further along we passed the Hungarian Agriculture Museum.

Nearby we saw a strange statue to the well-known (?!) writer Anonymous. This enigmatic statue pays homage to the unknown individual who chronicled the early Magyars. His face is hidden, reminding us that history may be told by voices from the shadows. Visitors to the statue often touch the pen for inspiration, hoping to capture some of the talent exhibited by Hungarian writers.

On our walk we also encountered another Kolodnov mini-sculpture, our third. On closer look, it turned out to be a statue of Dracula. Appropriate, somehow.

Ten years ago the city set out to build a center for Hungarian music on a previously decrepit site in City Park. A competition was held for the design of the center. It was won by the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto.

Fujimoto's building is set among the trees, and takes inspiration from a synergy of sound and nature. A curtain of glass panels blurs the boundaries between indoor and outdoor space. A canopy of over 30,000 decorative tree leaves enhances the blurring with roughly 100 holes that allow sun (and rain over the exterior) to penetrate. Silhouettes of birds add to the illusion, as well as discouraging real birds from flying into the glass.

The building extends over five floors, three above ground and two below. One of the holes in the roof penetrates for the full five stories.

An excellent guide took us on a tour of the building. She explained one way music was incorporated into the design, using groups of overhead lights. If one stands in the right place, one can find a melody, reading off the bulbs as notes on a stave of music.

The building contains two meeting halls, one for large groups, and one for small gatherings. Both can be adjusted to serve differenty purposes. The large room is less attractive though, and the acoustics are not ideal. The small room is better all around, as our guide demonstrated.

A suspended spiral staircase connects the three floors above ground. However, the land on which the buiulding is constructed is subject to small shifts, which can lead to the staircase being misaligned with the building. To correct for this, the staircase is suspended from straps that can be adjusted.

The lowest floor is very different from the upper floors. Everything is simple, plain white. In a way, it represents the earth (Der Erde) from which everything else (Das Lied von der Erde) has sprung.

Later Maria announced to everyone that her assistant Olivia (remember Olivia?) might not be helping her the next day. Olivia seemed to be suffering from some kind of illness. We found out later what the problem was.

The evening after our visit to the House of Music we had tickets for a concert at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, a music university and a concert hall. It was not part of the Road Scholar itinerary, but it had looked like something we would enjoy, and seemed like a suitable sequel to the House of Music. The academy was founded by Franz Liszt himself in 1875. A notable graduate of the academy was the well known conductor George Solti, and a modernist sculpture of Solti graces the entrance to the building.

We arrived quite early for the concert, which gave us time to appreciate the art nouveau design. Some of the artwork was quite over-whelming. Once the doors to the hall opened, we were able to admire the design of the hall itself. The hall was surrounded by a frieze that used a leaf motif; this had been part of the inspiration for the tree leaf decor in the House of Music.

The concert was a highlight of our trip. Our seats were in a lateral balcony, matching a second balcony on the other side of the hall. Bruno De Sá, a classical sopranist from Brazil, sang pieces by Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Pergolesi, and others, accompanied by the chamber group A Nuovo Barocco (see Nuovo Barocco, opens in a new tab or window)

De Sá's performance was captivating, bringing a freshness and passion to music of the 18th century. The hall was sold out, which surprised us, for music we thought would have limited appeal. At the end of the concert, De Sá' and the leader of A Nuovo Barocco congratulated each other, to prolonged applause.

For more about Bruno De Sá, see Meet the Artist, (opens in a new tab or window).

For the final evening in Budapest, we had a delightful dinner aboard a river cruise boat. Before the meal. we found out what happened to Olivia. She had not been unwell at all. She had been pregnant, and had given birth to a host of offspring. Each of member of the tour group was asked to take care of one, who looked just like their mother (see inset, bottom left). Except that their innards consisted of a jar of Hungarian paprika.

After dinner, when it was dark, the boat set out on a cruise up and down the Danube, with the Hungarian flag framing illuminated buildings. Places we had seen before in the daytime took on a new look.

The lights provided beautiful outlines for bridges across the river. The Chain Bridge, for example, was easy to recognize from a distance. As we passed under the Chain bridge, we met another cruise boat heading in the other direction.

The building that looks like a whale is known, appropriately, as the Bálna Budapest (Budapest Whale), serving aa cultural, commercial, and entertainment center. The most spectacular view, however, was probably the Parliament building.

As the boat returned to its berth, we saw a large flock of birds, probably seagulls, circling the Parliament building. Seagulls, of course, are known for selfish squabbling over available resources.

Next day the Road Scholar group set off early for a 550 km bus ride to Prague, with fond memories of the beautiful places we have seen. As the Road Scholar visitors leave, we salute¹ this beautiful city and its inhabitants, in their own language:

Egészségedre, pronounced "egays-shay-gedre", or in English, "Cheers and Good Health".

_{1. Photo by Anna Pivoňková}

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