BUDAPEST'S FINEST IN THE AUTUMN 2015

} the city of wine } cafe BuDapest 2015 } life anD science

2015. Vol. 3.

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Introduction Dear Guest, As a Budapest “native”, my international acquaintances have frequently asked me when is the best time to visit? Without a second thought, I always suggest early autumn. As the summer ends, everyone returns from their holidays, schools are once again in full swing and the city falls back into it regular rhythm after the summer idleness. But the mild days in September and October still preserve something of the summer mood, which makes even the toughest big city surroundings easier to handle. Large vineyards once covered the gentle slopes of Buda, therefore it is no surprise that the country’s famed wine culture also plays an important role in the capital’s events calendar. The time of harvest in its wider understanding is autumn, not only regarding the wealth of culinary events, but also with respect to the diverse and valuable programmes offered by the cultural and scientific spheres.

Budapest locals have never been content with only preserving traditions, but have always been open to trying something new and willing to experiment. In October those interested in contemporary arts can also have their own “harvest.” Within the framework of the CAFe Contemporary Arts Festival and the WOMEX World Music Expo, musicians from all over the world could not find a more inspiring place than Budapest to showcase their folk, jazz and classical music styles. The growing number of concert venues worthy of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály’s legacy await music fans with wonderful performances.

Budapest always recalls the spirit of liberty in October, for the 1956 revolution began on 23 October with a student march.

And since Budapest remains to this day a university city and scientific centre, it is no coincidence that the world’s important scientists will visit in early October as part of the World Science Forum.

And if visitors merely sample the delights of Budapest’s culinary, cultural and scientific harvest, they can rest assured that they will be prepared for winter’s ups and downs.

It’s worth trying!

Dr. Gergely Pröhle Deputy State Secretary for EU and International Affairs of the Ministry of Human Capacities

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Dear Reader, Following the liveliest and most programme-intense season of summer, a calmer and mellower atmosphere arrives with autumn into the capital of four seasons, which means a change not only in terms of weather, but also with respect to tourism.

Sightseeing, bathing and holidaying tourists are replaced by an influx in business tourism. Arriving for meetings and conferences, these visitors demand structure, organisation and special infrastructure to suit their unique needs.

I am pleased to confirm that Budapest holds its place among those cities able to accommodate business tourism guests, owing to its adaptive and high-quality hotel industry, professional tour operators and niche tourist services. The Budapest Festival and Tourism Center is dedicated to serving Budapest tourism with a full suite of quality services every single day of the year.

Our website www.budapestinfo.hu presents the city’s most attractive side online, while our staff await guests to assist them with their personal needs in our BudapestInfo Point offices.

The latest product from the Budapest Festival and Tourism Center is the BWI Budapest Card, which includes discounted services to ensure our guests experience the greatest comfort and enjoyment during their stay.

There is no better way to illustrate our successes than through our autumn events programme. Budapest will become the digital capital of the world during the ITU Telecom World conference. In November, the World Science Forum will return once again to Budapest after four years, bringing with it the world’s leading scientists and politicians.

Guests to Budapest, be they on holiday or on official trips, will have their stay made complete with exceptional cultural programmes on offer. This autumn, for the first time in Central and Eastern Europe, Budapest will host WOMEX – the World Music Expo. The diverse CAFe Budapest, Hungary’s most significant contemporary arts festival, will entertain audiences for seventeen days with its wide assortment of programmes.

Autumn is the season of preparation for the Budapest Festival and Tourism Center and for the snowy atmosphere that winter brings, and along with it the Vörösmarty Square Christmas Market.

Catch the spirit of Budapest in autumn! Be our guest!

Teodóra Bán Director of Budapest Festival and Tourism Center

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CONTENTS

2015|Autumn

4

Budapest, the city of wine

Budapest, the city of wine } 4 There once was a wine region } 6 What did they pour in the glasses? } 9 Wine stations } 10 Wine traders } 12 Wine schools } 13

Recharge yourself! } 14 Grotesque opera rarity } 16 Soul of Morocco } 18 Weaving together the sound of black legends } 19 Non Solus } 20 Jazz Deluxe } 21 WOMEX at BĂĄlna } 22

14

Recharge yourself!

Life & Science } 24

24

Life & Science

36

Candles for everlasting light } 26 The symbol of Hungarian scholarship } 30 Where Nobel Prize-winning scientists meet } 31 Capital of the digital world } 33

City Guide } 34 The three faces of Art Nouveau in Budapest } 36 The master of stained glass and mosaics } 40 Bon appĂŠtit } 42 Constant developments, even more destinations } 46 Good to know } 48

Art Nouveau Budapest To see the location on the map, simply scan the QR code with your smartphone

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Photo Š MITTECOMM

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Budapest, the city of wine

Working with wine is currently fashionable.

Once upon a time in the former Hungarian Highlands (today Slovakia), the wealth of Szepes County (today Spiš County) and the existence of wealthy bourgeois family estates depended on the trade of Tokaj wines that travelled by cart to the British monarchs’ tables.

Somlói furmint, on the other hand, was sold as medicine in pharmacies across the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Wine has been produced and enjoyed for centuries. In addition to Budapest’s fine dining establishments that operate wine vaults and collections, wine bars and wine shops are opening in increasing numbers. Wine schools and sommelier-training courses have also sprung up in the previous year and a half.

Our panorama will offer not only an interesting historical overview about the Buda Hills’ vinicultural past, but will also offer visitors helpful advice on where to can sample delightful drinks. } Enjoy a glass on the roof

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Rooftop bars are increasingly popular in Pest, which at twilight offer an amazing panorama to complement your glass of wine.

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there once was a wine region From Altofen to Promontor via Adelsberg and Tabán

Joseph & Peter Schaffer: view of Buda and Pest 1787

Budapest, the city of wine

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Text Z oltán S ánta

Viniculture was already practiced in Roman times north and south of present day Budapest along the Danube. We could have used the subtitle “from Aquincum to Campona”…

Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, it was not until the 10th-11th centuries that vineyards could once again be found in the area. It was at this time that Benedictine and Cistercian monks settled in the region, and as we know, there’s no mass without wine. Viticulture records from the time of the Árpád Dynasty have survived, revealing taxes on wine vending.

Württemberg, for many also came from Franconia, so that simply calling them German speakers is more accurate). It is no wonder that until the mid-20th century, everything on the Buda side had a German name, from Dunabogdány to Tétény and beyond. These good people brought with themselves their work ethic and love of grapes.

Prior to the European phylloxera plague, the area around the Buda Hills was one of the country’s more important grape producing regions for a long time, referred to as the Buda-Sashegy

Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczky

For centuries, important sources of income for the state were the grapes and wines that grew along the Danube, for the wines produced here travelled far. The Turkish occupation lasting 150 years did not do much good for wine production owing to Islam’s stance on alcohol, however. People fled and villages emptied out, but Turkish adventurers wandered these landscapes. Recalling his visit to Hungary from 1660-1664, Evliya Çelebi wrote in his travelogue “According to the customs agent of Buda, from Gül Baba’s mound, the Middle Hills and Muhabad’s mound (Szabadság Hill) all the way to Gürz Elyas Hill (Gellért Hill) and going to Kile Ovasi’s mound (Kelenföld), and from there all the way to Óbuda in length and width there are 7,000 vineyards.”

Glorious past, promising present

Following Buda’s liberation in 1686, less than ten years passed before people began returning to abandoned settlements.

German words were heard in Buda’s grape-growing regions, for “Swabians” arrived (who of course only partially came from

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The tomb of the Ottoman dervish Gül Baba, surrounded by vineyards.

(Lithography by Károly Vasquez, 1837)

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Budapest, the city of wine

Photo © Fortepan / Budapest City Archives / György Klösz

wine region. These days, however, no one will look for this region. The phylloxera, also known as root lice, reached the Buda region in the 1880s, causing tremendous damage just as it had elsewhere in Europe. Consequently, wine production ceased in Szentendre, Budakalász, Óbuda, Tabán, Gellért Hill, and the former Promontor, also known as the Budafok and Tétény regions. Óbuda, Tabán and Budafók had become recreational areas by this time. The residents of Buda and Pest gladly visited these areas for their oleanders, geraniums, chequered

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} Who becomes a wine academic?

We could simply answer: those who love wine. But that would not be a proper response, since it is not enough to love wine; wine has to be studied and understood. The author of this chapter, Zoltán Sánta, has put much effort into understanding it.

Sánta graduated from Moscow State University with a degree in foreign affairs journalism. Able to speak French, English, Russian and German, he spent two decades working in cultural and educational administration, primarily in the field of international relations.

In the mid-1990s he led Hungary’s most important, market-leading artist management company Interkoncert for two years. Through this he became friends with the coloratura soprano star Edita Gruberova, who is of Hungarian and Slovak descent. To this day the wine academic is called the famous singer’s representative in Hungary among wine academic professional circles and by fans.

By the turn of the millennium, Sánta was employed by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where he maintained their website and organised the cultural activities of the Academy Club Association. Many chamber orchestras, string quartets and soloists owe the foundations

table-clothed pubs and restaurants, where alongside the tepertôs pogácsa (a Hungarian crackling scone) and traditional dishes local wine was served. Wine was also served in open-air or tented temporary restaurants, since the assistance of acidic wine was required to help digest the fresh sausages and fatty meats. Wine was also sold at markets and “tented festivals”.

Following the phylloxera plague, industrialisation and urbanisation left their mark. Although the pubs and restaurants survived in Óbuda up until the end of the Second World War, the years of communism did away with the last of the winding streets and single story homes. The surrounding hills’ “Swabian” names in time became Hungarian.

Nobility and eagles

The grapes on Sas (Eagle) Hill and in Promontor disappeared following the plague as well. Sas Hill, which lent its name to the wine region, served an important role. Its name had previously been Nemes (Noble) Hill, for it was where the city’s nobility had their vineyards. For a long time the romantic legend persisted, according to which following the liberation of Buda from the Turks, eagles flew from the hill, thereby giving it its current name. The truth, however, is quite different. In the 1840s, national consciousness grew, therefore the Hungarian nobility and citizens felt it was time to rename the city’s German names to Hungarian ones. Part of the names were simply reverse-translated into Hungarian. That’s how Brunnthal became Kútvölgy (Well Valley), Paulithal into Pálvölgy (Paul

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Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczky

The wine pavilion at the 1896 Millennial Exhibition in the City Park.

of their fame to him. In addition to hundreds of concerts, literary evenings and Academy balls, he has regularly organised dinners over the previous fifteen years with the participation of Hungary’s more important vintners and wineries.

The success of the first Academy Wine Competition (2009) inspired his immersion into wine culture. He chose the most prestigious school to further his knowledge, the London-based Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET). British drinking culture requires expertise, and the internationally standard-bearing institute offers wine education at four levels, with Sánta earning the highest qualifications in 2013, receiving the letters AIWS (Associate member of Institute of Wines & Spirits) after his name. He earned the title of Weinakademiker at one of WSET’s special affiliates in Rust, the Weinakademie Österreich (Austrian Wine Academy). Since 2011 he has taught at Borkollégium, Hungary’s oldest wine school. Sánta also regularly publishes in the monthly VinCE Magazin and at vinoport.hu.

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BuDapest, the city of wine

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Photo © Fortepan

Photo © Zoltán Sánta

Valley), Sonnenberg into Nap-hegy (Sun Hill), and Schwabenberg into Sváb-hegy (Swabian Hill). In other regions the names found in medieval records and chronicles were used, so that Steingraben became Rézmál. The third type of name preserves

Legendary Tabán, which was demolished in the 1930s.

the memories of people, such as Petneházi Meadow, Törökvész (Turkish loss) and Németvölgy (German Valley). The story goes that Nemes-hegy was Adelsberg in German, but owing to the strong Swabian dialect, the Hungarians mistook it for Adlersberg, hence the new name of Sas Hill.

Although the presence of Germans was significant, other ethnicities also left their mark over the centuries. Tabán was once known as “Rácváros” (Serb City), since Serbs lived in the area from the 14th century. Today, this part of the city is named after the Turkish words Débágháne/Tabakhane, which in Hungarian is Timár-telep (Tanner’s Settlement). It indicates that shoemakers and tanners had their workshops here. This later became Tabahon, which was later Hungarianised into Tabán. Clearing of the single story houses began in the 1930s, but the planned new district was never built. Recently grand plans were produced to develop this area into a “pub quarter”.

A few years ago and a little further north, a vineyard was planted on Castle Hill’s western slope, but owing to the amateur nature of the operation, it was short-lived.

Photo © MITTECOMM

By the end of the 19th century, Budafok became the Budapest region’s most important wine centre. Following the destruction

An entire street from the Villány wine region was recreated in the Záborszky cellar in Budafok.

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} Vienna’s wine relaxation quarter

The Austrian capital is quite proud that to this day it has 700 hectares of vineyards, even though Vienna is considerably cooler than most Hungarian wine regions. Perhaps the area most famous for wineries, pubs and restaurants is Grinzing. Traditionally, a vintner could sell their own wine here tax free or at a reduced rate. If a person is not in search of fine dining options, there are all sorts of typical dishes they can eat alongside a glass of gemischter Satz, which is when various grape varieties are traditionally fermented together. Visiting the Nussberg in the city’s northern part is a wonderful excursion, where among the vineyards we can find smaller wine shops. Occasionally you’ll even find simple but delightful dining options in this vibrant atmosphere.

left by the Turks, it became Eugene of Savoy’s property, known as Promontorium. Unfortunately the phylloxera plague left its mark here as well, for the vineyards disappeared from the surrounding hills in their entirety. However, the 30 kilometre long wine cellar system developed over the previous centuries has survived to this day. Consequently, Hungarian and Austrian wineries have located their headquarters here. It was indeed a significant moment in the settlement’s history when József Törley transferred his sparkling wine factory from Champagne to the area. He recognised that an excellent base for bubbly could be produced in nearby Váli Valley, Etyek, Sóskút and Alcsút.

The viticulture of Szentendre, located just north of Budapest, was significant for centuries in this important tourist destination. The Serbs who settled here brought their own unique styles and preparation methods. Although vineyards have all but disappeared from the city, the previous two years have seen an interesting experiment: the Kôhegybor company was founded with the intent of awakening Szentendre’s viti and vinicultural tradition from its hundred-year sleep. Soon enough, we’ll be able to taste and discover how it turned out.

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what DiD they pour into the Glasses?

As for a different red, the Villány-based vintner Attila Gera has produced wine from the Fekete Járdovány grape since 2011, but among the ancient varieties the Csóka grape holds the most promise. This variety can also be found among the handcrafted wines produced by József Szentesi.

Photo © BFTK Photostock

Trends and tastes will change over time, as have wines.

There is no need to introduce Kadarka, for it’s a popular grape variety among Hungarians to this day. Kadarka is a spicy, nicely acidic red wine perhaps best suited to Hungarian paprika-based meals.

} The Olaszrizling

The Budai Zöld can only be found in the Badacsony wine region, where it primarily serves to aid in the pollination of the Kéknyelû, although increasingly cellars are bottling it on its own. The Kövidinka is found primarily in the Great Plains, just as the Arany Sárfehér is. Mézes Fehér, on the other hand, is seeing a resurgence in popularity.

Hungary’s most widely grown grape is grown in vineyards covering 5,000 hectares. Of Hungary’s 22 wine regions, it is found in 21 and registered in 19. The Riesling produces especially nice wines in the Balaton Hills and around Eger. Popular for use in spritzers, better vintages can also be used to prepare a specialty “great” wine which ferments for longer and is produced from grapes found on a single hillside.

events 9-13 September The domestic winemaker society’s largest event held annually in Buda Castle turns a quarter of a century old this year. More than 200 wineries and a number of culinary enterprises will be present to greet visitors, with concerts performed into the late evening.

The event will feature programmes such as “Taste of Hungary” which will introduce local wine specialties, a wine auction and master classes held by the “Wine University.” http://www.aborfesztival.hu

26TH BUDAFOK SPARKLING WINE AND WINE FESTIVAL

5-6 September The festival’s motto will be “wine city in the big city”. A harvest procession, concerts and cellar visits will make the first weekend in September exciting for all. It’s worth paying a visit, since you only need to take one tram from the city centre to get to District XXII. http://www.budafokiborfesztival.hu http://www.facebook.com/budafokiborfesztival

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OLASZRIZLING OCTOBER

Photo © MITTECOMM

24TH BUDAPEST WINE FESTIVAL

AUTUMN PICNIC ETYEK

5-6 September Although Etyek is a bit further from the capital, it is the Etyek-Buda wine region’s most significant settlement. Pál Rókusfalvy, came up with the ideas for the Etyek Cellar and Kezes-Lábos (“Hands and Saucepans”) Festivals, which placed the area on the national wine map. With the annual festival outgrowing the village, the organisers rethought and downsized things so that now four times a year they invite the capital dwellers and locals to Etyek’s Újhegy and Szépvölgy. It’s become tradition for the local wineries to await guests paired with another winery from a different region. In addition to wines, tasty bites are also on hand. You can also leave your car at home, since buses can transport visitors from Kelenföld Railway Station. http://www.etyekipiknik.hu

The Great Olaszrizling Tasting 10 October, Hotel Sofitel, Chain Bridge For the third time the Winelovers team will devote October to our country’s most widely produced white grape variety. Many locations across the country will participate in the programme, with the main event being the Grand Olaszrizling Tasting, where in one place you can taste the best Rieslings that we and our neighbours produce. Thematic tastings and master classes will complete the day’s events. http://olaszrizlingoktober.hu

BORJOUR

PINOT NOIR & KADARKA TASTING

3 October, Stefánia Palace The evening will feature not only renowned wineries, but also young vintners who produce high quality wines will have the opportunity to be recognised.

Many among the established winemakers first gained popularity as a result of Borjour’s activities. Guests will have the chance to taste wines from these two popular varieties in the magnificent Stefánia Palace.

Master classes will also be held for those wishing to learn more. http://borjour.hu

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wine stations

Photo © MITTECOMM

You can purchase the wines you found to your taste in nearly all of the wine bars.

Perhaps it will be more expensive than in a wine shop, but the majority of the wines you can taste in these locations are unavailable in stores.

St. Andrea Wine and Gourmet

ST. ANDREA WINE AND GOURMET DOBLO WINE AND BAR Budapest V., Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 78. (Eiffel Palace)

This place bears the name of one of Eger’s most famous cellars. Opened in May 2015, it serves primarily wines and sparkling wines created by Dr. György LÐrincz, which we can taste in pleasing surroundings in the Eiffel Palace’s ground floor. Once the former headquarters for the Pesti Hírlap, the building now contains offices. The wine bar is also a great restaurant in a highly frequented location. Reserve a table in advance if you’re going for lunch or dinner.

Budapest VII., Dob utca 20.

With a moderately large selection of Hungarian wines, it also offers pizzas and simpler entrees in the Jewish Quarter. http://budapestwine.com Doblo WIne and Bar

A favourite of wine drinkers for many years now, the wide selection includes Hungarian and international options, with an exceptionally large offering of sparkling wines and champagnes. It’s also a good place to go if you’re feeling hungry. Innio’s unique design and pleasant ambience awaits everyone. http://innio.hu

D Gy co th yo h h

A

B

Budapest VII., Király utca 42.

Just a short walk from Gozsdu Court you will find this popular minimalist, colourfully decorated wine and tapas bar, which from time to time hosts professional wine exhibitions. A relaxed location with a knowledgeable owner, it features a fair selection of domestic wines. The cost-value ratio is excellent! https://www.facebook.com/kadarkabar

Photo © MITTECOMM

Budapest V., Balassi Bálint u. 27.

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Budapest V., Október 6. utca 9.

KADARKA BÁR

DROP SHOP

The first professional wine bar in the capital, where you will find an excellent selection of domestic and international wines and sparkling wines. Occasionally they host thematic tastings where you can discover rarities. The bites they offer to accompany the wines are made from the finest ingredients. If you’re looking for a quieter bar for a pleasant chat, this is the place for you! http://www.dropshop.hu

B

INNIO

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L a se h

K

B

BuDapest, the city of wine

Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczky

DOUBLE BUBBLE CHAMPAGNE BAR

Budapest VII., Madách tér 5.

An unmissable place for those who love bubbly. There is a wide selection of champagne, crémant, cava and prosecco, which occasionally can even be purchased by the glass. It’s quite trendy, so you’d better reserve a table. http://pezsgobar.com

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} The server is not a sommelier

Today many believe and call themselves sommeliers, incorrectly, for the server who offers wine is not a sommelier, but a cup-bearer. At present Hungary does not teach sommelier instruction, which is unfortunate because the highest level of wine and spirit knowledge is indispensable, for it also requires knowledge of coffee, cheese and cigars, but primarily how to pair food with drink. Furthermore, very few Hungarian restaurants have cup-bearers among their wait staff. If they do, the cup-bearer’s responsibility is to devise the wine and drinks menu, as well as obtain the product. Their job is to collaborate with the chef to determine what drinks to pair with which meals. In some cases they are also responsible for educating the novice wait staff.

POHÁRSZÉK

Budapest V., Aulich utca 7.

The sign advertises wine and coffee, and the owner places a lot of consideration into both. While not extensive, a refined (and exclusive) selection of Hungarian wines awaits guests. Also on offer are pálinkas (Hungarian fruit spirits), handcrafted products and tasty treats. http://poharszek.hu

DIVINO BAZILIKA

Budapest V., Szent István tér 3.

DIVINO GOZSDU

DiVino has expanded to include franchises, meaning that you can now find them in GyÐr and Debrecen as well. They offer the wines of the Junibor Association, which consists of young Hungarian vintners, therefore you will only find Hungarian wines in their selection. Should you arrive hungry, they also have tasty treats on the menu. If you’re looking for a youthful, exciting and music-filled wine bar, you won’t find better. http://divinoborbar.hu/ http://gozsdu.divinoborbar.hu/

ANDANTE BORPATIKA

Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczky

Budapest VI., Király utca 13.

Budapest I., Bem rakpart 2.

DiVino Gozsdu

Located on the Buda side of the Chain Bridge, Andante is a reliable destination offering a selection of domestic wines accompanied by reimagined Hungarian flavours. What sets it apart are the musical literary evenings that it hosts. http://www.andante-borpatika.hu

KISBÉCS

This location may have the widest selection of Austrian wines in Budapest. The wine list features the top names: Nikolaihof, Bründlmayer, Prager, Domäne Wachau, Umathum and Jurtschitsch, just to name a few. Ham and cheese platters can accompany your glasses. http://www.ausztriaborai.hu

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Photo © MITTECOMM

Budapest XII., Németvölgyi út 36–38. (the entrance is on Hollósy Simon utca)

KisBécs

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Photos © MITTECOMM

wine traDers

BORTÁRSASÁG (WINE SOCIETY)

Budapest, I. Lánchíd u. 5, I. Batthány u. 59., V. Vécsey u. 5., (Parlament), IX. Ráday u. 7.

IN VINO VERITAS

Budapest, VII. Dohány utca 58-62.

Budapest, III. (Óbuda), Szôlôkert köz 2.)

Perhaps the largest Hungarian wine retail network, their stores offer the most famous Hungarian wineries’ products, while also featuring a wide selection of international offerings, as well as sparkling wines and spirits.

RADOVIN WINE RETAIL

Budapest, II. Hidegkúti út 71.

Budapest, XIII. Pannónia u. 17/b You will find a somewhat smaller selection here, which nonetheless still has plenty of exciting options on offer.

The monthly sales are not to be missed.

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The owner Radovan Radosevics always makes certain that the selection in his shops will be quite different from the supermarkets. If you’re looking for something unique, this is where to turn to.

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wine schools

Photo © Ina Peters

There are a myriad of courses across the city, but we will only list the ones accredited

by London’s Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET).

BORKOLLÉGIUM

The oldest wine school in Budapest, the founders Dr. Gábor Rohály and Dr. Gabriella Mészáros played a decisive role in spreading wine knowledge. All of their instructors possess WSET diplomas. In addition to their traditional courses, they also offer thematic tastings and master classes.

CEWI

Budapest V., Apáczai Csere János utca 7.

For years this school has offered a solid education in wine and is now located in District V’s Hotel Zenit. The instructors are all highly qualified figures in Budapest’s wine culture.

DIVINO WINE SCHOOL

Budapest V., Szent István tér 3.

Operating in DiVino’s basilica branch, it caters primarily to the wine bar’s youthful audience, currently only offering beginner and intermediate courses.

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Photo © www.kreinbacher.hu

Budapest II., Pasaréti út 14.

} The Kreinbacher Estate medals at the Sparkling Wine World Championships

The Kreinbacher Estate of Somló was awarded three medals at the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC) this year, with the Somló furmint becoming highly acclaimed. All three of the sparkling wines entered by the Kreinbacher Estate received medals: the Prestige Brut received a silver, while the Extra Dry and Brut Classic sparkling wines earned bronze. The CSWWC is unique among international wine competitions, as it focuses exclusively on sparkling wines and champagnes and is judged by an internationally renowned jury of experts who specialise in sparkling wines, among them the competition’s founder, Tom Stevenson. This year was the second time the jury sampled and awarded points to champagnes and sparkling wines arriving from all corners of the earth. Entries were blind-tasted by the jury according to region and style at the 2015 competition.

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Photo Š MITTECOMM

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Recharge Yourself!

The autumn’s exceptional event, CAFe Budapest is Hungary’s most significant Contemporary Arts festival, awaiting fans of contemporary art for over two weeks. The focus will be on the works of Béla Bartók and two 80-year-old artists, the worldfamous Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and the French artist Pierre Boulez. Visitors can choose among opera performances, a unique choir performance spanning all of music history, dance theatre premiers and exhibitions between 2-18 October.

What will make this October different, is that Budapest outshone 22 other competitors to win the rights to host WOMEX. Comparable to the Cannes Film Festival’s significance within the world of film, this is the first time that the World Music Expo will be held in Central and Eastern Europe.

Opera, dance theatre, world music and jazz all feature in our selection.

} The Castle Garden Bazaar is the newest event venue for cultural festival

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A grotesque, avant-garde opera rarity at the CAFe Budapest Festival

A cavalcade of styles and unusual scoring make Shostakovich’s satirical opera The Nose a true curiosity, according to conductor Walter Kobéra, the intendant of the Neue Oper Wien. Jointly produced with Müpa Budapest, formerly the Palace of Arts, the performances can be viewed on 7-8 October within the framework of the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival.

This is not the first time that the Neue Oper Wien and Müpa have worked on a co-production. Previously, works by Hungarian composers were performed. Why did you select this piece?

Photo © Armin Bardel

Text: A ndrás O láh

In the past, we collaborated on György Ligeti’s “Le Grand Macabre” and Péter Eötvös’ Paradise Reloaded (Lilith), but for this occasion we looked for a work that is not performed in Vienna and not likely to be performed in Budapest either. Musically and thematically, The Nose is a very exciting piece.

What are the motifs, be they in the music or libretto, that attracted you most?

The Nose reminds me of a pasticcio owing to the many styles one can discover in it. Jazzy pop music, as well as tonal, atonal and bitonal sections alternate throughout the work. Richard Strauss used a similar concept in Capriccio. But the dialogues receive an important role in the work, which means the music is very faithful to the text too. This variety is exceptionally inspirational.

Shostakovich was only 22 when he composed the opera. To what extent had he refined his compositional skills by this point?

The Nose was definitely considered a breath of fresh air, but I have the feeling that Shostakovich was not yet consciously composing in every respect. He was quite a wild composer, owing to his youth, which is why this opera had such an exciting new sound.

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In addition to diverse musical styles, did Shostakovich have any other tools when he transferred the absurdity of Gogol’s work into the language of music?

The piece’s instrumentation is quite peculiar. We have four types of woodwind: flutes, an oboe, a bassoon, and an especially interesting clarinet part. We also have three brass instruments: trumpet, French horn and trombone. It is as if we’re only going to play chamber music. What is special is that the winds sometimes act as a two-part chorus in the intermezzos and that the percussion instruments also receive an intermezzo. This all qualified as novel in the early 1920s, which increased the music’s absurdity.

Marco Si Sapia, the Volksoper Wien company’s baritone, will perform Kovalev. I’ve collaborated with him many times. He’s a very exciting singer and actor, and perhaps his role is the most important. A great challenge awaits him. It is important that we have a singer that can also act well as the performance contains multiple prose parts. Another very important role is the constable, a high tenor role that will be performed by Pablo Cameselle, who is of Argentine ancestry but lives in Vienna.

The nose will be sung by another tenor, Alexander Kaimbacher, who was previously a member of the Vienna State Opera, but today works at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. I’ve also collaborated with him many times and he is a very versatile artist. Igor Bakan, a young bass, will sing the role of the barber Yakovlevich. Ten singers are featured in the performance, with the minor roles performed by the six choir members.

We created a dream-like world The piece is directed by the German Matthias Oldag. What primarily inspired you when staging The Nose?

The work is considered a milestone of 20th-century avant-garde music. It is surprising that, in the late 1920s, it took a young composer such as Shostakovich to find the courage and strength to write a work of this scale, filled with critiques on human life, human relations and about the early Soviet Union as well.

The other thing that excited me was that we got to work with a Russian piece. In this production, we will try to avoid a condescending tone towards the Russian world, and strive to observe what is actually going on in this society.

How would you reflect on the staging of this performance? What can we learn in advance from the piece’s appearance, decorations and costumes?

A reading of the piece reveals at least three dimensions of time. There is The Nose, which Gogol wrote in the first half of the 19th century, and which inspired the piece. Then there is Shostakovich’s era of the early 20th century, when the work was written, and finally our own period, from which we reflect onto everything. When we had to decide which one would receive

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Photo © müpa

Who will perform in the production?

emphasis, we could not forget that Shostakovich’s work is an avant-garde, modernist piece. Therefore, externally at least, we are aiming for a very contemporary presentation, which is just as exaggerated as the work itself exaggerates and distorts, just as if in a dream. The work’s name in Russian (Hoc – Nos) means dream if we read it backwards. Therefore we created a dreamlike world, which is less grounded in reality.

The story of the collegiate assessor Kovalev who loses his nose is a satirical observation of the Russian-Soviet social structure. Does the presentation of humour on the opera stage mean a greater challenge from a director’s perspective?

This is something that will become apparent by the end of rehearsals. I hope that there will be things to laugh about during the performance, but I trust that I can present things where the viewer will have a moment to consider why they are laughing at what they see on stage.

You’ve previously worked at Müpa, debuting during the Wagner in Budapest Festival with Tannhäuser in 2012. Do you have any similar work experiences at the Neue Oper Wien?

No, this is my first time working with them, and I really look forward to working with them in the future, just as it is a good feeling to return to Müpa.

cafebudapestfest.hu MÜPA, 7 October 2015

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Photo © Lamia Lahbabi

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the language or religion, singing about God’s love can never be a sin. When an American singer of Jamaican descent performed at the local French Institute, the 15-year old gladly joined the gospel choir that subsequently formed. She learned a great deal about singing this way and it helped to develop her voice.

Her breakthrough came with her song “Hamdulillah” ten years ago, for which she wrote the lyrics and music herself. She sings in Arabic and English in her song about praising the Lord. This is how she expresses her happiness for creation and the blessing of life. Oum’s alto voice has a smiling, joyful vibration and the harmony of her personality, confidence and movement on stage is easy to feel even for those who do not understand her verse. Conservative Muslims have reprimanded her on several occasions for her willingness to dance or for leaving her shoulders bare in her performances, but Oum replies that she does not feel the need to wear a veil, even though she is Muslim. She has always been the one to make fundamental decisions in her life. This can be felt in her voice, which occasionally becomes hard but still remains sensual.

Soul of Morocco Text: K ornél Z ipernovszky

“Come to the desert, my people await you!” Oum switches to English mid-song on her latest album. The Moroccan singer consciously strives to use her music as a bridge between cultures, world religions and geographical areas.

Born in Casablanca, Oum El Ghaït Benessahraoui usually appears on the world music hit lists with her name abbreviated to Oum. The name is usually given to females born when rain eases the heat in the Moroccan desert. Oum originally studied architecture, but fortunately turned to music instead. Raised Muslim, as a teenager she always listened to Whitney Houston, humming “Jesus Loves Me” while inside she felt that no matter

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As a Moroccan, Oum does not consider herself to be part of the Middle East’s cultural sphere, feeling she belongs more to Africa. Of course, the countries of the Magreb are at once Arab and African, but aside from her turban, Oum consciously wears jewellery prepared by Berbers, who are indigenous to North Africa.

The proximity of the Iberian Peninsula and heritage inherited from French colonialism have also left their mark on the country’s culture and music. Oum’s most recent album, Soul of Morocco, shows further development on the world music path that Lik Oum and Sweerty indicated: a fusion of Gnawa rhythms and Hassan music with elements of pop, hip-hop and rhythm and blues. French musicians frequently make up her touring quartet. A bass, guitar, flute and an oud (an Arab lute) used for solos provide the musical foundation upon which Oum can present her musical and thoughtful concepts: lyrics that cut through clichés and prejudices, and exotic melodies that meander and are laced with improvisation. In concert in Budapest, she will be introducing her new album Zarabi, released earlier this year.

cafebudapestfest.hu Bálna, 9 October 2015

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Photo © Jason Fulford

Recharge yourself!

Weaving

together the sound of black legends Text: K ornél Z ipernovszky

The saxophonist, composer and singer Matana Roberts draws deeply from the well of tradition so that her collage of sound can tell the history of Black Americans through music and spoken word recitals.

Can the spiritual about Joshua and Jericho be sung the same way in 2015 as it was 200 years before? Of course! But that’s not what occupies Matana Roberts, for this spiritual, once she has quoted from it, reminds her of another, into which she weaves a documentary audio recording, and to which she overdubs a saxophone. The meanings and layers of sound gradually flow into one another, as they include more and more perspectives,

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sounds and collective memories.

Roberts arrived gradually to this chronicler-bard career, as the daughter of parents who were passionately involved in the American civil rights movement. Her given name is Matana (Hebrew for gift) because she was born as they converted to Judaism. Roberts studied music in school, later frequenting Fred Anderson’s famous club in Chicago to play saxophone. Her first recordings to garner attention were as a member of the Sticks and Stones quartet in the early 2000s, after which followed albums released under her own name by British and Canadian record labels.

She began with a style steeped in avant-garde jazz traditions, gaining experience alongside Vijay Iyer, Myra Melford, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Amina Claudine Meyers and others, later becoming a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. In 2002 she moved to New York where she worked as a street musician and sold her own zine, for a while living aboard a boat moored in Brooklyn.

She began work on the Coin Coin project in 2005, by which time she had received several distinctions, scholarships and recognition.

One of the main sources of inspiration for this work, which is planned to span 12 albums, is Roberts’ experience that history is always divided into individual histories, so that they become separated from what tied them together, thereby changing them. This is what her collages indicate as well. As she stated in several interviews following the release of the newest album in the Coin Coin series earlier this year, the series does not wish to constantly discuss – as Roberts calls it – the history of the African Diaspora in America, for this third album focuses mostly on the story before they arrived there.

For ten albums she collaborated with a band, while two were solo efforts, in which case her saxophone provided her musical foundation, to which she later added layers of audio, with video projection for live performances. This is why Roberts called her work a panorama of interwoven sound.

What makes Coin Coin Chapter Three: river run thee interesting is that it is not the story’s third chapter, for chronologically it focuses on the earliest history of Black Americans. According to the magazine The Wire, the third in the series achieves new heights. For her live performance, Roberts will be accompanied by the Australian guitarist Oren Ambarchi, who himself performs with multiple instruments and electronic equipment.

cafebudapestfest.hu Trafó, 10 October 2015

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Photo © müpa

Non Solus New enchantment from Recirquel Text: A ndrás O láh

Recirquel’s fourth premiere, Non Solus, promises to be an unusual production from several perspectives. Even more intimate than what we are accustomed to, it features two performers that blend dance and acrobatic elements to form a visual presentation previously unseen in Hungary, as part of the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival, premiering on 15-16 October.

Not alone, as the performance’s Latin name states. Bence Vági, who founded the Recirquel Company and is the performance’s writer-choreographer-director says the name expresses an ambiguous decision: “It contains the conviction that man is not left to his own devices and has faith in unity. But it also means that humans are social beings and do not wish to live their lives alone; it is the expression of the wisdom gained during one’s lifetime.”

This new performance following the company’s earlier, monumental productions, will be performed on the stage by the acrobat Renátó Illés and dancer Gábor Zsíros. “The contrast in their personalities inspirited the piece, during which they approach each other’s genre from opposite directions,” the director said. “This is a very difficult process and requires serious preparation for both, for when an acrobat does a handstand, he must constantly pay attention to a fixed point, but during the performance Gábor will dance beneath Renátó.” The production’s more intimate atmosphere is also a challenge for Vági, for as he says “In a larger production, the director uses broader strokes to paint, but for a smaller painting much more detailed workmanship is required. Following three large productions, I was yearning to do something like this. I felt I needed to focus on the tiny vibrations, because this is how

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we find the keys that lead to the essence of theatre, and with their help we can open ourselves up towards a substantially greater world in this way.” The director considers it important that the Recirquel Company not mimic the French, Canadian or Australian contemporary circus companies, but to draw from Central European circus traditions. This is how the iron jaw act found a place in the production. One of the genre’s most internationally recognised artists, János Jedlicska was responsible for teaching this art form to the acrobats, whereby they hang supported only by their teeth, rise and spin in the air.

Despite the intense work involved, no one should be concerned that they will be presented with a dry and heavy performance, for Recirquel aims to transport viewers into an even more enchanting world than they previously have. Although the director places an emphasis on “illusions that are within reach”, Non Solus will employ an extraordinary projection technique previously unseen in Hungary through which the illusion of reality will be achieved, according to Vági. “In Canada, I discovered the genre of new magic. Magic is used to tell a story just as acrobatics do in a circus theatre environment. We’re not preparing with a wavy seashore or lava lamp illustration, for the projection will also advance the story and becomes an organic part of the production, as if a massive phenomenon were visible on the stage.” The storytelling is not only supported by the projection, but also by the set which is built from mirrors and evokes infinity, which is the work of set designer Árpád Iványi.

cafebudapestfest.hu MÜPA 15-16 October 2015

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Photo © Jimmy Katz

21 wife Jessica Molassky, who is also a singer, and they co-host their own show entitled “Radio Deluxe”. John’s bass player is none other than his brother Martin.

John is an old-school musician who has absorbed jazz into his system from childhood, playing guitar since he was six. He was able to master the genre’s ins and outs alongside the greats such as Benny Goodman, Les Paul, who John got to watch play the instrument that was named after him, Zoot Sims, who he accompanied, and Slam Stewart, whose trademark was to sing while he bowed the bass. When the family band recorded “My Blue Heaven”, they instantly became legends themselves, in part because the Chesky Recording Company released their spontaneous performance in exceptionally high quality despite the use of just one microphone, making it a benchmark recording. Pizzarelli opened for Frank Sinatra in 1993, and accompanied Old Blue Eyes along with his father at a gala event in Carnegie Hall.

Even so, Pizzarelli considers Nat King Cole to be his role model. He does not wish to mimic him, but instead imagines what the singer’s music would sound like in the 21st century. This concept has been released on two albums by RCA: Dear Mr. Cole and P.S. Mr. Cole. Pizzarelli, who can imitate the playing styles of anyone ranging from the Beatles to Duke Ellington and Antonio Carlos Jobim, is nonetheless still easily recognisable. He kept the good habit that the works he covers are all from one style, era or frequently from a single artist.

Jazz Deluxe Text: K ornél Z ipernovszky

The singer-guitarist John Pizzarelli is elegance embodied, a worthy heir to Ellington, Sinatra and of course his father Bucky Pizzarelli.

Most recently, he has partnered with none other than Paul McCartney.

The Pizzarelli family is just as close-knit as the Italian families depicted in American films, the only difference being that jazz is what makes the bonds so tight. The head of the family, Bucky Pizzarelli, is a grand old man of classic jazz guitar. He turns 90 in January, but is yet to slow down as the solo he plays on his son’s latest album reveals. The family’s most famous member is 55-year-old John. His performances always include his second

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Pizzarelli’s collaboration on Paul McCartney’s latest album inspired his current project. Sir Paul came up with the idea for Pizzarelli to cover his songs. That was all Pizzarelli needed to hear, and, with his wife and session pianist Larry Goldings, began to assemble the repertoire for Midnight McCartney. This album was not recorded by strict, buttoned-down musicians. For example, as a joke, Goldings made a drum-machine recording from “Silly Love Songs” featuring fake Portuguese nonsense. The others liked it so much that they kept the original idea, although the final recording features an authentic Braziian doing the singing.

cafebudapestfest.hu Budapest Jazz Club, 14 October 2015

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The wandering music expo stops in Budapest

WOMEX at the Bálna Text: G yula B alogh

This is the first time that the WOMEX world music expo is being organised in Eastern Europe.

This year will be the 21st event and will be held from 21-25 October, when the numerous branches of world music will be showcased, along with hip-hop, folk, jazz, highlife, cumbia, and other genres.

World music is a special musical category, since it is more of an umbrella term encompassing several genres that in some way – either closely or distantly – are tied to folk music, as Balázs Weyer of Hangvetô, who will organise the WOMEX fair, said.

A characteristic of world music is that it always leans on its own community, and that it is deeply embedded culturally and socially. World music does not use globalised forms such as pop or techno, but nourishes itself from local traditions. WOMEX is the most important annual showcase for this branch of music.

WOMEX is as important to world music as Cannes is to film, with the difference that WOMEX is held in a different location each year. The first event was held in 1994 in Berlin, just a few years after the idea of “world music” began to spread.

Since that time, WOMEX has been held in Brussels, Marseille, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Essen, Newcastle, Seville, Thessaloniki and Cardiff, with last year’s event held in Santiago de Compostela. The expo in Budapest will be the first to be held in Central and Eastern Europe. One of the aims of the organisers is for each event to feature some of the characteristics of the host nation.

Joie de vivre for Budapest The organisers hope that Budapest can profit from WOMEX’s success, and that the prestigious industry event can bring new vitality to the city from a professional perspective. 3,500 international professional guests are expected for this year’s WOMEX, while admission for the public is open via day tickets or passes. What Hangvetô would like to achieve and what WOMEX can help with is for Hungarian entertainers to receive even better performance options abroad, for which the necessary background and infrastructure can be built.

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WOMEX can help Hungary to organise quality world music events with international performers, as is the case in neighbouring countries such as Slovakia and Poland.

A fair in the Bálna The WOMEX expo is an exceptionally complex musical review, which is geared at both industry professionals and the local community. The exhibition, conference and fair that the Bálna will host will be an unmissable event primarily for those interested in the industry. Players in the market will meet with each other here, as will performers and scouts, potential concert location representatives, festival managers and representatives of aspiring bands, as well as record companies, distributors and journalists and critics. This is such an import platform in the wold music canon, that the following year’s big performances and record deals are usually agreed to here.

The seven samurai decide Another important part of the event is the Showcase Festival, the performers of which are selected from thousands of entrants by a jury of seven “samurai” who rotate each year and come from all over the world. Entrants are asked to upload five songs, three videos, photos, a description of the group and a list of their last ten concerts. The assessment is preceded by an online filter, after which the members of the jury hold a discussion.

“The fact that the curators are different each year is a bonus, because it means the jury’s tastes cannot be predicted, and if the musicians were always striving to please certain tastes, it would distort the market,” says Balázs Weyer, who discovered as a member of the jury last year how much responsibility and work is associated with the process. This year’s jury contains a

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Photo © WOMEX

Cheikh Lo will accept his WOMEX Artist Award in Budapest.

festival organiser, a manager, a concert promoter, a journalist and a blogger. The jury has had a Hungarian representative for three consecutive years. In addition to Balázs Weyer, two years ago manager Fruzsina Szép and this year András Lelkes, the co-founder of Hangvetô, were on the jury. During the WOMEX Showcase Festival, more than 60 performances will be held by artists from all corners of the world, which means that it is not only world music’s most important annual review, but the organisers also hope it is a celebration of tradition and innovation, cultural heritage and diversity in one.

In addition to the main stage, there will be an Eastern Europe Stage as well, with the offWOMEX Stage offering space for special projects. The selected artists will represent four continents, 16 countries and many genres within world music.

Among them are successful musicians, such as Aziza Brahim, Avishai Cohen and the Nigerien Mamar Kassey, as well as emerging artists such as the Guinean Moh! Kouyate, the Congolese Pierre Kwenders and the French-Indian Tritha Electric. Among the musicians to make the cut are the Hungarian Cimbalomduó, which consists of Kálmán Balogh and Miklós Lukács. Their recently released album is currently in a prominent location on the world music charts. As a matter of fact, there are several Hungarian success stories in WOMEX’s history. The first WOMEX already had Hungarian performers (the Ökrös Band), and Muzsikás received the WOMEX Award for Artists in 2008. The opening ceremony for the 2011 WOMEX in Copenhagen featured Hungarian

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performers, and a year later Félix Lajkó also received rave reviews at the expo.

Opening ceremony: Gypsy music in focus 22 cities competed to host WOMEX this year, which is why it is such a great accomplishment that Budapest and Hangvetô won the right to organise the event. Additionally, this was the first time a Hungarian company entered a tender to host.

The central element to the tender was the Eastern European theme, as well as cooperation with the Visegrád, Baltic and Balkan countries. Hangvetô also won the rights to organise the opening ceremony, which this year will focus on Gypsy music, with the 70-minute gala performance featuring musicians from Hungary and the surrounding countries. Romengó and Bea Palya are among the performers from Hungary, who will be joined by Szalonna és Bandája from Subcarpathia, the folk musician and dancer Attila Oláh from Slovakia, as well as the blind Belgian Gypsy violinist Tcha Limberger. Once the festival programmes have finished at Müpa, the series will continue on the A38 Boat with night-time DJ programmes. The event will be launched the previous night in the Fonó Music Hall, where ten Hungarian bands will perform.

WOMEX - www.womex.com Bálna, 21-25 October 2015

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Photo Š Phillip Done

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Life & Science The deceased are recalled in a variety of ways, such as paying a visit to the cemetery.

Budapest’s Cemetery Company has worked for years to expand access to Budapest’s kegyelet (“respect for the dead”) culture not only for the benefit of Hungarians, but also for international visitors who wish to explore this fascinating part of the capital. This autumn, the company will offer groups the chance to take guided walks in Budapest’s cemeteries to visit notable grave sites. Three cemeteries will offer this option, the Farkasréti Cemetery, the New Public Cemetery (Újköztemetô and also known as the Rákoskeresztúri Cemetery) and the Óbuda Cemetery.

Continuing the life’s work of the departed is perhaps the most honourable way to remember them, something that science strives for. This autumn Budapest will become the world capital of science, hosting the ITU Telecom World conference, as well as the World Science Forum, which will attract Nobel Prize winners and other highly esteemed intellectuals.

} Autumn in the Kerepesi Cemetery

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The national graveyard is one of Hungary’s most significant historic sites

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canDles for everlastinG liGht a walk throuGh BuDapest’s

notaBle cemeteries text: G yÖrGyi o rBán

Photo © Alisa Kennedy

The family tomb of Károly Kamermayer, the first mayor of Budapest, in Kerepesi Cemetery

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Respect for the departed has been practiced for thousands of years – you may recall from school that the ancient Romans marked the passing of loved ones. In the Christian world, the Feast of All Saints was not always held on 1 November, but was transferred to that date in the 8th century. It is no coincidence that this date begins the year in the Celtic calendar and coincides with the ancient Samhain festival. The Celts believed that the souls of those who passed in the previous year left their graves to travel to the realm of the dead on this day. To aid their peaceful passage, food and animals were sacrificed to the spirits. The Feast of All Saints was first officially recognised by Louis I the Pious, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor (778-840), so that it became a celebration throughout Christianity from 835. In Hungary, it became a holiday once again in 2000.

Photo © Péter Komka / MTVA

All Souls’ Day was introduced by Saint Odilo, the Benedictine Abbot of Cluny in 1030. It was widely adopted in the 11th century, becoming an official church feast day in the 14th century. On this day, those left behind spend the day in penitence, prayer and attend church for their departed.

All Souls’ Day is on 2 November, when graves are put in order and white chrysanthemums are commonly laid upon them.

Folk superstition holds that the reason for cleaning the graves is a preventative measure so that the dead should not wish to return to life. Candles representing eternal light are lit in memory of the dead and placed on the graves. Multiple folk superstitions are related to the day, for in ancient times it was believed that the person whose candle burns out first will also be the first to die. In certain regions, bells were rung for the departed, while

elsewhere at family feasts a place at the table was still set for the dead. In some cases, food was even taken to cemeteries.

Budapest’s oldest cemetery and today the country’s most important was opened at the city’s edge on Kerepesi Road on 1 April 1849, which happened to be Palm Sunday. Today named the Fiumei Road National Graveyard, but colloquially called the Kerepesi Cemetery, it has been declared a National Memorial Site to allow Hungarian and foreign visitors to become acquainted with the final resting places of notable Hungarian figures. The idea was based on Paris’s Père Lachaise and London’s Westminster Abbey cemeteries. The Fiumei Road National Graveyard contains the final resting places of such notable figures as Lajos Batthyány, Hungary’s first prime minister with actual authority, Ferenc Deák, who engineered

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The colonnade in Kerepesi Cemetery

Photo © MITTECOMM

Photo © BFTK Photostock

The Kossuth mausoleum in the centre of the Kerepesi Cemetery

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Photo © BFTK Photostock

the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Lajos Kossuth, the central figure in the Revolution and Failed War of Independence in 1848-1849, Ferenc Erkel, who wrote the music for the Hungarian national anthem, and the industrialist Ábrahám Ganz, whose mausoleum was built by the renowned architect Miklós Ybl. Famous poets and writers are also laid to rest here, such as the poets Mór Jokai, Mihály Vörösmarty, Endre Ady, Attila József and Miklós Radnóti, as are many heroes from the two World Wars and the 1956 Revolution. The cemetery also contains a kegyelet museum (kegyelet is without an English equivalent but means “respect for the dead”).

Buda’s old cemeteries, such as those found in Víziváros, Tabán and Németvölgy, are no longer to be found, with their valuable graves either worn away with time or relocated to Budapest’s larger cemeteries. The Farkasréti Cemetery was opened on Széchenyi Hill’s south-eastern slope in 1894. The largest in Buda today, it is the primary burial site for academics and artists, with both Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály interred there.

Photo © MITTECOMM

The domes in the colonnade of the Kerepesi Cemetery were decorated by famous artists. In this picture Aladár Körösfôi-Kriesch’s painting was transposed into a mosaic by the era’s legendary glazier, Miksa Róth (1907).

Bela Bartok’s tomb in the Farkasréti cemetery (sculpture by Ádám Farkas)

cleansed, their nails and hair are cut and they are dressed in a tachrichim, a simple white shroud. The other section is where services are held and where they are placed in an unhewn coffin and lay in state. A fork-shaped branch is placed in their hand, so they will have something to lean on when they are resurrected. The immediate family are obligated to mourn and say a Kaddish or prayer for the dead in the cemetery. Men may only enter the cemetery with covered heads and it is not po-

© Wikipedia.org PhotoPhoto © wikipedia

The novelist Mór Jókai’s grave in the Kerepesi Cemetery.

Jewish Cemeteries

Judaism does not have a special day set aside to recall the departed. For those of the Jewish faith, death is not unexpected nor a surprising change, but is accepted as a normal part of life, when everyone becomes equal. In Hebrew, a cemetery is called a “kvores”, which has a Tziduk Hadin building at its entrance, which is divided into two sections: one is where the dead are

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Ceremonial building at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Salgótarjáni Road (designed by Béla Lajta 1903-1907)

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Photo © BFTK Photostock

An Art Nouveau crypt in the Kozma Street Jewish Cemetery, designed by Béla Lajta

Memorial tombstones in the Kozma Street Jewish Cemetery.

Photo © BFTK Photostock

The tomb of Alfréd Hajos, the famous architect and Olympic champion swimmer.

(Kozma Street Jewish Cemetery)

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lite to take flowers, visitors instead place pebbles on the gravestone. Eating, drinking or smiling are forbidden. At the time of „Mazkir”, as part of the remembering process, charitable donations are offered to preserve the memory of the deceased.

Signs must be placed to mark a grave, the Bible states. Visual depictions can refer to the deceased’s name, such as a fish for Fischer, while a palm for an honest person, and hands offering a blessing can indicate the grave of a priest. The listed Salgótarjan Road Jewish Cemetery is significant in terms of its cultural history. The graves and eclectic, historicist mausoleums in varying states of decay are gorgeous. The cemetery was consecrated in 1874, but only shows a brief period of history, for the remains here are mostly from the dualism period (1867-1918) and contain such industrial and financial luminaries as the Goldbergers, Hatvani-Deutsch and Manfréd Weiss. Béla Lajta, the famous architect from the first two decades of the 20th century, prepared 40 gravestones here and in the Kozma Street Cemetery, which is the country’s largest Jewish cemetery.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cemeteries_in_Budapest www.btirt.hu

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the symBol of hunGarian scholarship

Photo © BFTK Photostock

the hunGarian acaDemy of sciences turns 150

While heading towards Budapest’s iconic Chain Bridge, those on their way to Buda Castle will see the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ neo-renaissance palace on their right. This grandiose public building holds a very prestigious position in the city and was ceremoniously opened 150 years ago on 11 December 1865.

Count Ferenc Széchényi founded the Hungarian National Museum, while his son István Széchenyi donated a year’s income from his properties in order to establish the Academy.

Today, the square before the building bears his name.

The National Assembly established the Hungarian Learned Society by law in 1827. The society’s members, activities, collections and prestige rapidly expanded, so that it outgrew one building after another in downtown Pest. In 1858, Baron Simon Sina donated 80,000 forints (a significant amount at the time) towards the construction of a new headquarters, which was followed by enthusiastic public donations. The total cost eventually came to 800,000 forints.

The palace’s location was the former Kirakodó (“Unloading”) Square, where traders bought and sold their wares that arrived on the Danube. An artificial mound was built in 1867 so that Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph could point his dress sword at the four points of the compass while atop it on horseback as part of his coronation as King of Hungary. What increased the value of the property considered for the Academy was that Pest-Buda’s first permanent crossing, the Chain Bridge, was located right by. Hopes were high that the area would become one of the city’s finest squares. We can honestly say those hopes came true. Highlighting the importance of the project, the era’s most famous, internationally renowned architects were asked to design the building. Imre Henszlmann and Antal Szklanitzky Jr. were called home from Paris, while Miklós Ybl and the Viennese Heinrich Ferselt were extended an invitation to participate. Neo-gothic, classicist and neo-renaissance plans competed with each other - this was the first debate presented publicly regarding architectural design style. In the end, the plans submitted by the Berliner architect Friedrich August

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Stüler were selected while construction works were overseen by the architect’s apprentice, Antal Szklanitzky and Miklós Ybl. The palace’s main façade that looks onto Széchenyi István Square evokes the Palazzo Corner and other Venetian palaces. The building’s architecture and ornamentation is based on a synthesis of renaissance and antique-Hellenistic elements.

The main block’s first and second floors contain the grand Ceremonial Hall decorated with Károly Lotz’s frescos, while the third floor houses the art gallery.

The façade looking onto Akadémia Street features a long bronze relief recessed into the wall, which depicts the famous scene of the Academy’s founding, with István Széchenyi’s stately figure positioned in the middle. The adjoining four story building, which attaches to the palace’s rear was once an apartment building, but today houses the Academy’s library. This too was built in neo-renaissance style.

The building’s stone exterior is also quite unique. Plastered facades were considered the norm in Pest-Buda at the time and buildings with stone exteriors first began appearing in the early 1860s. Only the main façade of the Vigadó Concert Hall facing the Danube was decorated in this manner however, for the Academy each of its façades were decorated with this elegant and more expensive material.

(Based upon the work of Dr. József Sisa)

Hungarian Academy of Sciences www.mta.hu

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Where Nobel Prize-

winning scientists meet World Science Forum in Budapest

After four years, the world’s scientists and politicians will once again return to the Hungarian capital. From 4-7 November, Budapest will again host the World Science Forum (WSF). This year will mark the seventh time this event has been held.

Photo © MTA

Text: J ózsef G yüre

It is a significant science diplomacy success that in 1999 the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was the first to organise the WSF. The international event brought to Budapest the world’s leading researchers and scientific policy decision makers: 2,000 participants from more than 150 countries and a host of Nobel Prize-winning researchers, national academy leaders and numerous politicians. The event was an opportunity to showcase Hungary’s renowned intellectual achievements and research initiatives to a wide audience, while making it possible for the Hungarian capital to present itself as one of the world’s leading scientific centres.

Interest in science has steadily increased since the mid-1990s.

This is in part due to the efforts of former American President Bill Clinton, who in 1997 in a memorandum to the United States Senate set as a goal the building of a knowledge-based society, in which he asked science to provide assistance with its development. That same year, following the president’s letter of intent, UNESCO and the International Council

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for Science (ICSU) decided that in order to create a knowledge-based society in the 21st century, a new type of contract must be agreed to between scientists, politicians, influential media, as well as business leaders. As such it was necessary to establish an international-level forum.

At this point the two governing bodies of the WSF undertook a search for an appropriate host with the required infrastructure already available to capably manage such a large international conference. The host country also needed to have a highly respected science legacy. Additionally, the host nation would need the financial resources to take on such an event (costing hundreds of thousands of dollars) in order to cover the costs of organisers and international guests.

Following the model of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, the organisers decided that with Budapest as its headquarters, they would launch a series of biennial events. The World Science Forum was first held in November 2003, for which Budapest and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences hosted the

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Photo © Cem Özdel - Anadolu Ajansı

event in conjunction with World Science Day. Around the world there is fierce competition to host events of such significance, for beyond considerations of prestige, there are also important professional, ethical, social and economic interests at play. The right to organise the WSF was secured in no small part due to the efforts of Hungarian science diplomats, as well as internationally esteemed scientists of Hungarian descent living abroad.

The significant changes occurring in the world and the rapid advancements being undertaken in individual scientific fields necessitated the renewal of the forum.

On the recommendation of the Academy, the WSF’s governing body decided that from 2013, every other meeting must be held outside of Europe, therefore Budapest would only host the event every four years from that point forward.

Since the forum was held in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, this year will see Budapest once again play host to the world’s leading scientists and politicians, with plans for UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon to also pay the country a visit Science is a force that opens up new possibilities for the world – this is the message for this year’s forum, which has been summed up in the motto “The Enabling Power of Science”. The event’s presentations and programme will revolve around two themes.

One will focus on sustainability, offering a good opportunity for

scientists and politicians to summarise the millennium development goal results before the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris this December. The other theme will be communication.

This will incorporate the relationship between science, politics and society and their interaction with each other, and will be critically debated by the participants. The forum’s programme will also feature smaller events: the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission will discuss the question of how science can assist in measuring and analysing river watersheds, in advance of expected changes for the countries that will be affected. The European Union of Science Journalists’ Associations will hold their European conference in Budapest the day before the forum begins.

United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon is The next WSF to be hosted expected to visit the forum.

by Budapest will be in 2019 on the twentieth anniversary of the initiative’s launch, but before that the forum will meet in Amman, Jordan in 2017.

Location and dates: Budapest, 4-7 November 2015.

Organisers: UNESCO, International Council for Science (ICSU), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC), Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA).

} Diplomats of Science Previous World Science Forums (WSF) have welcomed the top names in the scientific world, some of whom we would like to mention. A regular guest to the forum was Werner Arber, the Swiss microbiologist and geneticist who is an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) and received a Nobel Prize in 1978. Nobel Prize-winning (1981) neurologist and honorary MTA member Torsten Wiesel has attended the forums on multiple occasions. The Egyptian chemist Ahmed Zewail, who is a professor at Caltech and was the first Nobel Prize-winning (1999) scientist of Arab descent, presented at the closing ceremony in 2009. At the 2011 opening ceremony Yuan T. Lee, then president of the International Council for Science (ICSU), honorary MTA member and the first Taiwanese scientist to receive the Nobel Prize (1986) delivered a speech. In 2005 Peter Lax, the Hungarianborn Abel Prize-winning mathematician attended, and Jane Goodall, the British ethologist, anthropologist and famous chimpanzee researcher was the WSF’s guest. In 2007, a presentation was held by the Hungarian-born

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Sir George Radda, a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, who was one of the key individuals in the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In 2009 a panel discussion on the responsibilities of scientific journalism was hosted by astrophysicist Philip Campbell and biochemist Bruce Alberts, the editors-in-chief of Nature and Science respectively. In 2011 a presentation was given by Ethiopian-American plant geneticist and Purdue University Professor Gebisa Ejeta, who is also science advisor to Barack Obama and in 2009 received the World Food Prize (nicknamed the agricultural Nobel).

WSF hosted the Hungarian-born Julia Marton-Lefèvre on several occasions, who from 2007-2014 was Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). A regular attendee at the forum is Alan Leshner, the CEO Emeritus of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Since the WSF is co-organised by UNESCO, former Director-General Koichiro Matsuura regularly attended, with his successor Irina Bokova delivering a speech at the opening ceremony in 2011.

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capital of the DiGital worlD

The International Telecommunication Union will hold their Telecom World conference in Budapest from 12-15 October, which IT experts and economists hope will result in an economic boost and growth in competitiveness.

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text: J óZSef G yüre Fast technological development has a fundamental impact on the way the world evolves. So that Hungary can work towards becoming an active player in technological changes the Hungarian parliament will assist the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the organisation of their Telecom World event with a grant of 800 million forints. “It is an honour for Hungary to host this jubilee world conference for this 150-year-old organisation that contains 700 industry and associate members. Last year the event was held in Doha, and the year prior in Bangkok,” said István Manno, the Ministerial Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who since January has been tasked with overseeing the organisation and preparatory work for the event.

Telecommunications professionals will meet in Budapest from 12-15 October. The role of host is important for Hungary, because the event provides a unique opportunity to introduce to the world stage key achievements attained by the Hungarian infocommunications industry, its local market players, as well as the country’s academic and public sectors. Furthermore, it offers local SMEs and start-ups the chance to gain exposure at an international level. The conference will have two overriding themes: smart cities and big data, but the topics of a digital single market, as well as digital nations will also be discussed by presenters.

Hungary will be present with its own pavilion at the event, which consists of three main elements: exhibition, forum and networking. All will have space in the Hungexpo Budapest Fair Center (accompanying events will be held in the Castle Garden Bazaar, the Vigadó Concert Hall and Müpa). Through its independent pavilion, Hungary will showcase to the telecommunications sector that its economy is strong in innovation and that its vocational training in higher education is excellent.

Several thousand visitors are expected at the business-based conference, and attendance is the type of investment that everyone can profit from. Budapest is a particularly attractive destination for conference tourism, since it is easily accessible from the Middle East and Asia, and offers the opportunity to entice the region’s European guests back to the world conference.

Budapest awaits guests with its modern infrastructure and world-class services. The capital is also an exciting location from an industry perspective, because ever since the early stages of telegraph communications and information technology, Hungarian scientists have contributed to this sector’s development through numerous technological achievements and progressive innovations.

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Roughly 10-12% of Hungary’s gross GDP comes from infocommunications technology, with a significant annual growth of approximately 4% in the sector. Currently this is the country’s best developing branch of industry, which contains not only international investors, but also has a wealth of Hungarian enterprises and start-ups.

} What is ITU?

The International Telecommunication Union is the United Nations’ most important global organisation committed to information and communications technologies and is responsible for supporting international telecommunications cooperation. It was established in Paris in 1865 and originally named the International Telegraph Union. Hungary joined ITU in January 1866. The Geneva-headquartered organisation has 193 member states and 700 industry and associate members. The organisation has the responsibility of supporting international cooperation in the realm of infocommunications, allocating global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, and developing the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect.

} What should I know about the Telecom World conference?

The ITU Telecom World conference is a global event where information and communications technology developers, government officials, standardisation authority leaders and important industry business leaders meet in the framework of a multi-day conference, to introduce the latest trends and to strengthen contacts between industry and governments.

The event provides the opportunity for heads of state and government, as well as industry executives to meet. Organised since 1971 and annually from 2011, in 1992 Budapest was host to a regional “Europe Telecom” conference, meaning that the event in a somewhat expanded format is returning to Hungary after 23 years.

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ITU http://telecomworld.itu.int

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Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczky

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City Guide “Budapest suddenly grew into a big city”, the article “The three faces of Art Nouveau in Budapest” declares. Budapest, which came about with the unification of Pest, Buda and Óbuda in 1873 truly embarked on an unparalleled expansion in the last quarter of the 19th century. Just as an adolescent outgrows their trousers, the city outgrew its classicist palaces and wanted to display its newfound wealth from industrialisation not only inward, but outward as well with colourful, decorative ornaments on its new buildings. Monumentalism on one hand, and finely worked details on the other. Hungary’s architects were at the peak of their craft and frequently were the first to use new technologies in creating Budapest’s incomparably rich turn-ofthe-century architectural inheritance.

The decorative motifs launched a unique Hungarian architectural style, due to superb creators such as Ödön Lecher, Miksa Róth and Béla Lajta, but it also influenced industrialists, such as the world-famous porcelain manufacturer Vilmos Zsolnay, whose work is preserved on countless buildings in the city.

} The Gresham Palace on Széchenyi Square

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One of the finest examples of Budapest art nouveau admired around the world is the turn-of-the-century home of the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest

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the three faces of art nouveau in BuDapest

Photo © IMM.hu

text: a ndráS t ÖrÖK

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Porcelain ornamentation in the external foyer of the Museum of Applied Arts

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In the final third of the 19th century, modern architectural training was launched in Hungary, and the younger generation travelled widely. Meanwhile, even poorer people had access to architectural trade magazines. In the early 1890s, the Modern Style spread like wildfire across Europe from Belgium and France, best known by its French name, Art Nouveau. This trend then quickly became influenced by the national characteristics of each country, so that local varieties emerged. It also received different names from country to country, most notably Jugendstil in Germany and Secession in Austria, which the Hungarians adopted as Szecesszió.

If Budapest’s central area is fundamentally comprised of historicist buildings, then we can certainly say that the spice in this city’s special sauce is Art Nouveau. Historicism, especially Neo-Renaissance, its most widely adopted variety, is an eternal style that appears natural and does not draw attention to itself.

Art Nouveau is the opposite, for it places emphasis on variety, asymmetry, bright colours and an orgy of irregular forms.

Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczky

Art Nouveau catches the eye of every tourist and traveller who comes to Budapest. This short-lived period, which was ended by the First World War, left a complicated mark on the city as there are at least three types of Art Nouveau in Budapest.

The Art Nouveau Bedô-house

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One type is the imported, pattern-following Art Nouveau. These are buildings that could easily stand anywhere in Brussels or Vienna. Perhaps the best example for this is the Bedô House (District V, Honvéd utca 3) near parliament, designed by Emil Vidor (1867-1952) and featuring conch-shaped windows in its stairwell.

Then there is also Hungarian Art Nouveau, which features folk motifs.

The rich porcelain ornamentation on the Postal Savings Bank designed by Ödön Lechner.

The grand master of this type was Ödön Lechner (1845-1914), who created the style. He designed significant public buildings, such as the Museum of Applied Arts (1896) and the Postal Savings Bank (1901). Both are strongly influenced by elements of folklore. Here, however, there is a small problem. The exploration of the forms of Hungarian folk art was only in its nascent stages at the time. Lechner’s decorative elements are in truth of Indian origin.

Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczky

Budapest was caught up in the trends of modernism and progress at the turn of the 20th century. The ruling elite considered historicism as the natural and eternal style to build in as the new palaces erected in Vienna, Paris and London were built with this in mind. Visitors to Budapest today will correctly find Budapest to be a great city of coherent historicism.

Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczky

In the 19th century, Budapest suddenly grew into a big city, a familiar stop for visiting travellers. The Hungarian capital (only officially a single city since 1873) strove to step out of Vienna’s shadow in the century’s final third. In fact, it simultaneously attempted to compete with its illustrious neighbour. That this did not seem a hopeless undertaking is due to Budapest’s unquestionably more attractive natural endowments. Hilly Buda across from flat Pest, with Europe’s second longest river flowing between them, over which they built bridges, with each one more exciting than the one before it.

The decorative relief by Béla Lajta in the front of the Vas Street Commercial School.

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Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczky

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The decorative entrance to the Grand Hall in the Liszt Academy of Music.

Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczky

The third type of Budapest Art Nouveau is mixed with Modernism and can be paired somewhere with the work of the Scotsman Charles Rennie Mackintosh, although it cannot be said for certain that there is a direct influence. Béla Lajta (18731920) is unquestionably the greatest figure in modernist Art Nouveau architecture in Hungary. His most significant building is the Vas Street Commercial School (District VIII, Vas utca 9-11). This red brick building, which has survived in good condition, is dominated by the right-angled lines characteristic of Modernism, but the small details, such as the door knobs and all sorts of decorations, reveal the fluidity of Art Nouveau.

The door of the Postal Savings Bank.

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The architects mentioned above were the big figures who found the most appropriate style for their personalities (even if they were not exactly young by that time) in Art Nouveau.

These impressive works were left behind by architects who, just like the best fashion designers, are always capable of designing

in the latest styles. The best architectural example of Hungarian Art Nouveau, which includes historicist, original Art Nouveau and Modernist elements is the Liszt Music Academy building (District VI, Liszt Ferenc tér 8) designed by Flóris Korb (18601930) and Kálmán Giergl (1863-1954). Inside and out, it features such fine examples of painting and sculpture that no one would consider that the building, due to the construction of its audience balconies, is one of the earliest examples of reinforced concrete architecture in Hungary. During the thorough renovations conducted from 2011 to 2013, all of the original decorations and colours were restored, the two courtyards were covered and air-conditioning was introduced. A perfect symbiosis was created between the old and new, as the magical acoustics remained while the old squeaky parquet floors were replaced, along with the old seats. To paraphrase the style found on popular internet portals: “If you only see one Art Nouveau building in Budapest, make it the Music Academy!”

If you like Art Nouveau and have the financial means, then it’s worth spending a night in the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace, which is one of the most elegant places from Vienna to San Francisco. The building was erected as an investment by an English-owned life insurance company on the city’s best parcel of land located at one end of the Chain Bridge (designed by Zsigmond Quittner, József Vágó and László Vágó, and opened in 1907). During the communist period and following nationalisation, the building fell into decay, but in the first years of the new millennium it was transformed into a five-star hotel with 179 rooms.

Those who cannot afford to spend the night should still go to experience the beautiful foyer.

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Art Nouveau as a style fell out of fashion worldwide following the First World War. Its sprawling decorations and awkwardto-build round forms were ridiculed for decades by modernist architects and the press that supported them. Art Nouveau began to see a renaissance in Hungary in the early 1980s.

Photo © MITTECOMM

Just as many did not appreciate it for a long time, very few interiors have survived from the Art Nouveau era. One that has is the Philanthia Flower Shop in Budapest’s old shopping location Váci Street 9. It was designed by the architect Albert Körössy (1869-1855) in 1905. The shop’s name in Greek means “the love of flowers”.

The façade of the Philanthia Flower Shop in Váci Street.

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The luminous glass mosaic celling in the interior foyer of the Museum of Applied Arts

Photo © IMM.hu

The wrought iron entrance of the Gresham Palace.

Photo © IPaul Thuysbaert

City Guide

Budapest’s most original Art Nouveau building is the Museum of Applied Arts designed by Ödön Lechner, which is the third museum built to serve this function, and was completed in 1896. That was the year that Hungary celebrated the thousand-year anniversary of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. It was almost like a high water mark for the hopes of the period of rapid development in Hungary, when architecture and every other form of art represented progress, and was a source of joy not only for the elite, but for the average local as well.

Following the First World War, the Neo-Baroque style enjoyed a revival, but after a decade or so modernism triumphed, as grand villas and even various quarters of the town were built in the Bauhaus style. If we wanted to assemble the ingredients of the city’s architectural heritage, we would say Budapest is a city of historicism, Art Nouveau and Bauhaus-style modernism. But historicism and Bauhaus – with some exaggeration – is the same everywhere in the world. Art Nouveau, on the other hand, is a little different everywhere you go. Refined tourists are therefore not mistaken when they leave Budapest thinking that it’s a city of Art Nouveau.

Art Nouveau Budapest www.art-nouveau.hu

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the master of staineD Glass anD mosaics

Photo © rothmuzeum.hu

miksa rÓth BrouGht tiffany to BuDapest

An organic part of Budapest’s most beautiful art nouveau buildings is their gorgeous mosaics and windows. Miksa Róth, to whom we owe all of this, was born 150 years ago. Miksa Róth’s glass staining deviates from earlier examples in the genre. The artist, his work and his life was discussed by Tibor Fényi, the director of the Miksa Róth Memorial House in the hall of the Gresham Palace (the Four Seasons). The location for this was not coincidental, for one of the artist’s finest windows can be seen in the hotel at the Kossuth Steps. text: J Úlia S ZáSZi

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Tiffany was quite surprised, Fényi said, when at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris, he came face-to-face with work quite similar to his own that was prepared by the unknown Hungarian.

Six years later in Mexico City, they worked together when Róth (along with Géza Maróti) received a commission to prepare the National Theatre’s 160 square metre cupola. The work, which was exceptionally well received, can still be seen today. It features nine muses forming a wreath and Apollo holding a palm

Photo © rothmuzeum.hu

Was Miksa Róth’s work novel? According to Fényi, the name Louis Comfort Tiffany and the works he made were completely unheard of in Europe when Róth discovered and began utilising various types of frit and marbleised, colour-changing, opalised glass mixed with metal salts (later called Tiffany glass). These surfaces cannot be painted as window glass can be, and Róth developed a new technology to shape them.

The “science” of staining glass and the love for it stems from family tradition. His father and grandfather also worked in this industry. In the 18th and 19th centuries, glasswork was not considered an industry where those of Jewish ancestry could work.

By decree of Empress Maria Theresa, while glassworking was opened to them, it remained nearly impossible to open a workshop in Pest at the time. The glazier masters in the guilds did their best to keep newcomers out, occasionally even resorting to physical assault. Sámuel Róth, Miksa’s grandfather, was not deterred and struggled for 27 years before achieving his goals.

His son Zsigmond’s glass company soon became the largest in Budapest.

Miksa was born in 1865 and grew up in these surroundings which contributed to his love of glass. He honed his craft in Germany, France and Britain, learning mosaic-making techniques in Italy.

A section of the Miksa Róth Memorial House’s interior.

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Photo © MITTECOMM

Miksa Róth’s largest mosaic on the pediment of the former Turkish Bank on Szervita Square.

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communist period (Róth’s work was undervalued and considered kitschy until the 1970s), but fortunately those charged with their removal did not destroy them, but simply placed them in the basement. They were discovered beneath waste materials, and the relatively small damage was easy to correct.

Nonetheless, many of his works are only known of through documentation. Fortunately, however, many of his windows can be viewed today in Budapest at the aforementioned Gresham Palace, the A section of the famous window at the stairway of the Nation- Gresham Palace’s Kossuth Steps. al Bank, the arcades in the Kerepesi Cemetery, a mosaic at Szervita Square, the former Turkish Bank house’s façade, at the Széchényi baths, and the Deák and Kossuth mausoleums, just to mention a few.

Photo © rothmuzeum.hu

branch. The crystal curtain that separates the stage from the auditorium was created by the Tiffany Company based on designs by Máróti and Róth.

In addition to stained glass, the Róth workshop increasingly received orders for mosaics. Budapest was rapidly developing in the early 1900s, and there was demand for new buildings to contain trendy materials and art nouveau decorations, which Róth’s palette was especially suited for. He was not satisfied with the mosaic-making process, however, that he had studied in Venice, and developed a new technique that allowed for the insertion of smaller surfaces as well. Before, mosaics were only prepared for large surfaces, but with Róth’s method smaller mosaic figures could be created as well. Very soon, smaller, easy to carry mosaic tablets that resembled pictures and could be hung on the wall became popular.

Around 1902, Róth worked as a “glass staining, factory-owning” industrialist, similar to how Zsolnay manufactured porcelain. Without a doubt this line of work was previously considered merely industrial and not artistic. Industrial art, as a genre, established itself in Hungary from this point forth, and it’s no accident that Róth was the first person to receive the Hungarian State Industrial Art Golden Prize in 1898.

Of course, it would be an injustice to only mention his art nouveau works, for Miksa Róth originally followed historicist trends. The windows in the parliament building and the City Park’s Vajdahunyad Castle bear witness to this. Without a doubt, art deco, which followed on the heels of art nouveau, also left its impression on him, with his later works featuring a blend of the three.

The jubilee year of Róth’s birth opened with an exciting exhibit: pictures of recently discovered and restored works by Róth previously believed to have been lost in Romania were put on display. Among them are the eight two-metre high windows depicting saints from the seminary at Timișoara (Temesvár in Hungarian). The windows were simply disposed of during the

The Miksa Róth Memorial House is the type of house museum that has authentically preserved the master’s former flat as it was in the 1910s. The memorial house contains information about the glass and mosaic master’s life and work, through which nearly everything about him can be learned.

www.rothmuzeum.hu

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Bon appétit!

Text: S zonja S omogyi

Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczk y

Visit Berlin, London or New York and everywhere you will find Indian and Chinese eateries or the local franchises of international fast food restaurants. The unstoppable spread of international gastronomy, however, contains a much more refined trend: creating local specialities on the basis of global criteria. To indulge in a gastronomy-rich day, we recommend you start the day off at the French breakfast bistro À la Maison, followed by the high-calibre brasserie Kollázs for lunch (which features an art nouveau interior), and crown your day with dinner at Costes Downtown, the new “little sister” of Michelin-starred Costes. Give them a try. We guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

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À la maison Photos © BFTK Photostock / István Práczk y

vintaGe romance & french toast

French chansons, a romantic vintage, with a clutter-free interior and classic flavours. À la Maison is popularising breakfast bistro culture in Budapest not only among ex-pats but also Hungarians, who are increasingly warming to this new style of dining idea.

The nearby streets bustle with workers and tourists during the day and at night with people out for evening pleasures, so À la Maison’s location close to Saint Stephen’s Basilica is a real gem with its tasteful, kitsch-free French vintage style. Its offerings go beyond the fried eggs with sausage and tea or coffee combos, for their breakfast menu features both sweet and savoury options.

Whichever way you like your eggs prepared, that is how they will make them, be they scrambled, in an omelette or as French toast. It is worth trying the Egg’n Bacon sandwich, which is as delicious as it sounds. Those wishing to remind themselves of their childhood can choose “grandma’s breakfast”, which consists of kalács (a Hungarian sweet bread), butter, jam and chocolate milk.

And what’s something that you cannot forget to order in a French breakfast bistro? Their divine French toast. There is no doubt that À la Maison will forever tempt the sweettoothed among us, with their sublimely delicate French toasts prepared with whole strawberries and blueberries topped with maple syrup. Their American pancakes are also made from the finest ingredients, so even the strictest calorie counters should temporarily indulge themselves. A note for those with dietary or special requirements: À la Maison can prepare most of their dishes to accommodate those with a lactose intolerance, diabetes, food allergies or any other type of dietary sensitivities.

What you should keep in mind is that although À la Maison is primarily a breakfast bistro, the noontime menus draw in many patrons, which does put some strain on the kitchen staff. So for those looking for an authentic, relaxed French breakfast to start

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off your day, it is advised you arrive on time to the French bistro, which opens weekdays at 7 am and from Friday to Sunday at 9 am.

À la Maison Budapest District V. Nádor u. 8.

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trout –

serveD in an art Deco pattern

Photo © BFTK Photostock / István Práczk y

kollázs

Photos © Budapest Four Seasons Gresham Palace

The art nouveau-styled restaurant with unparalleled elegance serves lunch from noon until 3pm. Kollázs (“Collage”), as its name suggests, offers a variety of flavours and dishes. Among

the appetisers you can find steak tartare with smoked quail eggs, marinated pearl onions or bone marrow with horseradish cream and oxtail ragout. You cannot miss their foie gras terrine served with an understated rhubarb compote and elderflower jelly shaped into tiny drops.

Given the delicious culinary opportunities Kollázs provides, it would be sinful not to try one of the meals prepared with their rotisserie.

Those who enjoy romantic flavours can confidently choose the grilled trout, which

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District V contains vibrant nightlife as well as the milieu that played a pivotal role in the city’s history. We can find the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest in this district, which is a fine example of Budapest art nouveau and owing to its location on the banks of the Danube, is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, not to mention it also offers one of the city’s best views. This summer it opened a new restaurant, the Kollázs Brasserie and Bar which in addition to its wine cellar, patisserie and bar, features a rotisserie to draw in hotel guests and passers-by alike. is presented in an art deco pattern: in place of the streamlined trout body, it is served in a geometric composition on our plate.

The fish’s wonderful flavours are excellently complimented by the truffle mashed potatoes.

In addition to the rotisserie options, guests are offered a variety of diverse flavour choices among the mains. The menu features beef cheek, the Kollázs burger, Hungarian-style catfish with túrós csusza (cottage cheese pasta) and salmon with marinated fennel and saffron mussel sauce.

Since it has its own patisserie, the Kollázs Brasserie & Bar has a wide selection of fresh desserts available from noontime. The list of options cannot omit the Rigó Jancsi, the Somlói or cheese cake, but the apricot-jellied almond milk, the raspberry soup with sorrel sorbet and the always fresh brioche also receives top-billing on the list of popular desserts.

For those who desire truly decadent flavours to round off their lunch, they should order an Ilanka, which is a chocolate lover’s delight made from chocolate sponge blended with chocolate cream so that it resembles a tree trunk.

Kollázs Brasserie & Bar Budapest V. Széchenyi István tér 5.

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costes Downtown heavenly surprises –

Photos © costesdowntown.hu

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classical founDations

A proximity to nature, with a relaxed and moderate elegance, along with an easy-going atmosphere accompanied by the highest quality service and menu offerings is what characterises the recently opened Costes Downtown. It is located in the Prestige Hotel Budapest, which is one of Budapest’s newest hotels featuring 85 rooms in classical and luxurious sophistication.

Perhaps there is no better way of guaranteeing the quality one can expect at this restaurant, than by disclosing that it is the “little sister” of Hungary’s first Michelin-starred restaurant Costes, and has as its executive chef the Portuguese Miguel Rocha Vieira. “Little sister” might not be the best description, however, for it has twice as many tables. Featuring a vivid green wall with living plants, natural wood surfaces and rustic serving utensils, it makes for a restaurant with artistic elegance.

It is no secret that the aim is to gain new admirers, who are looking for a somewhat more easy-going dinner experience in a less formal, perhaps “bistro” atmosphere, all the while preserving the prestige that comes with the Costes name. The informality is assisted by the open kitchen environment, not to mention the chef’s table, which enriches the guests’ dining experience by engaging them in the processes that go into producing these perfect gastronomical results, offering a unique experience where they feel initiated into this exclusive world.

Costes Downtown’s kitchen uses only seasonal – in no small part Hungarian – ingredients, hence the menu, featuring Vieira’s refined tastes and creative ideas, changes from time to time. Prestige Hotel Budapest guests and customers walking in from the street can choose from à la carte options, but if someone wishes to discover what really sets this restaurant apart, they should choose the surprise menu! The secret courses and wines that perfectly complement them are a real five-star experience.

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The marinated cucumber, avocado and cream fraiche served as an amuse-bouche prepares the taste buds for the Andalusian gazpacho, which has its fresh taste complemented with watermelon balls. Alongside the fruity soup, the John Dory, which Vieira serves with chicory, grapefruit and samphire is excellent.

As a main it is worth tasting the beef fillet with shallots that seemingly melts in your mouth.

So what places the crown on an authentic dinner at Costes Downtown?

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. This is not poetic license, but the dessert’s actual name, which perfectly complements the restaurant’s interior with its “forest moss” decoration made from pistachios.

Costes Downtown is unique not only in terms of its dining options, but through its wine list as well. Among its specialties are several biodynamic wines. Although this form of wine production is still quite nascent in Hungary, bottles from the flag-bearers of this style can be found on the restaurant’s impressive wine racks. The ambitious sommelier team is currently working on assembling a wine list that would be unique across Europe, in that it would contain the best wines from each nation, in addition to becoming the first restaurant to offer a truly wide selection of biodynamic and organic wines.

Costes Downtown Budapest V. Vigyázó Ferenc u. 5. www.costesdowntown.hu

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Constant developments, even more destinations Hungarian-founded Wizz Air soars

From autumn Central and Eastern Europe’s market-leading budget airline will begin performing maintenance and repair work in Budapest: Wizz Air will soon expand its fleet with 200 new airplanes, to keep pace with growing passenger demands in Europe and beyond.

Text: J ózsef G yüre } Photos: A rpad F oldhazi / W izzair

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By continually expanding its Airbus A320 fleet, the Hungarianfounded airline company found itself with an increased need to establish a new maintenance facility. Alongside the 2,000 m2 hangar at Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport, a 170 m2 office, parts storage facility and personnel section was added. The one billion forint development was financed by Budapest Airport. This was due in part to the 15 year hangar-rental contract signed by Central and Eastern Europe’s market-leading budget airline with the airport’s operator. Wizz Air currently houses nine Airbus A320 airplanes in Budapest with its entire fleet comprised of 61 Airbuses, which will soon expand.

The company signed a letter of intent this June with Airbus to purchase 110 new A321neo airplanes with an option on an additional 90 planes. The 110 new planes will take to the skies in 2019 and will replace the old planes in the current fleet. The budget airline’s aim with the 12.5 billion USD purchase is to keep up with customer demand for flights in Europe and beyond. The new hangar planned and built in conjunction with Budapest Airport will accommodate these A321neo planes with longer fuselages.

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a new Plus Fare was created. According to founding CEO József Váradi, when the airline was established, Wizz Air’s aim was to stand out and visually grab people’s attention, and through their low fares make air travel and its experience available for everyone. The new brand image, marketing strategy and philosophy changes were necessary to stay current with market expectations. Passengers today no longer look only for inexpensive tickets, but expect more services for their money. Wizz Air transported 16.5 million passengers last year, with the number of passengers this summer exceeding 20 million. Wizz Air’s 380 routes contain 110 destinations and its flights connect 40 countries.

The business model built upon continuous development and expansion of destinations has clearly been successful for Wizz Air, which has become a serious rival for its main competitors, Ryanair and EasyJet. At the end of February, Wizz Air began trading on the London Stock Exchange, with its stocks soaring ever since and the flotation raising nearly 140 million euros.

The company’s cash in hand is near half a billion euros, with very low debt. Today we can safely say: Wizz Air has reached cruising altitude in European business life as well.

www.wizzair.com

On the occasion of the 11th anniversary of its founding, this spring the airline rebranded itself: not only did its logo and airplane livery change, but the upholstery in the planes and the flight attendant uniforms did as well. The colour purple was dropped in favour of dark blue. The company website now features new functions and

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Good to know REACHING THE CITY and its centre

PUBLIC TRANSPORT (BKK)

Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport

With 268 bus, 32 tram, 15 trolleybus, and 4 underground lines, Budapest has one of the most comprehensive public transport systems among the capitals of Europe. It also includes cogwheel and commuter train, funicular, boat and chairlift services. Daytime services are available between 4:30 am and 11:30 pm, while at night you can get around with night buses, or Tram No. 6, which runs around the clock.

BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Take Bus 200E to KÖKI Terminal – Kôbánya – Kispest Terminus of M3 underground, and then take the underground towards Deák Square.

FÔTAXI: The official transport partner of Budapest Airport. Buy your ticket in advance, at their kiosk on the airport.

AIRPORT SHUTTLE VAN SERVICE. Buy your ticket in advance, at their kiosk on the airport.

CAR RENTAL: Sixt Rent-a-Car www.sixt.hu Avis www.avis.hu Buchbinder www.buchbinder.co.hu Europcar www.europcar.hu Hertz www.hertz.hu

TAXI While several companies run taxis in the capital, all licensed cabs are yellow, have yellow licence plates, and are marked “Licensed Budapest taxi” on the driver’s door. You have taken a licensed Budapest taxi if you can see the driver’s photo ID and the table of fares on the dashboard and the insides of the passenger doors. All fares are set: the minimum fare is HUF 450, the stand-

ard rate is HUF 280 per kilometre, and there is a waiting charge of HUF 70 per minute. Cash and bank cards are both accepted. Make sure to get the receipt printed by the taximeter at the end of your journey so that you can check whether the licensed fares have been applied, and to ensure a swift remedy for whatever complaint you may have.

RAILWAY TERMINALS

COACH TERMINALS

Nyugati Station (M3 Pest – City Centre) +36 (1) 349 01 15 Keleti Station (M2 Pest) +36 (1) 313 68 35 Déli Station (M2 Buda) +36 (1) 355 86 57 Non-stop information: +36 (1) 371 94 49 (MÁV) www.mav.hu, www.elvira.hu

Népliget (M3 Pest) +36 (1) 219 80 40 Stadionok (M2 Pest) +36 (1) 220 62 27 Árpád híd (M3 Pest) +36 (1) 412 25 97 VOLÁN Information: +36 (1) 382 08 88 www.volanbusz.hu

BKK information +36 (1) 3 255 255 www.bkk.hu

INTERNATIONAL BOAT LANDING +36 (1) 484 40 13 www.mahartpassnave.hu

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES PHARMACY PHYSICIAN

6th District, 41 Teréz körút (Tram 4/6, Oktogon stop in Pest) +36 (1) 311 44 39 12th District (Buda) 1/B Alkotás u.

(M2 Déli pályaudvar stop) +36 (1) 355 46 91

DENTIST

VIII., Szentkirályi u. 40.

(Bus 9, Szentkirályi utca, Pest) +36 (1) 317 66 00

TOURIST INFORMATION

Fônix Med 9th District (Pest), 29/A Haller utca (M3 Nagyvárad tér stop) +36 (1) 215 16 44 or 215 69 83

Fônix Med 11th District (Buda), 12–16 Tétényi út (Bus 7/7A, Szent Imre Kórház stop) +36 (1) 203 36 15

Deák Square 5th District, 2 Sütô utca Opening hours: 8 am – 8 pm every day

City Park Ice Rink 14th District, 5 Olof Palme sétány Opening hours: 9 am – 7 pm every day

Buda Castle 1st District, 15 Tárnok utca Opening hours: 9 am – 6 pm every day

BUD Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport Terminal 2A / Opening hours: 8 am – 11 pm every day Terminal 2B / Opening hours: 10 am – 10 pm every day

Advertising } Mária Sali Printing } Komáromi Nyomda és Kiadó Kft.

Published seasonally Responsible Publisher } Teodóra Bán, Manager Publishing Director } Diána Monostori Responsible Editor } Mária Albert Publication Manager } István Práczky Translation } Zoltán Csipke Layout and Coverphoto } István Práczky Photo Management } MitteComm Kft.

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All images, texts, graphics and design elements are subject to copyright.

Reproduction, use or imitation is not authorised without permission by law and is subject to criminal liability.

The publication can be ordered via the publisher’s address.

Advertising } hirdetes@budapestinfo.hu Phone } +36 1 486 3309 ISSN 2064-9894

http://en.budapestinfo.hu/budapest-s-finest

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