Budapest's Finest 2018 Winter EN

THE PUSKÁS ARENA: IN THE HOME STRETCH

BUDA’S TREASURE: CULINARY THE TOMB OF TOURS FOR GÜL BABA VEGANS

WINTER | 2018/2019

THE FIVE STAR CITY GUIDE

THE RESTORED ORGAN OF THE MUSIC ACADEMY

FREE PUBLIC ATION

AT BUDAPEST’S GATE: ZSÁMBÉK

Photo © Csibi Szilvia

Photo © Majtenyi Mihaly

INTRODUCTION

DEAR GUESTS, Budapest is Hungary’s best-known tourism brand, for twothirds of international visitors head to the Hungarian nation’s capital. According to surveys, the two most important perspectives when choosing a destination are safety and a quest for new experiences.

Budapest is East-Central Europe’s most bustling and exciting major city with its unique cultural offerings. The city provides a vast amount of experiences to visitors and is also one of the continent’s safest metropolises. Budapest’s popularity continues to grow, for tourism metrics have shown steep upward curves year after year, while the capital’s tourism has developed dynamically; in the first eight months of 2018, the number of overnight stays continued to grow, approaching seven million.

The city government’s aim is to show the world the Hungarian capital’s most beautiful and famously hospitable side through countless sporting, cultural and culinary events. Our goal is for even more people to enjoy their time in Budapest, to then spread the word about our wonderful city on their return, and for them to then come back to visit us again soon!

István Tarlós Mayor of Budapest

DEAR READERS, The Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre is proud to announce that our five-star city magazine, which uniquely for the market has the mission of presenting the finest of the city’s developments, is now entering its fifth year. Our magazine presents sporting, cultural and culinary events, along with novelties, touristic delights and infrastructural developments. We have covered the opening of new hotels such as the Hotel Clark, the ibis Styles Budapest Airport, and the D8 Hotel in downtown, along with new restaurants such as Stand, Biang Bistro and La Fabbrica. The Ybl Budai Kreatív House was renovated, as was the Museum of Fine Arts, the National Dance Theatre will reopen soon, and work on the Puskás Aréna, which will host massive international events, is also in its final stages of completion.

All of these help explain the impressive visitor numbers that the Hungarian capital received in 2018.

Plans for 2019 reveal that Budapest will continue to take on a larger role in growing Hungary’s GDP while providing many with a livelihood not on an ad hoc basis, but as a result of a thoroughly considered vision. As one of Europe’s most beautiful cities, Budapest must offer quality services. This is expected of Budapest, and such endeavours are supported by the Hungarian Tourism Agency and the Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre’s dynamic concepts. It is a pleasure to observe that in addition to the capital’s culinary successes, the city’s design offerings have also made their mark through the emergence of young fashion designers and creative teams that have achieved international success.

I am convinced that we look forward to months rich in experiences. Stay with us in 2019 and allow me to wish you a very happy and successful new year!

Teodóra Bán Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre Director

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2018 | Winter

CONTENTS

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Kőbánya reborn: a cultural quarter from industrial ruins

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tomb of Gül Baba

Corvinas in Buda

6 15

Finishing the Puskás Arena

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At Budapest’s Gate: Zsámbék

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Cultural Quarter

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A landscape rich with history

City Guide

40 The restored

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Stone, clay and vines Kôbánya’s new life

The Music Academy’s new organ Just JI Ákos Lustyik Miranda Liu

At Budapest’s Gate: Zsámbék

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Kőbánya

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30 32 34 36

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Buda’s hidden treasure 40 The Gellért turns 100 44 Corvinas in Buda 46 Storytelling with Danny 48 Bárkert bistro 50 Stand 52 Vegan tours in Budapest 54 Sinful sweets 56 Christmas festival 58 In the holiday spirit 60 Programme corner 62

Cover photo: The Music Academy’s restored organ (Photo: © János Posztós)

To see the location on the map, simply scan the QR code with your smartphone.

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www.bsf.hu Information: +36 1 555 3300 +36 1 269 0470

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Photo © hu.ikipedia.org

Industrial history surrounded by greenery:

Kôbánya

Dreher, Egis, Richter and the Hungarian State Railways. These internationally recognised firms illustrate what made Kôbánya one of Budapest and Hungary’s most important industrial centres at the turn of the 20th century.

Seventy-seven larger factories, among them iron, machine and textile plants, along with countless smaller private enterprises operated in this area by the time of the First World War. Over 40 years its population had quadrupled, so that by 1910 more than 35,000 lived and worked here.

In 1949, seven urban areas and 16 communities that had basically grown together with the capital were administratively attached to Budapest.

With this Kôbánya was transformed from an outlying area to one of the inner districts, as the capital’s geometric centre is located here to this day at Martinovics Square.

This underground reservoir is the oldest part of Budapest’s water network still in use today

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STONE, CLAY AND VINES The foundations for life Text: András Oláh

Photo © Nagy Gábor István

Kőbánya’s hidden treasures will hardly be discovered from a superficial glance, even though its rich architectural, cultural and industrial heritage contains many surprises. The area received its name after the former limestone quarry in the vicinity of Ó Hill, where the excavation of carveable rock was already underway by the Middle Ages.

The quarry lake at Újhegy Park

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Stone extraction reached industrial quantities during the 19th century, since the quarries were an important source of raw materials for rebuilding Pest following the destruction of the Great Flood of 1838. The building materials for the gates that form the Chain Bridge’s towers, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ building, the Citadella, the Margaret Bridge’s piers, the Matthias Church and Opera were all sourced from here. In addition to limestone quarrying, the clay harvested from the site supplied the brick manufacturing completed in the area. Due to the dangers it entailed, subterranean quarrying ceased in 1890, leaving a cellar tunnel system totalling 33 kilometres in length. Due to changed construction industry needs in the latter 20th century, the last quarry closed. The quarry lake in Újhegy Park remains as a memento of the former quarries and factories.

While stones were quarried deep below the surface, vineyards covered Ó and Új Hills up to the latter parts of the 19th century. Eighty percent of the grapes grown in Pest were from this area, with

Ó Hill – the highest part of which is level with Buda Castle – offering a beautiful panorama onto the surrounding plain. This wine region was a popular area for hiking.

Industry soon became quite the competition for winemaking in the latter half of the 19th century.

Consequently, part of the area was parcelled out to the industrialists who purchased land and settled there. The phylloxera blight that reached Hungary in 1875 destroyed the last remaining vineyards.

This vinicultural past is preserved today by a few street names and the romantic-style lookout tower erected in 1844 that stands on Kôér Street.

FROM THE LOCOMOTIVE’S PERSPECTIVE In the 19th century the area became an important railway hub. The country’s second railway line ran through here with the opening of the BudapestCegléd-Szolnok line in 1847. With the opening of the Railway Connection Bridge in 1877, the railway ring around Budapest was completed.

Photo © Eszter Gordon

KÔBÁNYA

BLESSED WITH BREWERIES

The Kőbánya Also railway station

Kôbánya’s name has become synonymous with brewing beer, owing to the karst water that rises to the surface in the area. Of the first breweries founded in the 1850s, the brewery launched by Antal Dreher Sr. in 1862 soon distinguished itself from among the rest. His son, Antal Dreher Jr. and grandson Jenô Dreher steered it to become Hungary’s largest brewery, which controlled 70 percent of the market between the world wars.

Nationalised after 1945, the brewery regained the Dreher name after system change, and after several ownership changes now belongs to Asahi Breweries of Japan.

Located on Jászberényi Road and built between Photo © Eszter Gordon

Nearly 90% of the international passenger rail traffic that touches Budapest goes through here.

It is also where the lines heading to Nyugati and Keleti stations cross each other, which has raised the possibility of building a central station in Budapest, although no plans exist at the time for this type of development.

Hungary’s largest railway workshop and repair facility, the Northern Railway Maintenance and Engineering Works, operated on Kôbányai Road between 1872 and 2009. A new cultural centre will soon open on the space formerly occupied by this important railway and industrial history site, which will consist of the Eiffel Art Studios belonging to the Hungarian State Opera, and the Hungarian Museum of Science, Technology and Transport.

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Photo © Eszter Gordon Photo © Eszter Gordon

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1905-1910, the listed building complex can be visited with guided tours on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons through prior arrangement by those over the age of 18. On weekdays the Dreher Beer Museum located on site is open, which presents the history of brewing in Kôbánya.

Few realise that the Dreher Brewery on Jászberényi Road only became the company’s headquarters in the 1930s, for the brewery was originally on Halom Street. This older site is no longer used by the company, but these industrial relics can still be approached from Bánya, Ihász and Elôd streets. On the adjacent plot the classicist Havas (or rather Dreher) villa built in 1856 continues to decay, which belonged to the brewery’s CEO until nationalisation. The park that once belonged to it is now open to the public and called Csajkovszkij (Tchaikovsky) Park, where in addition to a bust of its namesake, it also feature statues of Berlioz, Chopin and Ferenc Liszt.

One of the entrances to the cellar system is located in the courtyard on Halom Street. The 33 kilometres worth of tunnels that developed as a result of the quarrying were in part used as a wine cellar, and also by the breweries for aging their drinks.

During World War II a Messerschmitt aircraft engine assembly plant operated in the secret labyrinth. Several ideas have been mooted on how to use the system today, but none have come to fruition owing to a lack of funds. The former Dreher Brewery’s site, along with the Dreher villa and the cellar system, can be visited through organised tours led by BudapestScenes (budapestscenes.com, info@bpscenes.com). Each year in August the Underworld Cup is organised for mountain bike racers in the cellar system, and various other running races for young and old are organised by BBU.

The reservoir in Ihász Street is another subterranean surprise in Kôbánya that is just as old as the brewery. The oldest facility in Budapest’s water network still in use to this day, it was built between 1868-1871 with two basins measuring 11,000 cubic metres. This columned and arched brick structure that reminds visitors of a church nave plays an important role in Budapest’s water delivery system and can be visited through guided tours.

Photo © richter.hu

L ISZ T FERENC BUDAPE ST NEMZE TKÖZI REPÜLÔTÉR KÔBÁNYA

THE SCIENCE FACTORY

Photo © matokphoto

The district is also proud of its internationally famous pharmaceutical companies. The story of Gedeon Richter Plc. began in 1901 at the Sas Pharmacy on Üllôi Road that operates to this day.

The company took its name from the pharmacist who became successful through his patents and built the factory in Cserkesz Street in 1907, thereby laying the foundations for the Hungarian pharmaceutical industry. Research and development were emphasised from the start, and the company expanded its network internationally so that between the world wars it was one of the country’s leading exporters. World War II stopped the company’s westward expansion, and the company’s founder Gedeon Richter was murdered during the fascist Arrow Cross reign of terror. Following system change the company readopted its founder’s name and restructured to focus primarily on human pharmaceuticals, so that today it has a presence in 40 countries on five continents.

Egis Pharmaceuticals Plc. has a similar history, having been founded on Keresztúri Road in 1913 by the Swiss Dr. Albert Wander and the pharmacist Sándor Balla. Since the 1930s the company has managed significant research programmes and has played an active role in the international The façade of the Gedeon Richter pharmaceutical company’s ingredient storage facility

The more than 30-kilometre-long cellar system can be visited through guided tours

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Photo © Eszter Gordon

The Szent László Church is one of the finest examples of Hungarian art nouveau

market. Following privatisation, it was purchased by the French Servier Group, and its products are sold in 62 countries.

One of the largest investments following system change was by the Bosch Group of Germany. Robert Bosch Kft. manufactures vehicle parts and diagnostic equipment, hand tools and heating equipment, as well as vehicle electronic guidance systems and other hardware and software innovations. In parallel, Bosch Rexroth Kft. sells pneumatic and hydraulic equipment.

The group has constantly developed it base in Kôbánya, and their new campus on Gyömrôi Road will be completed in 2021, which will be Bosch’s second largest development centre in Europe. This facility, which will be dedicated to transportation research, will search for new solutions with respect to electronic and self-driving vehicles.

ARCHITECTURAL TREASURES Szent László Square was named after the Catholic church consecrated on the square in 1899, itself named after Hungary’s patron saint, Saint László (Ladislaus). Built according to the design of Ödön Lechner, the leading figure in Hungarian art nouveau architecture, the church uses a historicist-eclectic style that excellently blends Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Hungarian folk elements. With an 83-metre tall tower and decorated with Zsolnay pyrogranite and tiles featuring 67 different styles, this masterpiece has become one of the district’s symbols. Lechner’s other building in the district also bear’s the saint’s name, although the Szent László Gymnasium was completed by Lechner’s student József Vágó following the former’s death. One of the country’s top schools, it is especially known for it natural sciences programme.

The Kôbányai Zenei Stúdió (Kôbánya Music Studio) offers music education in Cserkesz Street, providing a comprehensive theoretical and practical training course for those wishing to pursue a career in modern music.

FINAL RESTING PLACES In 1886, when Kôbánya was still considered an outer area, the New Public Cemetery, Budapest’s largest, was built on the city’s border to relieve overcrowding in the cemeteries located in the city. During World War I troops fighting for the Central Powers were also buried here alongside Hungarian soldiers. The Turkish graveyard is what remains of this to this day. The New Public Cemetery’s Lot 301 is where those executed for their participation in the 1956 revolution were secretly buried in unmarked graves under false names. Converting the lot into a worthy burial site commenced before the system change, as did erecting a memorial to the revolution designed by György Jovánovits. In 1989 Prime Minister Imre Nagy and his fellow martyrs were given a proper burial with full honours.

The Kozma Street Jewish Cemetery is located adjacent to the New Public Cemetery. Petitions to renovate the cemetery, which is increasingly in disrepair, have increased recently.

Across the street from the New Public Cemetery is the Budapest Penitentiary and Prison, which was built in 1896 according to the plans of Gyula Wagner. During the reprisals that followed the 1956 revolution, numerous political prisoners awaited their sentences in its walls, many of whom were executed there 10

Photo © Eszter Gordon

KÔBÁNYA

(among them Imre Nagy). Their memory is preserved through a plaque on the wall, and a small memorial space was dedicated to them in the Small Prison building, which can be visited through prior arrangement.

NATIONALITIES AND RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS

The New Public Cemetery is Budapest’s largest place of final rest

The Conti Chapel

Photo © Eszter Gordon

Every faith has built a church in Kôbánya. The oldest surviving place of worship is the Conti

Chapel on the side of Ó Hill. The stonemason Antal Lipót Conti, who was of Italian descent, built the chapel from 1739-1740 in honour of the Virgin Mary after he and his wife survived the cholera epidemic. The figures inside the chapel, which is today used by Greek Catholics, were carved by Conti himself.

The former Kôbánya Synagogue designed by Richárd Schöntheil in an art nouveau style and built between 1909-1912 stands on Cserkesz Street. This religious community formed in the

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Photo © Eszter Gordon

The martyrs of the 1956 revolution were held in this jail

Photo © Eszter Gordon

Today this former synagogue belongs to a Pentecostal congregation

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mid-19th century and saw rapid growth in the 1890s. This sparse and centrally organised domed building features Zsolnay pyrogranite decorative elements. This community, which numbered 5,000 prior to the German invasion of 1944, was reduced to only a few hundred following the Holocaust, and subsequently they could not afford the synagogue’s upkeep. The building currently operates as the Mindenki Temploma (“Church of Everyone”), serving as the church for the Pentecostal congregation of the same name.

The church on the corner of Ihász and Gergely Streets was completed in 1900 for the active Reformed Church presence that has existed there since the 1880s. This church, designed in a

neogothic style by Lajos Schodits, has three bells in its tallest tower, which measures 54 metres. The building’s furnishings were manufactured by the same factory belonging to Endre Thék that furnished multiple public institutions in the country, such as the Parliament, the Opera, the Stock Exchange, the Supreme Court and the Royal Palace.

The Lutheran congregation has its own church on the corner of Kápolna Street and Kápolna Lane. Built between 1930-1931 according to János Frecska’s plans, this art deco building built from Rohbau bricks has a unique circular design.

Along Gyömrôi Road the Pentecostal-charismatic Hit Gyülekezet (Faith Church) congregation developed its nearly eight-hectare centre in the 1990s.

Photo © Eszter Gordon

KÔBÁNYA

Kôbánya is also where the so-called Budapest Chinatown is located in the area bordered by Mázsa, Bihari, Szállás and Monori Streets. The Chinese quarter in Kôbánya offers numerous services, including a school, healthcare centre, Reformed Church congregation and two Chinese-language newspapers, while during the summer months they also host evening markets of the kind popular in Asia. The area’s most authentic Chinese restaurant is Spicy Fish, but the Wan Hao dim sum restaurant and karaoke bar, as well as the Milky Way restaurant are just as popular, and not only in Chinese Circles. An additional dozen or so buffets and street food bistros also make it worth a visit for those who enjoy East Asian flavours.

Kôbánya is also home to many nationalities, consequently it hosts Bulgarian, Greek, Croatian, Armenian, Roma, Romanian, Rusyn, Serb and Ukrainian local councils, but perhaps the community with the richest history in the area is the Polish population. Prior to World War I they already numbered 15,000 in the district, comprising more than a quarter of the total population.

Through the organising abilities of the Polish priest Wincenty Danek, they received permission to build their own church on the corner of Ó-hegy and Kôér Streets. A Polish priest has led the congregation since system change, and they hold Polish-language mass and nurture PolishHungarian religious relations. The building, designed by Aladár Árkay, has art nouveau elements and is decorated inside with images of Polish and Hungarian saints. Additionally, it guards a relic that belonged to Pope John Paul II.

searching for a traditional small restaurant with chequered table cloths, however, should go to the district’s oldest restaurant, the Torockó.

Operating since 1906 and previously known as the Roith, which was a favourite destination of the local industrialists and merchants, it offers a wide variety of Hungarian staples. Each summer you can enjoy a Dreher in its garden while the kids enjoy the playground. Weekends feature live Gypsy music for a fraction of downtown prices.

Opposite the restaurant is the Firefighters’ Museum on Martinovics Square. The permanent exhibition’s rich archival material introduces the history of firefighting from ancient times to the present. The museum also shows how the first compressed-air breathing apparatus was developed in 1830 by the Hungarian army engineer and inventor Károly Kôszeghi-Mártony. The museum also contains an exact replica of a Roman water organ. (The original was given to his colleagues by Gaius Iulius Viatorinus, the command-

Numerous restaurants serve Chinese culinary delights here

The church belonging to Kóbánya’s significant Polish population

Photo © hu.ikipedia.org

CHINATOWN BUDAPEST

LEISURE TIME FUN The old single-story small-town buildings of Kôbánya’s past are no longer easy to find. Those 13

Photo © hu.ikipedia.org

Kincsem Park is the home of Hungarian horseracing

Planetarium is undergoing renovations and expected to reopen in 2019.

For those looking for a different way to enjoy their leisure time, the home of Hungarian horseracing is located at the northern edge of the city in Kincsem Park, which spans 84 hectares. This track opened in 1925 and originally hosted flat racing, but since 2006 has hosted harness racing as well. The most popular race is the season-closing harness race held each New Year’s Eve. A little further north the Hungexpo Budapest Fair Center operates over 36 hectares in a parklike environment. For more than 50 years it has hosted international trade exhibitions and markets. With its eight large events halls, it can meet the demands of a wide variety of events.

Photo © ripost foto

The Planetárium’s renovation works will be completed in 2019

er of Aquincum’s fire brigade, around 228 AD.) What makes Martinovics Square notable, despite there not being any indication of it on site, is that it has been the geometric centre of Budapest since 1950.

Kôbánya still possesses sizable tracks of undeveloped green space and leads the capital in terms of the total area of managed parks. Nearly half of the 2.7 square kilometres of total green space belongs to Budapest’s largest public park, the People’s Park (Népliget). This park, developed in 1868, became truly popular between the world wars, when part of the funfair that had been forced out of the City Park relocated to Mutatványos Square in the centre, where it operated until World War II. The Planetarium in the park also hosted stargazing performances beneath its dome. Today the

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KÔBÁNYA

An illustration depicting how the foyer of the Eiffel Art Studios will appear

A cultural quarter from industrial ruins:

KŐBÁNYA REBORN Text: Eszter Götz • Photos: Hungarian State Opera

For a long time, the Hungária Ring Road that divides inner and outer Pest seemed to also mark the boundary between two worlds. From the 17th century onwards, enormous quarries operated beyond the vineyards of outer Pest, which provided the construction materials for the city’s rapid growth in the 19th century. Industrialisation drew companies from far and wide, and it is from here that the Gedeon Richter pharmaceutical company and the Dreher Brewery launched their world-famous products.

EIFFEL’S METHODS – FEKETEHÁZY’S DESIGN

The structure’s old façade

Up to the end of the 1980s, Kôbánya (which literally means quarry) was considered Budapest’s largest working-class district. Following system change, it soon became a decaying brownfield area. Now, however, it is being revived, as two cultural institutions of national significance will arrive to rejuvenate this part of the city.

This enormous area, which had once been one of the country’s largest transportation hubs, lay abandoned for decades. The Northern Railway Maintenance and Engineering Works was built in the 1870s to build and service railway carriages following the advent of rail transportation in the 1830s. These works launched the first Hungarian-built steam locomo15

tive that participated in the World Expo in Vienna in 1873. In 1886 a 20,000 square meter hall designed by János Feketeházy, who would later become famous as the architect overseeing construction of the Szabadság (Liberty) Bridge, was built. The workshop hall with an imposing size was soon named the Eiffel Hall, but despite urban legends, it was not because Gustave Eiffel played a part in its design, but because of the riveting process used on the steel structure, which became widely adopted throughout Europe after Eiffel’s works.

Divided into five naves with windows running along its ridges, this structure with a basilica-like frame is Hungary’s largest industrial listed building. The Hungarian State Opera House, which was in need of additional rehearsal, production and storage facilities, found it nearly by accident. The gorgeous Opera House (currently undergoing extensive renovations) searched for a site within a five-kilometre radius, which is how this abandoned facility at Kôbánya’s gate was first mooted. It was soon apparent that the Opera would not only gain a large facility, but a new performance centre as well, along with set and costume workshops.

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KÔBÁNYA

A NEW SITE WITH NEW OPPORTUNITIES The workshop and rehearsal centre will begin operating in the first quarter of 2019 with the premiere of a Mozart pasticcio. The interior was designed by the architect Miklós Marosi, who brings a careful approach to historical gems, and especially to the steel structure that encompasses the complex. He removed the layers added later and created flexible contemporary spaces capable of serving multiple functions. Inside, the artistic spaces and the workshops that support them mutually reinforce each other, in what is an open structure to visitors. The preparation and storage facilities are now next to each other, and the lifespan of the expensive sets and costumes is significantly extended through the secure and climate-controlled warehouses.

The site will serve many functions. It will feature a visitor centre, a rehearsal stage, an orchestra rehearsal hall, and a small theatre with a trap and a configurable auditorium. Taking the area’s history into account, a railway history exhibition hall will also be constructed, and the visitor centre’s foyer will showcase a true gem from Hungarian railway history: a steam locomotive made with riveted steel. The Opera’s employees themselves restored the teakwood dining car, which will serve as the buffet. The Opera Studio will be located in a smaller and likewise listed building, where

practice with a répétiteur and music school education will take place, but the chamber hall that can hold 50 people can also host chamber concerts or master classes. The costume storage will be in the former forklift workshop, while the set and prop storage will be in the main building. The hall is surrounded by a park with a playground, sporting facilities and an open-air cultural venue, through which the district’s green space will increase.

BEYOND SIMPLY SHOWING THE PAST The other aspect of this industrial area’s rejuvenation promises to be an even greater sensation than the Opera’s new presence. The Transportation Museum, which since 1899 has functioned in what could be considered the City Park’s most beautiful art nouveau-historicist pavilion, found itself increasingly tight on space and struggling with the old building’s shortcomings. Unified in 2017 with the National Technical Museum, this combined museum found a new site at this location. The decision was obvious, since in truth every building, rail, service unit and tiny detail is somehow tied to transportation history.

The new institution, now known as the Hungarian Museum of Science, Technology and Transport, will be located in the Northern Railway Maintenance and Engineering Works’ 30,000 square metre diesel hall. The new vision goes beyond simply showing the past, and by presenting 17

Photo © mmkm.hu

digitalisation and self-driving cars, also addresses present and future issues. In addition to the exhibition spaces, the hall will contain a storage base, a restoration workshop and a documentation centre.

Furthermore, the museum’s entire vehicle collection will now be on display in front of audiences.

A 110-metre-long hall can even host an entire train carriage, not to mention the world famous Hungarian Ikarusz buses that were previously stored in warehouses due to a lack of space, among which is one of the last models to roll off the assembly line that was recently brought home from England.

DESIGNING THE FUTURE

Photo © mmkm.hu

The day when the gates will open is still years off, however. The hall’s reconstruction concept will derive from the winning design of the inter-

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national architectural competition that will end in January 2019, which invited tenders from 15 domestic and international architectural offices, including such famous names as Norman Foster, David Chipperfield, Peter Eisenman, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, and the Bjarke Ingels Group. With this, one of the neglected gems of Hungarian industrial architecture will be reborn with a new purpose. Of the industrial facilities that operated in the 20th century that have been converted to serve cultural purposes, this will be one of the finest examples in Europe.

The fourth industrial revolution currently underway will bring such significant changes that it will present the previous period’s industrial and transportation history into an entirely new light.

PUSK Á S FERENC ARENA

THE PUSKÁS ARENA In the home stretch

This November the final piece of the Puskás Arena’s roof was put into place. Construction of the building’s structure is complete, and it is becoming easier to see each day what an enormous and multi-faceted complex is being built on the site of the former Népstadion (People’s Stadium). Budapest’s Finest visited the site and saw from the inside and out how the largest construction project in the city was underway.

In 2019 Budapest will bear the title of European Capital of Sport. In this important year, the rebuilt Puskás Arena will also open its doors, therefore we felt that it was time to go on site and discover how Central Europe’s largest events centre will look. Compared to its predecessor, known as the Népstadion until 2002, which was demolished in 2016, the greatest change was that the building’s stands will be much steeper. The old stadium famously had a gentle slope, so that even the fifth row was quite a distance from the pitch. György Skardelli, who designed the new structure, con-

Photo © MTI Fotó / Sándor Bojár

3D visualization : KKBK Nonprofit Zrt.

Text: Marcell Somogyi

Hungarian footballing legend Ferenc Puskás

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Photo © Fürjes Viktória Photo © hu.wikipedia.org

The old main entrance (below) will be built into the new structure

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sidered it very important that every visitor, independent of where they sat, would feel close to the action in front of them. That is why he planned a taller stadium with a smaller footprint, which at 52 metres tall will belong among the monumental public buildings in Budapest. Of course, this in no way “endangers” the primacy of Parliament or St. Stephen’s Basilica, both at 96 metres. But it was

not size but capacity and visibility that were held to be the most important during the planning stages.

So that at least 65,000 spectators could fit into the stadium and see the match from any seat, taller stands were necessary than what the previous stadium, which opened in 1953, could offer.

To guarantee the proximity between the pitch and stands, the only way to include a running track would have been to build retractable stands on the lower levels. Taking into consideration that it would impact 20,000 seats, this solution would have been prohibitively expensive, and was thus not considered. At the same time, the designer wished to preserve the Népstadion’s characteristic elements, and thus the “stadium in a stadium” concept was born, in which the new Puskás, which occupies less floor space, would fit inside the old Puskás Stadium. The idea of preserving the old pylons designed by Károly Dávid and Jenô Gilyén was raised, but during inspections they were determined to only be capable of bearing the stress of the new structure for another 5-6 years, and consequently they were also demolished and reused in building the new pylons. The building erected above the Népstadion’s old main gate was preserved, however, and will function as a museum for the complex.

The massive size of the roof structure can be seen up close from the upper stands during a tour of the stadium. The consoled steel lattice is 90 metres in length, with elements weighing up to 270

Photo © Fürjes Viktória

PUSK Á S FERENC ARENA

tonnes. Construction continues at a rapid pace, for in 2020 the stadium will host four Euro 2020 matches (three group and one round of 16). Sixteen tower cranes and a special machine with a 130-metre boom were used to lift the elements into their place. Never before has a crane this large been used in Hungary, nor will one of this size be used again for some time. The crane had to be reserved a year in advance so that it could be transported here with 55 lorries from Bulgaria. One of the most difficult logistical parts of the project was finding a level area 130 metres long where this giant machine could be assembled.

Although the pitch is not covered, the spectators will be protected from the elements, so that only under extreme conditions when the wind blows the rain horizontally will those in the first two rows feel any drops. The roof structure also provides shade and utilises polycarbonate materials to direct the light. In British stadiums a sharp line divides the sunny and shady areas. Here, however, similarly to the National Stadium in Warsaw and the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid, there will be a gradual shift between the two, which should make televised broadcasts easier to watch.

Of course, the new Puskás will host not only sporting events, but international conferences and con-

certs as well, just as the old Puskás did. Some of the famous names who performed in the old stadium are Louis Armstrong in 1965, Queen in 1986, and the Human Rights Now! Concert in 1988 featuring Tracy Chapman, Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen and Sting. After system change, numerous Hungarian rock legends also performed here, such as Illés, Metro, Omega, Hungária and Neoton Familia, in addition to international legends such as AC/DC, Depeche Mode, Guns N’ Roses, Michael Jackson, Metallica, George Michael, Queen, the Rolling Stones, and U2.

Since the building was shuttered in 2011, there has been an absence in Hungary of a venue of this size that is capable of hosting world famous acts. Since then Hungarian organisers could only offer the much smaller Groupama Arena or the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena. Consequently, numerous tours only came as close as Vienna, instead of making a stop in Budapest. The new Puskás, with a capacity of 67,000 for sporting events, will have a capacity of 78,000 for concerts.

Consequently, industry experts are right to believe that many international acts who have not paid Budapest a visit for years will be glad to once again drop in for a show.

The new stands will be steeper to bring fans closer to the pitch

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Photo © Eszter Gordon

HE ADER

At Budapest's Gate:

Zsámbék

This town of 5,000 people located west of Budapest was raised to city status ten years ago and is mentioned in Guinness World Records owing to the unparalleled treasures contained within its lamp museum. Zsámbék is also the site of discovery for one the country’s oldest musical artefacts, a bronze horn.

From Budapest, take the M1 motorway west and exit at the 26-kilometre marker or take Route 1 and turn off onto Route 102.

Zsámbék is also served by direct public bus links departing from Etele and Széna squares.

The knight Aynard built a basilica with three naves, the ruins of which can be visited today

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A LANDSCAPE RICH WITH HISTORY Text: Zsuzsa Mátraházi • Photos: Eszter Gordon

According to one version, the word Zsámbék derives from the word Sambucus, which is Latin for elderberry. The meals and drinks that can be prepared from its fragrant flowers are part of the annual Elderberry Festival in Zsámbék.

The event, organised during its flowering in June, features elderberry syrups, wine, beer, pálinka and jams, but the white flower can also be tried as a dessert when it is mixed into the batter used to make crêpes.

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BRONZE AGE BEGINNINGS Archaeologists discovered that early humans resided in this era during prehistoric times. The obsidian axe and two horn hoes found here that date to thousands of years ago are guarded by the National Museum in Budapest. The digging of a cellar also led to the discovery of a Celtic mail carriage, alongside which a horse skeleton and horse tack were found. During the reconstruction works on the Apor Vilmos Catholic College’s buildings currently underway, the remains of a bronze era residence were uncovered.

One of the curiosities found during local archaeological excavations was cultural in nature: a bronze horn from the 2nd century, which is one of the earliest Hungarian musical artefacts.

Located on the trade route between Esztergom and Székesfehérvár, the settlement already had a church by the 1050s. In 1220, the knight Aynard built a late Romanesque – early Gothic basilica with three naves on its former site. Even as a ruin today it still remains an outstanding example of Hungarian architectural history. Additionally, a Norbertine monastery once stood next to it.

Both structures were damaged during the battles fought at the time of the Ottoman occupation, but the final blow was a large earthquake in 1769.

AT BUDAPE ST'S GATE: Z SÁMBÉK

The knight also erected a stone castle, and while escaping the plague in Budapest in the summer of 1496, King Vladislaus II hid the Holy Crown and coronation regalia here. The castle later served as the foundation for the Zichy Palace built in the 1700s, for Count István Zichy purchased the castle and its lands after the expulsion of the Turks.

GERMAN SETTLERS The settlement’s population in the 12th century consisted of the staff belonging to the manor house and the monastery, but soon craftsman and merchants also settled here owing to its location on the trade route. The village emptied during the Turkish occupation, but following the Ottomans’ expulsion, Swabian settlers arrived, at first from the Kißlegg region. For the poorer German families, Hungary provided hope, land, work, a house and the promise of a new life. They drifted down the Danube in so-called Ulmer Schachtel boats made of pine, with nearly half perishing on their journey due to the river’s dangerous currents. Those who made it to Hungary brought an advanced winemaking culture with them, and they worked the region’s hills and began to harvest the surrounding forests.

Fate and history remained unkind for some time.

Half of the village’s population, 827 people, perished in the plague and cholera epidemics of 1737-1739. During World War II Zsámbék was once again a scene of battle, while in 1946 95 percent of the Swabian population was forcibly resettled to Germany. The circular cellar row consisting of 70 wine cellars is meant to symbolise these population changes, on the site of which today land rehabilitation and building reconstruction work is currently underway. A lush memorial park to the Germans who lived in Zsámbék for centuries exists to remind us of their vinicultural and winemaking traditions.

The sights visitors can see today are the work of the Zichys. The palace, which is dominated by arches, features corners decorated with towers.

It can be visited by booking in advance (phone: +36-23-565-567), but only part of it can be viewed, since the Norbertines operate a school in one of the wings, and another wing is currently under construction.

The baroque church was likewise constructed with assistance from Miklós Zichy in the mid1700s. Above the gate the Zichy and Berényi families’ dual crest is visible, along with a statue of Saint Wendelin situated in a recess. The clock

The Zichy Palace on an autumn’s day

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mechanism, the bell and organ were recently renovated, and organ concerts are held each weekend during the summer.

A THEATRE ON A ROCKET BASE Water from the Turkish Well supplies the lakes of the Convent Garden. This wooded park surrounded by walls was once where the novice Sisters of the Holy Cross would take walks or pray. A sundial decorates the multi-story building at Magyar Street 2 built in 1791, which functioned as a school until 1983. Nearby, in Magyar Street 18, the Lamp Museum that opened in 1979 awaits guests. The museum’s founder, Ferenc Borus, originally searched for lighting instruments for a wine museum, but the purchase and restoration of neglected lamps soon became his passion. The collection features more than 1,000 candles, candleholders, industrial, household, old and petroleum lamps, lamps made from old Chinese frames, Zsolnay porcelain, Meissen porcelain-based petroleum lamps and oil-pumped lights dating to around 1800. For his efforts, Ferenc Borus was admitted to the international lamp club in the United States.

One of the sights surrounding the city preserves the era of the Cold War. Heading outside Zsámbék in the direction of Bicske, about two kilometres past the Fejér County sign, one can find the narrow road leading to the entrance of the listed Rocket Base, where a Soviet rocket base operated until 1995.

The arsenal consisted of a variety of rocket types, which had striking distances that ranged from 500 metres to 257 kilometres, although no rockets were actually ever deployed from there. The facility, consisting of 21 buildings, was listed in 26

AT BUDAPE ST'S GATE: Z SÁMBÉK

2005 as the youngest example of defensive architecture in Hungarian history worth preserving.

Following its closure, the base became a museum, in which supplies and objects used by the Hungarian Army for air defence can be seen. Two hectares of open space by the exhibition hall feature such objects, grouped according to their function: radio locators, gunner and air defence devices, and launching pads. In 2015 the Ministry of Defence began the removal of these military objects, but since this has only been partially completed, numerous types of equipment can still be seen. To book a guided tour (which is required in advance), call the local Tourinform Office (phone: +36-23-342-318).

The Zsámbék Basin Tourism Association has focused on using the area for cultural activities, and that is how this site has become the primary location for the Zsámbék Theatre and Artistic Base summer cultural festival. Theatre has a history in Zsámbék dating back to the 1980s, when two public educators moved here, who in addition to the official socialist policy programmes, founded the Zsámbék Saturday Event Series primarily with amateur theatre companies. The Artistic Base’s alternative performances, film screenings and musical events are even accessible to those who do not speak Hungarian on occasion.

If you grow tired from touring the sites, grab a table at one of the city’s restaurants, and order one of the Swabian meals, which are local delicacies, such as the fried chicken soup, the mushroom lecsó, bean pasta, sauerkraut stew, apple fritter or steam dumplings.

Photo © Fauvirt

The Turkish fountain

Awaiting the start of the play in the Base

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Photo © István Fazekas

Cultural Quarter During the reconstruction of the Liszt Academy of Music from 2009-2013, the idea was put forth to restore the original but later disused Voit & Söhne organ built in 1907 for the Grand Hall. The instrument was rebuilt for 22 October 2018, and not by accident, for that day is the anniversary of Ferenc Liszt’s birthday.

The young composer Ákos Lustyik, who participated in the scoring of the Academy Award-winning short film Sing, earned his bachelor’s at the Music Academy that bears Liszt’s name. Miranda Liu, the young concertmaster of the Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra, earned her master’s at this institution.

The third young artist featured in this issue is Ji, the exciting South Korean-born pianist who will play to audiences in the Music Academy’s Grand Hall as a part of the Budapest Spring Festival.

More than 100 cubic metres of wood went into the restoration of the Voit & Söhne organ

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Photo © János Posztós

RINGING OUT ONCE AGAIN

The restored organ at the Music Academy Text: Anna Tóth

The Music Academy founded by the world-famous Hungarian composer Ferenc Liszt outgrew its original location on Andrássy Avenue (today the Old Music Academy) at the turn of the 20th century. A new art nouveau palace was then built for the institution, which is a favourite destination for tourists wandering the capital.

The building designed by the noted architects Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl opened on 12 May 1907. Previously to that, in the summer of 1905, the Music Academy signed a contract with the German organ company Voit & Söhne to build an organ with four manuals and 72 registers in the Great Hall.

The assignment’s parameters were not limited to its acoustics, for the organ had to visually match its surroundings.

The 23-tonne organ arrived to Budapest in January 1907 by train, and was assembled and installed by May under the direction of the company’s foreman Oskar Binder. The new organ was played at the building’s dedication by the Academy’s recently announced organ teacher Dezsô Antalffy-Zsíross, who performed Liszt’s Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H in his own transcription.

This romantic instrument with a sleek and elegant Voit-con30

sole, a façade that blends into the hall’s style, which can follow the ideal sound of a symphonic orchestra with its rich tones and unprecedented playability made the elegant palace even richer. Up to 1925 the greatest musicians of the era, such as Karl Straube, the organist for the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Alexandre Guilmant, the director of the Paris Conservatory, and Enrico Bossi, perhaps the greatest organ virtuoso of his time, took turns playing the instrument.

In 1910 a console was built into the gallery, but this was hardly the last change to take place. Due to a lack of air-conditioning and shortcomings with the heating, the organ was exposed to large temperature and humidity fluctuations, and its condition steadily worsened. For this reason, the Angster company of Pécs completely reconstructed the organ’s structure according to Antalffy-Zsíross and József Geyer’s plans. This did not,

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Photo © István Fazekas

The playing console’s size was determined by using the size of Dezső AntallfyZsíros’s shoe

teaching at the Music Academy ten years earlier. By that point the organ at Müpa Budapest had been completed and successfully working for two years (it was dedicated on 22 May 2006, Eds.). We knew that the Music Academy would soon undergo renovations. That was when I met Balázs Szabó, who as a teenager had ‘fallen in love’ with an archival photo of the original Voit console.”

That same year they travelled to Germany to study the most important Voit instruments and numerous German romantic organs. The final stop was in the spring of 2009 at the Smetana Hall in Prague, which also has a Voit organ. There on Republic Square they reached a common decision, that the Voit organ is the ideal choice.

Several perspectives determined the decision, such as what instrument would fit the hall best visually and acoustically. The Photo © Gábor Ancsin

however, address the problems arising from a lack of climate control.

Suffering a bomb strike in World War II, the Music Academy was restored at sub-par quality and received a new organ in 1967. This instrument was prepared by the West German Walcker company, who preserved the original Voit organ’s outward appearance (muting the pipes) and placed it behind the new organ with 85 registers and four manuals.

Between 2011 and 2013 the university that bear’s Liszt’s name and carries on his intellectual heritage was completely renovated. The Music Academy’s building – including the Grand Hall – was restored inside and out with European Union support.

What kept things from being complete was that the old organ was not restored at the time, although plans had been drawn up. But some of the parts belonging to the Voit organ dismantled in 1967 were no longer in Budapest. Some of them were in the Liszt Hall in Sopron, while others were in the organ of the City Hall in Gyôr, and there was no trace of the beautiful console.

Since the extreme temperature and humidity variations ceased with the building’s reconstruction and installation of climate control, the Hungarian state secured funds for an authentic restoration.

László Fassang, the organ programme leader in the Music Academy’s Keyboard and Harp Department spoke with Budapest’s Finest about the process. This was not his first experience with such a large project, having previously worked on Müpa Budapest’s and Suntory Hall’s organs. Also involved in this project were Balázs Szabó, who is also a lecturer at the Music Academy and managed the technical part of the process, and the engineer Gergely Lakatos, who oversaw the Music Academy’s entire reconstruction.

“This instrument was a milestone when it was built, for it was the first organ in a concert hall where the console was on the stage, or a distance from the instrument. This late romantic organ bears the marks of its era, and its sound can be changed from pianissimo to fortissimo”, Fassang revealed.

“For the installation and reconstruction of the original instrument, the greatest driving force was the desire to return this instrument to its original condition,” he continued. “I began

repertoire of the modern organ built into Müpa Budapest’s modern building would best be balanced by a Voit instrument.

They also had to consider what type of instrument would serve educational purposes well. A school organ of this calibre can only be found at Yale University or the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

“We reached an agreement with Sopron and Gyôr to repurchase the Voit elements that they had. This wasn’t a quick process, and I’m certain that Balázs knows each pipe by name, not to mention the thousands of parts. What caused us headaches was the console, for the original had disappeared,” Fassang revealed. “Aside from the two existing photos, we also used unusual methods. Following lengthy negotiations with Antalffy’s heirs, Balázs gained access to the shoe in which Antalffy was photographed by the organ. The shoe was used to calculate the console’s exact dimensions.”

We were lucky with the façade, which survived in its original form. From the perspective of conservation, we had to move it back to its original position, for in 1967 it was brought forward by half a metre. This solution required reinstalling the original parts, because we knew that those would fit in the given space.

On 22 October 2018, the anniversary of Liszt’s birthday, the rebuilt Voit & Söhne organ could once again be heard. In addition to Liszt’s Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H, a competition piece by the organist-composer Zsigmond Szathmáry received its world premiere.

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JUST JI “I like the fact that time stops for an hour and a half” Text: Judit Petrányi

Who would have thought that the top hit in a Grammy Awards ceremony might be a commercial? Yet, that is exactly what happened in 2016. A young man’s one minute ten second performance of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on two pianos(!) was so astonishing, that millions of viewers found themselves practically glued to their screens.

Small surprise then that People magazine declared Ji “the real star of the Grammys”.

A year later Warner Classics signed the young pianist, then 24, to an exclusive contract.

For a start he recorded the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach. That in itself is quite extraordinary. It takes some courage for a young man in his twenties to play the Goldberg Variations as his debut album. The only pianist who dared to do that was probably Glenn Gould in the mid-1950s. The cover of the album is pretty unusual as well.

Up front you see a computerised image of a face, that of a young man, with the simple, though prominent caption: BACH. The back cover, in the same pop art style, shows a portrait of Bach, but the letters above read: JI. Simply Ji - that is how the musician prefers to call himself. (He is not to be confused with pianist Yukyeong Ji, also from South Korea, third prize winner of the Santa Cecília International Competition in Porto in 2015.)

The cover, a kind of nod to pop music, mirrors the young pianist’s everyday appearance: he wears his hair short, often extremely short and occasionally dyed, he has a tattoo on his forearm and wears ripped jeans. The music in the recording, however, bears no resemblance to pop music.

Authoritative reviews describe it as a miracle. Something so stunning that It can practically pin its listeners to their armchairs, writes one of his Hungarian reviewers who

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CULTUR AL QUARTER this day, I'd say I'm not a very personal person. But if you come to my performance, I get super, super personal. That's one aspect that's intriguing about being a performer. There are a lot of guys who ask me what I think about when I'm performing. I don't know what I'm thinking about really. Time stops. I guess that I like the fact that time stops for an hour and a half. I just really love emerging in my own little world, and being able to share that with other people”.

Does he play other kinds of music? Yes, but not in front of a public. In another interview, Ji says he composes and improvises when he is bored. “I'm a classical pianist, that's what I've been doing, that's what I love. I have a very special connection with the piano, sort of like I'm wedded to it right now, and I always will be.”

When asked about his greatest influences, he mentions his parents in the first place. From his mother, he says, he inherited his talent for music, and from his father the conviction that the most important thing is to be a good person over all.

In terms of performers, he mentions Richter and Horowitz, and a Hungarian-Polish pianist of international renown, Piotr Anderszewski. “It's an eye-opening experience every time I play for him”. Ji practises five hours a day, and says that if a single day would pass without practising, he would have to give up his profession. But that would not even cross his mind. He continues to practise, and play.

Ji will perform for the first time in Hungary during the Budapest Spring Festival: we eagerly await the opportunity to meet him.

Photo © jidreams.com

also emphasises the strong personality, the original concepts and 21st century character shining through the performance.

According to another review, “as if a Baroque painting were redone by Picasso in his cubist period”.

Speaking of his album released in January 2018, Ji, now living in Brooklyn, said: “Even though we are centuries apart, Bach has left us this music to create a synergy that is greater than all of us combined.” The greatest lesson for him, he emphasises, is the empathy beyond the notes. “Playing this music has taught me the ability to open up my mind; to remind myself constantly to put myself in others’ shoes, even those of someone who walked the earth more than 300 years ago, and who left us with music that continues to connect souls.”

Bach’s cult classic was released in 163 (!) different versions over the past ten years. And yet, 26 year old Ji has managed to shatter the conviction that it is impossible for a young pianist to make his name with the Goldberg Variations.

A superstar in his native South Korea, Ji was launched to fame at the age of 10 when he became the youngest pianist ever to win the New York Philharmonic's Young Artists Competition.

Part of his award was to perform with the orchestra under the baton of Kurt Masur. A Juilliard graduate, Ji has won numerous awards and accolades since and performed with the world’s most famous orchestras.

Ji began playing the piano at the age of 5. His mother was a singer, who in addition to voice, also taught violin and piano. “She always sang, and the house was filled with music,” Ji said in an earlier interview. His mother noticed how Ji played by ear and began teaching him. Following his elementary school years in South Korea, from 2000, he continued with higher-level piano studies in the United States. Ji says he was not motivated by ambitions of “getting into the performance circuit”, he just wanted to receive the finest possible musical education. But things worked out, and he was performing before a real audience at 11.

“I guess it was inevitable”, he says. “I loved to entertain other people. We had every once in a while a family get together, and my family would want me to sing, play, dance. I would always get allowances for things like that from my aunts and uncles. That's how I got started.” Interestingly, despite his early start, it was only in his twenties that Ji chose a performing career.

Being on stage is a home away from home for him. He can express things he could never really express with words. He has always thought music was pretty ineffable, and it has always seemed to him like a second language. “To

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COMPOSING FOR THE SILVER SCREEN Ákos Lustyik

Photo © Lester Cohen

Text: Rita Szentgyörgyi

Photo © Józan Adrienn

My primary goal is to work as a film scorer, says Ákos Lustyik, who is one of the most notable members of the younger generation of Hungarian composers, and who has proven his talent with his chamber orchestra works, short film scores, musical pieces and chansons.

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Many people first came to know Ákos Lustyik’s name via the Academy Award-winning short film Sing (Mindenki in Hungarian) by Kristóf Deák. Ákos worked alongside the film’s scorer Ádám Balázs as an assistant and musical composer. “I owe so much to Ádám. As soon as I arrived as an assistant, he treated me as a partner. When I moved to London, we parted as friends. He strove to show and include me in everything that a person can learn in school or from books.” Ákos, who is 31, has received the Zoltán Kodály Composition and Musicology Scholarship three times. “Recognition always feels good, especially if it comes from a renowned jury. The scholarship this year provided me with the opportunity to perform a concert at the Mini Fesztivál with fantastic musicians and marketing. (The festival is the yearly showcase for contemporary Hungarian composers.

Eds.) The scholarship itself, even if it did not include any other direct benefits, is of an immense

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A scene from the short feature film Sing

help in allowing me to focus on my various projects without distractions.”

Born in Szolnok, Ákos was infected by music in kindergarten. “I had a period when I copied my older brother in everything and wanted to do the same things. He played violin, therefore I needed one too. My parents later enrolled me in music school. At the age of 12, I switched to percussion, because at the time I felt that playing drums in a jazz or rock band was much cooler.”

Despite his forays into music, Ákos turned his attention to economic topics following his high school graduation. “To be completely truthful, I didn’t exactly know what I wanted to be at 18, and the decision was only made 3-4 years later. Management and economics seemed to be a neutral area with a lot of potential in the future. As a person interested in environmental protection, I was pleased to note that a new major was formed around environmental economics. I was quite happy to discover that tying yourself to a tree is not the only method for spreading responsible management. In parallel to this, I also attended conservatory, studying composition.” Ákos earned a bachelor’s in Applied Composition from the Liszt Academy of Music. As an alumnus, he enjoyed success at prestigious film composition competitions, such as the Krakow Film Music Festival and the Transatlantyk Film Music Competition, placing second at the latter. For his diploma work at the Academy of Music in 2014, he composed music pieces inspired by Oscar Wildes’s The Happy Prince.

He earned his master’s in London at the Royal College of Music with distinction and currently lives in the British capital. “The Royal College of Music is one of the world’s most notable institutions, and I believed that this was a necessary step to build my professional network. It’s wonderful to travel the world and meet new people, but I did

not plan to move abroad at any cost. Hungary is a small country with a matching market from the perspective of film. By this I refer specifically to volume, since many know and love the many great films that were produced in Hungary recently or a long time ago. I really love BBC productions and the selection of music here. The media companies with larger budgets also have larger selections and therefore provide more opportunities. Furthermore, because of how the film profession is, London is not merely closer to America from a geographic perspective. I would be filled with joy if I could compose the score to a BBC nature film or period piece.”

A young film scorer may be tempted to “overwrite” the music, because they want to show what they are capable of. According to Ákos, his mentor Ádám Balázs is capable of adding just the right amount of music to a film that the narrative needs, and not a gram more or less. “This is why filmmakers and Kristóf enjoy working with him, and that is why I am glad that I could see all of this from up close as we filmed Sing,” Ákos recalls. “This attitude is particularly significant.

Every beat during the clapping, the drone in the background, or the choir section are the result of conscious planning, and I believe they contributed to the film’s success.” Ákos, who composes for short films, theatres pieces, background music for television series, song cycles and chamber music considers working as a film scorer on exciting films or television series as his number one priority. He does not wish to overlook concert halls, but those are definitely second in line. “Orchestral film scores are my favourite, mixed with electronic sounds. Although live studio recordings are today a gentleman’s indulgence, I am satisfied with my music that was created under these circumstances.”

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BEHIND THE SOUND: MIRANDA LIU Text: Rita Szentgyörgyi

A California native of Chinese background, Miranda Liu began her musical studies at the age of 2 with the help of her pianist mother. “I’ve been interested in the performing arts since I was young, I enjoyed being on stage and I also danced”, she recalls. At the age of three she performed a duet and a solo as a part of the Christmas concert for her mother’s piano class.

A year later, she received her first violin lessons at the age of four, and by the age of 7 she performed her own compositions.

Miranda first arrived to Austria to participate in a summer master class. At the age of 10, she began studying with Prof. Paul Roczek at the Mozarteum University Salzburg as a member of the Leopold Mozart Institute. “I moved to Europe to pursue my education. The continent’s culture is quite exciting and multi-layered. Musical life is especially rich in Hungary, and the audience quite grateful. Budapest has a vibrant atmosphere, the people are nice, and I’ve developed many friendships and personal contacts”, Miranda said of her experiences.

She met her later teacher, Eszter Perényi, during a master class in Semmering. Within the framework of the Erasmus Exchange Programme, Miranda commenced her studies in Perényi’s class at the Liszt Academy of Music. She received her bachelor’s in 2015 and her master’s in 2017 summa cum laude from the Liszt Academy¸ and is currently the institution’s youngest doctoral student. “I absolutely wanted to study under Eszter Perényi, because I find her an inspirational personality. In addition to teaching violin technique, she also provides a lot of personal assistance to her students. At the Liszt Academy, each student in the violin department officially receives two hours each week. I needed to prepare for important concerts and competitions, and because the many works did not fit into the two hours, she gladly spent extra time with me so that I could perform to my absolute best.”

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Photo © petersuha.com

Although there are no statistics in terms of age, it is nearly for certain that Miranda Liu became the youngest concertmaster in Hungary at the age of 19. A musician with the Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra, she has performed in hundreds of concerts as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.

CULTUR AL QUARTER Regarding the invitations to perform that followed international competitions, one memorable experience for Miranda was when she played Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor in Florida on a Stradivarius borrowed from a London musical association. Her diploma concert in the Academy’s Grand Hall was unforgettable for her, since she was joined by Concerto Budapest for her performance of Dvořak’s Violin Concerto in A minor. “I always wanted to be a concertmaster. It seemed like a wonderful opportunity, when Concerto advertised trials for the concertmaster position.

I already knew the orchestra as a student and member of the audience, and enjoyed their playing. András Keller does not rehearse like most conductors, but as a chamber musician”, Miranda said. She has performed Hungarian works, especially Bartók’s compositions for violin and quartet slightly differently since she has become familiar with the Hungarian language and folk music. “A concertmaster should be a good leader. They must thoroughly know the various styles, the given piece, must be able to give guidance and instruction, lead the entire string session, and communicate sufficiently with the orchestra.”

Miranda, who is 21, also performs regularly as a chamber musician with Klassik Duo Salzburg, Duo Kromatikus, as well as the Goldmark Piano Trio. These days she performs most frequently with the Central European String Quartet, which in addition to Miranda also features the successful musicians Máté Soós on second violin, Haruka Nagao on viola, and Judit Szabó on cello. “We formed by accident”, she revealed. “We learned Bartok’s String Quartet No. 4 for Judit Szabó doctoral concert. The performance turned out so well, that we felt we had to continue playing together. We place a great deal of emphasis on Bartók’s string quartets, and in the future, we would like to perform all six in one day. This year our repertoire will be quite colourful, for in addition to Bartok’s String Quartet No. 4 and 5, we will also perform works

by Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Dvořak, Haydn, Janaček and Smetana. In addition to concerts, we also find it important to support contemporary composers. With this in mind, we announced an international composition competition, which received 75 entries from 27 countries.

Leonardo Mezzalira of Italy won first place with his professionally composed, excellent work. We will hold the gala concert and awards ceremony on 24 February 2019 at the Óbudai Társaskör”.

This summer Miranda, with assistance from Éva Szalai, was the only participant from Hungary at the European Managers’ Association’s series-launching concert in Krakow with a Polish and Hungarian programme. She is also filled with joy that in 2019 she will once again perform in Redwood City, the city of her birth. “I play the violin from morning to night and between practicing and concerts, I focus on my doctoral studies. I play two violins: my own is a contemporary Zygmuntowicz, and the other is a beautiful old Italian instrument. It is important that every musician have good equipment, for in the end, it is the musician that is heard through the sound, not the instrument.”

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38 Photo © Eszter Gordon

City Guide One of Budapest’s special reminders of the 16th century, the Tomb of Gül Baba, has been restored and expanded, to now include a visitors’ centre that provides an overview of the history of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

The period during which Buda and central Hungary were under Turkish occupation is noteworthy from many perspectives, one of which is that numerous Corvina codices from King Matthias’s library found their way into the Ottoman Empire at this time.

King Matthias’s famous library enhanced the renaissance splendour of his royal court. In the following pages, two articles will focus on the Corvina codices the library contained, which to this day are magnificent examples of book design.

Our culinary recommendations run the spectrum from a trendy bistro to an elegant restaurant and vegan walking tours of the city.

And since this is the season for shopping, gatherings and parties, we provide some helpful tips on what to do or where to go.

The tomb of Gül Baba.

Not only was it restored, but this most northern of Muslim pilgrimage sites was also expanded.

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THE HIDDEN TREASURE ON ROSE HILL

The tomb of Gül Baba reopens to the public Text: Györgyi Orbán • Photos: Eszter Gordon

Among the Bektashi dervishes, Gül Baba was an outstanding figure, poet and mystic. This religious order grew in importance during the time of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, at the same time that the janissaries became the most powerful military force, whose spiritual upbringing was overseen by them. Gül Baba arrived to Buda in 1541 as the camp spiritual leader for the janissaries fighting in the Ottoman Army, Professor János Hóvári, an expert on and former ambassador to Turkey, told Budapest’s Finest.

Gül Baba may have been a significant figure in the capture of Buda, and he died while a prayer service to Allah for the Turkey victory was being held in the Matthias Church, which had been converted to a mosque. At his funeral, according to Turkish custom, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent is reputed to have been one of the coffin bearers. An octagonal tomb (known in Turkish as a türbe) was erected above his grave between 1543-1548 on the orders of Mehmed Pasha, which today is known as the Tomb of Gül Baba (“Gül Baba türbéje” in Hungarian), which also happens to be the northernmost pil40

CIT Y GUIDE grimage site in Islam. In the 1550s and 1560s a dervish monastery was built next to it, which operated until the recapture of Buda by Christian forces in 1686. The tomb then came into the possession of the Jesuits, but after Maria Theresa disbanded the order in the Austrian Empire, the building became the property of the royal treasury.

The Hungarian government is responsible for the upkeep of this simple grave in a buttressed garden located on the south-eastern slope of Rózsadomb. Its surroundings have frequently changed over the years, however. The area was once a vineyard, while in the latter 19th century the noted architect János Wagner built a villa around the tomb. The tomb was maintained by the Bosnians population of Buda, and the Turkish consul also regularly visited the site, János Hóvári said. Around this time the structure was renovated by the city, and in 1913 archaeological digs were performed on the site and beneath the tomb, where three skeletons were found two meters deep, one of which belonged to Gül Baba himself. The tomb became a listed building in 1914, and four years later the first listed reconstruction works were completed. Islam became a recognised religion in 1916, and the cult surrounding Gül Baba grew, so that by the 1920s the tomb became a meeting place for the Bosnians and Turks. According to Hóvári, Béla Tóth is responsible for the growth of this cult, for at the end of the 19th century, following Serbian and Bosnian epic tradition, he wrote the Rózsa Apó (“Father Rose”) legend, writing of Gül Baba as the symbol of roses and humanity.

(Gül Baba, pronounced Kel Baba, was in fact a Bektashi dervish, that is

a Muslim warrior monk, who arrived to Buda in 1541 with the Turkish Army laying siege to Buda Castle. He did not really have time to plant flowers, for he passed a few days after the castle was captured. Eds.) Inside the tomb above Gül Baba’s remains one will see a sarcophagus decorated with a turban. The tomb escaped significant damage during World War II, but the villa around it was not so fortunate. As such, reconstruction works on the tomb were only undertaken in 1962. In 1974 the remains of the villa were demolished, and its foundations served as the basis of the curves around the tomb. To prevent any further decay, in 1994 restoration works were performed according to Tamás Pintér’s plans, but the quality of the workmanship and materials did not prove to be durable, therefore the area required further renovations. For this reason, in 2016 the architect István Mányi and his team were allowed to perform a more thorough restoration to the tomb and its surroundings. During the most recent works, with the exception of the 60 square meter tomb in the middle of the area, the surrounding area was significantly reorganised. So that the renovation works on the tomb would be accurate for its era, Mányi travelled to Turkey, where he studied similar tombs dating from the 17th century. The simplicity he witnessed in Turkey is what he wished to restore to the tomb in Buda.

The foundations of the Wagner villa and the remaining basement spaces provided a suitable starting point for the current reconstruction. On the basis of the new concept, a visitor’s centre, exhibition hall, café, gift shop, and a smaller conference room were built with suitable service spaces in the cel-

Inside the legendary dervish’s tomb

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lar system. To ensure disabled access, an elevator connects the underground areas with the tomb and sightseeing terrace, and at the street level a floor above, where visitors arrive at a smaller, completely new building. This, in addition to its technical function, provides an excellent background to the Gül Baba statue located next to the entrance. The wall emphasises and provides a suitable surface for the explanatory text written in Hungarian, Turkish and English. The surviving and completely renovated northern bastion had its southern pair rebuilt. Its new interior stairwell provides a link between the viewing platform at the top and the cloister below. The other defining architectural element is the rebuilt row of arched ar-

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cades, as well as the hanging garden built onto the southern slope, which in addition to its Mediterranean spices, lavender and rose garden, provides an important pedestrian link between Rózsadomb and Margit körút with its pleasant paths and stairs.

During the planning stages the excavation of the Wagner villa’s cellar provided nice spaces for the site with its bare brick walls. The tearoom which previously did not have a service area, has remained on the Wager villa’s cellar floor, directly connected to the eastern terrace with its fantastic panoramic views. Next to the tomb the fountain symbolising eternal renewal was restored. And on the hillside the last remnant of

CIT Y GUIDE János Wager’s garden, a more than hundred-year-old chestnut tree stands, with a trunk more than three metres in circumference. At its base a plaque in English and Hungarian reveals the career paths that Wagner’s descendants took, as well as that the tree was planted by János Wagner himself according to tradition.

The tomb is a place of piety as well as a cultural centre, and a symbolic location of Hungarian-Turkish friendship, as both countries contributed to its restoration. The site’s operations are overseen by the Tomb of Gül Baba Heritage Foundation. The foundation’s cultural and artistic director, Alpaslan Ertüngealp told Budapest’s Finest that the exhibition hall shows the life of the Ottomans in Buda, Gül Baba’s work, the dervishes and 3 statues of Gül Baba through five rooms. The exhibition shows how in 1905 Jenô Huszka composed an operetta titled Gül Baba based on the dervish’s legend. Under László Kalmár’s direction, in 1955 the musical and period piece film Gábor Diák premiered, in which Gül Baba’s fairy-tale character appears. They exhibit also features books about the dervish, and the reconstruction work on the tomb and its surroundings is also presented.

A legend surrounding Gül Baba repeated to this day is that while Sultan Bayezid II hunted in the hills surround his palace in Galatasaray, he noticed a beautiful rose garden and got to know the garden’s owner, Gül Baba. The sultan offered him a request in exchange for the roses, and Gül Baba was said to have asked him to build a school on the hill, where the sultan’s children themselves later studied. Later on a lyceum was also built there, the first educational institution there based on the western model. Alpaslan added that the Galatasaray football club’s red and yellow colours are a reference to the roses from Gül Baba’s garden.

The director also added that the temporary exhibition will host a new exhibit every three months, such as the history of the Hagia Sophia which has been a cathedral then a mosque and is now museum, which visitors can learn about through the architectural book published in 1852 that was illustrated by the Swiss-Italian Fossati brothers. The two were invited to restore the Hagia Sophia by Sultan Abdulmejid I. While there they discovered the famous Byzantine mosaics, which can be seen in this original edition of the book. The foundation would also like to give a boost to HungarianTurkish cultural tourism, doing its part in Hungary by organising concerts with Hungarian and Turkish musicians across the country. An artist’s workshop will also be launched up on the hill, and visitors can learn the ebru painting technique, which is an ancient Uyghur technique adopted by the Ottomans that is used to this day in Turkey. Naturally, gastronomy and an introduction of Hungarian and Turkish cuisine is also planned for this cultural exchange.

Alpaslan noted that the foundation’s programme for 2019 is currently being planned, and that it will include a performance of Jenô Huszka’s Gül Baba operetta, along with a festival, a summer academy for researchers and archaeologists, and all of this in cooperation with Hungary’s’ prestigious scholarly and artistic institutes.

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The Gellért Thermal Bath and Hotel turns 100

Photo © István Práczky / budapestinfo.hu

WELCOME TO EDEN The “Budapest, City of Spas” tourism slogan is emphasised from time to time with good reason, for it is quite rare that a bustling metropolis is as blessed with so many thermal and healing springs as the Hungarian capital is. The healing properties of these thermal waters have been enjoyed in Buda and Óbuda since the Middle Ages, and the parts of the city that were under Ottoman occupation came to know Turkish bathing culture, which they have preserved ever since.

A small two-story simple bathhouse was built at the foot of Gellért Hill in the early 19th century above a thermal spring, which had a therapeutic section and also provided accommodation. The Sáros (“Muddy”) Baths, as they were known, became an impediment to progress by the late 19th century, however, as Budapest prepared to celebrate the thousand-year anniversary of the Hungarian Conquest in 1896. In 1894 construction began on the Szabadság (Liberty) Bridge, therefore the bathhouse was demolished in 1895.

The old spring house, however, was preserved and can be visited to this day on special occasions.

The capital hardly turned its back on thermal waters, however, and the city council decided in 1901 to build a new facility. “Mayor István Bárczy dared to dream big and planned to build the largest spa-hotel in Europe at the time on this outlying part of the city”. That is how the Hungarian Museum of Trade and Tourism recalls the moment in its “Gellért 100” exhibition on the hotel and thermal bath that will run through March 2019. Once upon a time today’s downtown Gellért Square consisted of small houses 44

with gardens, but they had to make way as works began in 1911 on the new spa-hotel. Exploratory drilling revealed cellars that were 3-3.5 metres deep, along with a 14-metre-deep cellar system dating to the Turkish era. Those building the new spring house worked in hellish 50°C conditions.

Géza Bánlaky, who led the project, oversaw 240 workers ranging from miners to painters.

Construction proceeded slowly with multiple pauses, in part due to a scarcity of funds, and in part due to the losses suffered in World War I. Even some Russian prisoners of war were used to build the facility. Miraculously, the Gellért Thermal Bath and Hotel was completed in the autumn of 1918. Fitted with a hospital and medical laboratory, the foyer and façade were decorated with the works of noted sculptors from the era, the colourful windows were manufactured in Miksa Róth’s famous workshop, while the walls in the thermal bath areas were decorated with Zsolnay mosaic tiles. The hotels rooms were luxuriously decorated if somewhat old-fashioned, and the exhibition reveals a white-gold rococo interior.

The Budapest Spa City Association was formed

Photo © bgyh.hu

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Rabindranath Tagore and Frigyes Karinthy, or the world-famous musicians Yehudi Menuhin, József Szigeti and Pablo Casals.

The hotel, together with its restaurants and cafes, is currently part of the Danubius Group. The baths no longer provide inpatient care, but a therapeutic day hospital continues to operate in a side wing. The swimming pool and hot tub, along with the thermal pools and the wave pool in the summertime are truly a tourist favourite.

A thermal bath

The indoor swimming pool

Photo © bgyh.hu

in 1922. In 1929, the International Medical Hydrological Association and Europe’s leading rheumatologists held a joint conference in the art nouveau building in 1929. The International Society of Medical Hydrology and Climatology was formed at a spa congress in 1937, which selected Budapest as its permanent headquarters.

Due to the leadership of Dr. Gyula Benczúr, the bath’s chief medical officer and Dr. Lajos Bilkei Pap, who ran the hospital from 1934, the spa provided top of the line treatments.

From 1926 the hotel’s restaurant was operated by the grand figure of Hungarian hospitality, Károly Gundel, who also kept in mind those visiting to receive therapeutic treatments, thus designing separate dishes for them.

Demand increased for public swimming facilities with the 1920s. The hotel’s garden was underused by the public, and therefore converted into a pool.

The open-air wave pool that opened in 1927 was a true technical wonder that to this day operates with its original machines and cow leather belts.

The directors of the Gellért Bath also proposed constructing a swimming pool for the winter months and sacrificed the palm garden and popular miniature golf course. In 1933, Budapest’s most beautiful covered swimming pool opened, with 84 jets near the steps making the water bubble from time to time.

Sándor Pusztai, the baths’ lifeguard, took photos between 1930-1939 of the Gellért’s prominent guests. The pictures, titled “Ministers in Trunks” was exhibited by the Hungarian House of Photography – Mai Manó House in 2012. Several of these photos can also be seen in the “Gellért 100” exhibit. The hotel and baths have welcomed royalty, nobility and statesmen. We are happy to remember the artists, such as the writers

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THE BUDA WORKSHOP OF THE CORVINA LIBRARY Unparalleled treasures from UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in Buda Castle

Numerous magnificent corvinas and other decorated codices are on display until 9 February in the National Széchényi Library in Buda Castle. These enthralling pieces have been mostly assembled from Hungarian collections, but several items arrived for the exhibition from New York, Paris, Vienna or elsewhere. Many of the manuscripts will be displayed for the first time.

A true rarity is that visitors will get to see the 53 corvinas that are kept in Hungary.

Fotók: oszk.hu

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The Corvina Library, the library of King Matthias (1458-1490), was founded on the Italian model and contained nearly 2,000 volumes. At the time it was the largest secular library in Europe and only second in size to the Vatican’s.

King Matthias’s library has been on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register since 2005. The exhibition will showcase the Széchényi Library’s corvina website that was created in 2002 and renovated in 2018. This site significantly aids the Hungarian national library’s Corvina Programme that has been underway for decades. The long-term goal of this thematic service is the virtual reconstruction of the Bibliotheca Corvina. Remarkable even in its fragments, this humanist manuscript collection is one of the stable and significant sources for both Hungarian and international research on humanism and the Renaissance, not to mention that it is one of Hungary’s cultural ambassadors to the world. (corvina.oszk.hu) The collection was founded in the second half of the 15th century in King Matthias’s palace. As a reflection of humanist principles and representation of a Renaissance ruler, it had its predecessors and plenty of preparations. The proximity of Italy played a key role in the development of Hungarian culture since the establishment of the Hungarian state, and this role intensified when members of the House of Anjou acceded to the Hungarian throne in the early 14th century. King Matthias’ Bibliotheca Corvina is a product of the centuries-long intellectual influence of Italy, the culmination of a process whose last phase was when Beatrice of Naples and with her the Italian court arrived in Hungary in 1476.

What is less known is that in addition to the splendid codices ordered from Italy, similarly precious and decorative manuscripts were made in the royal court of Buda as well. It was due to the joint efforts of the book illuminators, book binders and scribes of Buda, and of

CIT Y GUIDE the humanists dreaming up the library, that the royal book house was converted into a decorative Renaissance-era royal library displaying uniform features.

According to current information, 216 corvinas survive to this day, with the rest lost to history.

The volumes that survived are those that left the country prior to the library’s destruction in 1541.

Following Matthias’s death in 1490, his successors Vladislaus II and Louis II gifted many of them away.

A special volume written in Greek will be on loan from Vienna, which was only discovered to be a corvina in 2010. The most beautiful work

produced by the Buda workshop, the Cassianus corvina, will also be displayed after it arrives from Paris. Another spectacular volume is the one held in Leipzig, which is the only one to preserve Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII the Purpleborn’s work on court ceremonies. Also displayed will be the so-called “Vatican Missal”. Milanbased Francesco da Castello was the most prominent illuminator of the Buda workshop, and visitors can see several of his amazing manuscripts as well as treasures from a private collection in Turin.

The Buda workshop did not only fulfil commissions for the Royal Library. High-ranking priests

followed the king’s example and also placed their orders with the workshop. The exhibition will present several of the codices made for them. Three decorative codices once owned by Domonkos Kálmáncsehi, Grand Provost of Székesfehérvár will also be displayed in addition to one of the most beautiful codices of the Hungarian past, the breviary kept in Budapest.

Visitors will get to see the high priest’s prayer book kept in Paris, as well as the breviary and missal kept in New York. These latter two codices have not been on display at any exhibition held in Hungary as far as the researchers’ could recall.

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STORYTELLING WITH DANNY Interactive Folktales set to African Rhythms The American musician, children’s storyteller and performing artist Danny Bain first visited Budapest eight years ago, and has made his home in the city ever since, which he considers a fairy-tale location for several reasons. How did a world-traveling American musician become one of the best-known Hungarian-language storytellers in the Hungarian metropolis, especially with African folk tales?

Text: Júlia Csikós • Photos: Danny mesél

Danny Bain was born in the United States in a suburb of Washington, D.C. and majored in Jazz Studies at West Virginia University. During his university years and after them, he spent longer periods in Ghana and Brazil, falling in love with the traditional rhythms and melodies from both countries. Danny’s arrival to Budapest was by chance, for his Brazilian visa had expired, and Budapest was the destination with the most affordable plane tickets. His original plan was to return to South America after a few months, but life soon took a different turn in Hungary. A week after he arrived, he met the girl who would become his wife, and a month later he was performing as a member of a band in a televised competition.

Danny has lived in Budapest since 2010 and today speaks Hungarian fluently, with no intention of moving elsewhere. His “Danny Mesél” storytelling performance series launched in 2013 has been quite the suc48

cess. The main audience for his stories are aged 3-10, who listen to them in either Hungarian or English.

African folk stories are dominant, if for no other reason than he plays the gyil (a traditional African balafon).

This wooden xylophone has calabash gourd resonators on the bottom and is played with gum-rubber-wound mallets, adding vibrancy to the musical repertoire of West African tribes since the 14th century. Danny’s gyil was prepared in Ghana by a local musician and instrument maker. In addition to singing together with the children and interactive moving-dancing parts, the “Danny Mesél” performances are followed by the opportunity to try the instruments.

Danny admits that he originally had no plans to work with stories. “I’ve always been a musician,” he began, “but I had never considered being a children’s performer—though, in retrospect, it suits me. As I studied alongside ‘serious’ musicians in university, the possi-

CIT Y GUIDE bility of a career in children’s music was never even discussed. I think it’s worth pointing out that music for children shouldn’t be of lower artistic quality, and adults (parents) oftentimes make up two-thirds of the audience at any children’s performance, so it’s important to do work that can be interesting and enjoyable for them, too.”

Danny Bain first made an impression at the summer family festival organised by the Kabóca Puppet Theatre of Veszprém in 2013 with his performance of the Tanzanian folktale “The Children in the Tree”. Danny continued working on storytelling ideas together with the Kabóca Puppet Theatre and on his own.

In 2015 his storybook Ez Nem Apu Hang ja! was published by the Betûtészta publishing house, which was supplemented with a CD featuring three of his performances. Mariann Máray’s lively illustrations can be enjoyed by young and old alike as they listen to

Brando and the Second Cousins, and Redbreast Wilson & the Juke Joint Revival. Traditional Hungarian instruments also interest him, for several years earlier his wife surprised him with a percussive cello (ütôgardon) from Gyimes. Consequently, Danny undertook another form of musical experimentation by performing Brazilian folk songs with this special cello.

In closing, the storytelling musician stated: “Budapest is a beautiful city, I think anyone who travels here will be enchanted by the views from Gellert mountain and Margit bridge. I was lucky enough to find a community of people here who became my close friends.” Danny is also a fan of the Hungarian culinary arts. “The days around St. Martin’s Day are one of my favourite times of the year. I love a good goose leg served with red cabbage and potatoes, or goose liver. I also love other typical fall dishes and will gladly partake in a glass of wine, although I like must

the stories sung through Danny’s voice. The book was recognised by the Hungarian Children’s Literature Institute in 2015 as one of the 50 best children’s and youth books released that year. In 2017, Danny’s show “Kodzsugukila the Witch” won a special prize at the 9th Children’s and Youth Theatre Review and in 2018 he won the prestigious Michel Indali Award.

Due to his time spent there, African folktales hold a special place in Danny’s heart, but his works also include a reworking of a Hungarian story. “The Bird Princess” is adapted from the “Macskacicó” folktale, although in Danny’s interpretation the princess that is transformed into a rare bird lives in Africa. “My performances have been influenced mostly by African music and folk stories, but one area where Hungarian culture has influenced me is in its children’s rhymes. Especially now when, as a father, I am hearing these rhymes for the first time—I often use these as a starting place for a new song.”, he revealed.

In addition to his children’s programmes, Danny Bain can also be heard as a member of several “grownup” formations, playing drums in the Budapest-based folk/rock/blues bands Mookie

even more!” At Christmastime Danny and his wife celebrate by blending Hungarian and American traditions. The two Bain children are visited on Christmas Eve by the Baby Jesus, and on Christmas Day by Santa Claus.

Danny is currently at work on his new performance for 2019, which will once again be part of the Kabóca Puppet Theatre’s repertoire. All that he would reveal for now is that the story will build on American folk traditions and take place in the Appalachian Mountains. For dates and information about the Danny Mesél programmes, visit the artist’s website or Facebook page. dannymesel.hu Facebook: DannyMesel Performances: The Children in the Tree (African folktale adaptation) The Gingerbread Man (American folktale adaptation) Sassouma and the Wind (Danny Bain’s original story) The Bird Princess (Hungarian folktale adaptation) Kodzsugukila, the Witch (Anna Sándor’s original story)

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BÁRKERT BISTRO Youthful, lively and green

Photo © barkert Bistro

Text: Szonja Somogyi

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Not so long ago, visitors to Budapest or the locals viewing the sights on the Buda side would finish their day by crossing the Danube to Pest in search of a good place to grab a bite. These days, however, one fantastic place after another has opened its doors on the Buda side to address this imbalance. One such new location, the Bárkert Bistro, can be found beneath Buda Castle in the Castle Garden Bazaar complex.

Photo © afstudio.hu

Photo © afstudio.hu

This storied building complex exerts classical elegance with its tall arches, dignified appearance and interior spaces. Inside, behind the enormous windows, the atmosphere of a 19th century café blends with modernity and liveliness. The vast amount of greenery it contains gives us the impression as if we are sitting in an oasis looking out onto the Duck breast with Danube’s panorama. beetroot and “Here in the Castle red wine fig Garden Bazaar the location’s elegance calls back to the historical past. We absolutely wanted to create a quality and elegant bistro, which nonetheless will not scare away guests looking for a more relaxed option. Our goal was to challenge the preconception that this is too expensive or upscale of a location, and therefore made the bistro personable.

One of the defining aspects was the interior design with its many plants. All of this is the product of a comprehensively envisioned concept,” Lili Viczián, Bárkert Bistro’s sales manager told Budapest’s Finest.

The space is dominated by the large greenery, but this closeness to nature is also present through a more personal form, such as the materials, colours, comfort and softness of the furniture. As Lili

emphasised: friendliness was the goal in terms of the meals and waitstaff. “All of this suggests that this is a place where you don’t have to wear a tie or high heels. You can visit us for Sunday brunch with the family, or perhaps for just a coffee or dessert with your friends, or you can organise an event or party,” she added.

The bistro’s aim therefore was to entice those on a culinary outing over to the Buda side. Not only the tourists, but the locals as well. Based on the feedback, they’re on the right track, for over the previous year the number of returning guests has increased, and the number of Hungarian regulars is constantly growing as well.

The kitchen prepares a modern take on Hungarian dishes under the direction of György Tivadar. “We use modern techniques and quality ingredients, so that everything is a little different and more modern, but nonetheless you will find the same flavours that Grandma used to make. Our guests truly love this concept, as foreign guests enjoy Hungarian flavours, while the Hungarians love that they receive a little something extra with the classic dishes”, Lili summarised.

During the winter seasonal ingredients come to the fore, and several items will include Jerusalem artichoke, pumpkin and figs. The meals also take on a Christmassy atmosphere, as duck liver, lamb and warm desserts are emphasised. Must try dishes include the duck breast with red sauerkraut, beetroot and figs, or the cottage cheese dumpling with whipped sour cream, which evokes the cuisine traditionally found in Hungarian homes. And of course, gulyás soup will be on the menu, which will be prepared traditionally with cumin-infused pinched noodles.

Mediterranean options are contributed by the Italian sous chef Francesco Pastore, who primarily oversees the homemade pastas prepared on site and the Italian desserts. Enjoying all of this beneath palm leaves as Budapest and the Danube shine with the Italian pappardelle evening lights is truly with veal ragout comfort for the soul.

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STAND

Destined for success with Hungarian flavours Text: Szonja Somogyi • Fotók: Antonio Fekete Designfood

In the heart of downtown a short stroll from the nightlife quarter and behind a simple façade draped with white curtains one can find Stand, which just so happens to be one of the most promising fine dining restaurants in Budapest. Tamás Széll and Szabina Szulló, who introduced Hungary to the Bocuse d’Or chef championship and brought international recognition for the Hungarian culinary arts, are the brains – and chefs – behind the restaurant.

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CIT Y GUIDE Under the pair’s leadership, Onyx was one of the first Hungarian restaurants to earn a Michelin Star in 2011, while Tamás was the first Hungarian chef to reach the final of the Bocuse d’Or, placing 10th in Lyon in 2013. After winning the European championship held in Budapest in 2016, he finished 4th in Lyon the following year. Following this, Tamás and Szabina struck out to realise their shared dream. At first, they opened Stand25, which features Hungarian cuisine in a laid-back atmosphere, and in the summer of 2018 they opened Stand. “We should have left much earlier. It was late by the time we realised that we had brought success for others with an owner’s perspective and dedication. A chef always dreams of their own restaurant, and if they succeed, then a dream is realised. For us this is embodied by Stand,” Tamás revealed.

The restaurant employs a selection of long-time colleagues. According to Tamás, “A restaurant team is like a football team.

Although these players are bought, on the pitch they give their all and think as a team. The waitstaff and kitchen function well if they are familiar with each other, and possibly even friends.

A dish comes together if three, six or 11 people are capable of working together. In my view, a restaurant needs to be built around its staff and not the other way around. This can take years or decades, but it’s well worth it.”

This teamwork is on display to the customers as well: the kitchen is not hidden behind a wall, nor is each course assembled behind a window, but before the customers, as the even-tempered chef and crew do not disturb anyone’s dinner but become part of the experience.

The architect-designer Dóra Fónagy approached the kitchen “as something sacred, like a church altar. It became viewable and tangible by opening it instead of hiding it. Even from the street it can be glimpsed as it reveals itself,” she spoke of the interior. The environment is easy-going and airy, therefore the restaurant bears the same message as the chefs do with their dishes: confidence, reliability and tranquillity.

With regards to the dishes and courses: Tamás Széll will not compromise when it comes to quality. His belief is primarily to try to present the opportunities afforded by Hungarian ingredients, as well as his own ideas regarding Hungarian cuisine, so that they adhere in all manners to contemporary gastronomy. The duck liver is Hungarian, as are the lamb and beef, the trout arrives from Tahitótfalú, the eel from Lake Balaton, and the sterlet from Gyôr.

Additionally, the chef “does not believe” in the concept of rotating menus, but rather in changing dishes occasionally, consequently a large part of the menu consists of emblematic courses. “I do not believe that we need to produce food on a conveyor belt. It’s only worth making changes if there is something better, and thus it’s a self-constructive and continuously developmental process,” he reveals. Accordingly, the menu features smoked duck liver bonbons, which consist of duck liver paste inside sour cherry jelly with a sour cherry on top and elderflower, or the pumpkin spaghetti and salad with sea buckthorn and pumpkin seed. The modern Tamás Széll varieties of Hungarian flavours are represented by the gulyás soup, which is prepared with Hungarian spotted cow neck grilled over wood chips, with homemade pinched noodles, and a unique addition on top: celery, shallots, lemon rind cured with salt, and paprika.

The desserts also showcase a meeting of tradition and modernity, with plum, kefir and fig leaf ice creams, or the Somlóí dessert, all of which contain pleasant surprises.

The restaurant awaits guests for lunch with three or four course meals, and for dinner with a chef’s menu or a fourcourse meal. Wines are overseen by head sommelier János Gervai and sommelier Norbert Varga, with 80 percent of the selection being Hungarian.

What else could we recommend to both gastrotourists visiting Budapest and domestic gourmets equally, but to book your tables in advance and go taste the magic that Stand makes.

Whispers can already be heard in the culinary world about Hungary’s next Michelin star.

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Reimagined Hungarian dishes:

A VEGAN TOUR OF BUDAPEST Text and photos: Júlia Csikós

Over the past few years Budapest has earned its reputation as one of Europe’s most popular gastrotourism destinations. Visitors can enjoy the unique and flavoursome traditional dishes that belong to the Hungarian culinary arts in the numerous restaurants and cafés located around the capital. But how are things for vegetarians or vegans?

Our colleague at Budapest’s Finest wandered the historical city centre in search of alternative, vegan-friendly Hungarian dishes According to a survey in 2010, more than 20 percent of the global population is vegetarian or vegan due to health, economic or ethical reasons. Hungarian cuisine, however, emphasises heavier and primarily meat-based dishes, with lots of spices, paprika and frequently sour cream.

The desserts tend to feature cream while the pie pastries contain eggs as important ingredients.

While meat-free options do exist among classic Hungarian dishes, finding something that is meat-, dairy- and egg-free, or in other words vegan, is practically impossible. Budapest101’s Vegan Tour nonetheless achieves the seemingly impossible. Our guide was Judit Szöllôsi, the founder of Budapest101 Tours.

Judit Szöllôsi exclusively provides private tours in multiple languages, custom-tailored to customer wishes. We began our tour at 10 in the morning, walking beneath the impressive palaces on Andrássy Boulevard as we set out on our route for the tastings. Our first stop was the homely Flow Specialty Coffee Bar & Bistro. Based on Judit’s recommendation, we ordered an oatmilk cappuccino, the creamy froth of which left no one disappointed. Alongside the coffee, we sampled vegan pastries stuffed with walnut and poppy seed. After taking in the building’s decorated early 19th century courtyard, which belongs to the café, we continued onward to Hunyadi Square.

The Kozmosz Vegán Restaurant is truly a hidden gem: without the appropriate directions, we may never have even found the narrow staircase that leads downwards at one of the square’s corners. The entire selection for this small restaurant is vegan, and as such we did not have to search the menu to find something suitable, since 54

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everything was. The group nonetheless deferred to our guide, who ordered a selection of reimagined dairy-, egg- and meat-free variations on traditional Hungarian dishes. We tasted a bowl of bean gulyás soup, turós csusza (quark cheese noodles) made with tofu, as well as a seitan pörkölt stew, which we washed down with a homemade must spritzer. Owing to the spices and excellent preparation, the flavours of the vegan dishes were not quite dissimilar from the original versions.

Judit talked about classic Hungarian ingredients and dishes as we ate lunch.

The next stop on our tour was the market at Hunyadi Square. As we walked past the merchant stalls, Judit spoke of the seasonal Hungarian fruit and vegetable selection, introducing more special local ingredients, such as pumpkin seed oil or seaberry at greater length. We also assembled a plate of pickled vegetables from one of the merchants, and discovered pickled plums and mini-watermelons.

In the city centre by St. Stephen’s Basilica, in the renovated and iconic Gelarto Rosa bistro, guests can choose from the entirely vegan menu in addition to the vegan ice creams. We nonetheless limited ourselves to the beautiful, rose-shaped ice creams, which despite the brisk weather were enjoyed outside on the terrace.

Dropping by Fashion Street, we crossed over to one of the capital’s oldest “green” breakfast establishments, the Fruccola restaurant. Our final stop was at the CultiVini wine bar, where the tour ended on a high note as we tasted three Hungarian

wines: a dry white, a dry red, and a sweet dessert wine. With the pleasant company, tasty bites and beverages, the four-hour tour was over in a flash.

In addition to historical and gastro tours, Budapest101 also provides unique tours, such as for those interested in discovering Budapest’s public transport or its old cemeteries. budapest101.com

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SINFUL SWEETS Calorie bombs for Christmas Text: Júlia Csikós, Krisztina Szilveszter

Christmastime is undeniably the time for special sweets. Just as the famous Sacher cake is flown via express mail to all corners of the world from Vienna, many also place their orders in Budapest for the legendary bejgli rolls. Additional sweets that may decorate the Christmas table are the chocolate tree trunk cake, the stollen popular in German-speaking lands, or its distant relation, the Italian panettone. Budapest’s Finest selected three of our favourites.

Zserbó

Centrál tart

The storied Centrál Café’s speciality dessert is truly a seasonal delicacy, for this chocolate-coffee holiday treat is only available in the café during the winter months. Based on the recipe below, you can also prepare it at home, although it may prove quite the challenge for some.

Photo © Júlia Csikós

Photo © Júlia Csikós

This traditional apricot and walnut cake evokes the warmth of the home surrounded by family during the holidays. The zserbó has many varieties, and the recipe below comes from a Transylvanian housewife.

Ingedients (Makes 1 pan) yeast 10 g milk 50 ml sugar half a teaspoon white flour 500 g butter 200 g baking powder 3.5 g

vanilla sugar egg ground walnuts apricot jam dark chocolate

7g 1 350 g 1 jar 1 tablet

Preparation: Mix the yeast with lukewarm, sugary milk. Blend the flour, butter, baking powder, vanilla sugar and egg in a dish, then knead together with the yeasty milk. After letting it sit for 15 minutes, divide the pastry into 4 equal parts. Stretch the first sheet and place it into a greased and floured pan. Spread a third of the jam evenly and sprinkle a third of the ground walnuts (flavoured with sugar) evenly. Repeat twice with two of the other pastry sheets, then place the fourth sheet on top. Pierce with a fork and let it rest for 30 minutes, after which is should be baked to a golden brown at 180°C. Once it has cooled, top with the melted chocolate.

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Ingredients (Makes 10 tarts – poured into cylindrical moulds that are 6 cm in height and 6 cm in diameter) Crust flour almonds powdered sugar salt baking powder

67 50 50 1 1

g g g g g

butter egg yolk cocoa powder coffee

83 13 30 7

g g g g

From these ingredients, prepare a pastry similar to a linzer. Stretch so that it is 4 mm thick and cut circles 6 mm in diameter from them. Bake for 6 minutes at 160°C. Fruit filling blackcurrant

60 g

granulated sugar pectin

20 g 2g

Cook the blackcurrant with a few drops of water, then puree in a blender and pour through a filter. Add the blended pectin and sugar, boil once, then allow it to cool.

CIT Y GUIDE milk granulated sugar vanilla bean butter

250 g 68 g 1 188 g

egg yolk white chocolate dark chocolate coffee

40 65 45 45

g g g g

Warmly combine two-thirds of the milk with the sugar and vanilla bean. Take the remaining milk and mix it with the egg yolk, then slowly add it to the cream while constantly mixing. Stop the emulsification before it boils, leaving it on the heat for a few minutes, then pour it onto the butter and mix in a blender. Cool in a refrigerator. The next day whip the cream and divide it in two. Mix part of the cream with the melted white chocolate, and the other half with the coffee-flavoured dark chocolate. Place the

English Christmas pudding This delicacy is not only a traditional dessert, but also a literary “hero” as well, playing a role in Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. “In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered— flushed, but smiling proudly—with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.”

Sources state that the origins of Christmas pudding date to medieval England. According to custom, it is served on 25 December, but traditions dictates that it be prepared on the Sunday before the start of Advent. The pudding is made from a combination of 13 ingredients that are said to represent Jesus and the 12 apostles. The pastry must be stirred by every member of the family, including the children, who are supposed to make a wish as they do so. Each family would guard its own recipe.

Our recipe here includes 14 ingredients, but it is authentic nonetheless, for we received it from the chef at the British ambassador’s residence.

two creams into separate piping bags, then fill one of the moulds halfway with one. Spread a layer of the blackcurrant jelly on top, then fill the mould with the other cream. Cool in a refrigerator.

Icing water cream granulated sugar

120 g 120 g 150 g

cocoa powder 50 g gelatine 7g water (for the gelatine) 36 g

Boil the water and cream together with the sugar, adding the cocoa powder while constantly stirring, cooking for another 5 minutes.

Remove from the stove and add the soaked gelatine. Remove the set tarts from the moulds and cover in icing, placing them on the crusts baked earlier.

Photo © Edward Shaw / Istockphoto

Cream (Begin preparing it a day earlier!)

Ingredients: mixed dried fruits 450 g – finely chop the larger pieces (golden raisins, dried dates, prunes, dried apricots) mixed candied fruit peel cut into small pieces 250 g smaller peeled apple, cored, cut into small pieces or grated 1 orange and lemon peel, organic and thoroughly washed, 1 of each grated (keep the juice of each fruit) Cognac 4 teaspoons and a little more

to sprinkle the baked pudding with pastry flour 50-60 g ground nutmeg and clove 1 teaspoon (you can also use honey cake spices) ground cinnamon 1.5 teaspoon butter or finely chopped beef tallow 100 g brown sugar 100 g bread crumbs 100 g peeled and chopped almonds 25 g large eggs 2

mix them together, adding the sifted flour, to which then add the bread crumbs, the sugar, the grated lemon and orange peel and the spices. Mix thoroughly, and then add the lemon and orange juice and some of the cognac. (If necessary, the mixture can be loosened with a little milk.)

Beat the eggs with the cognac and add it to the mixture. Boil water in a larger pot. Lightly but evenly grease or butter a larger metal or glass bowl and add the mixture so that it fills it approximately 2/3 of the way. (It should not reach the top of the bowl!) Cover the mixture with two layers of baking paper and affix the paper with string.

Place the bowl into the boiling water, and steam beneath a lid on medium heat for approximately 4 hours. (Some recipes recommend steaming for 7-8 hours.) When done, remove the pudding from the bowl and allow to cool.

Once cooled, roll the pudding into a clean kitchen cloth sprinkled with cognac, and then wrap in aluminium foil. Place the wrapped pudding into the refrigerator or a cool place. The pudding is usually left to mature for four weeks in its wrapped state. Steam for 1-2 hours before serving. Lightly sprinkle it with some cognac that may be lit.

Preparation Take the finely diced tallow (or butter), the chopped almonds, the candied fruit, the cooked and diced apple and the dried fruits and

Naturally, waiting four weeks to try the dessert is not necessary, and as the proverb goes: the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

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20 CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL on Vörösmarty Square th

Photo © Gyöngyi Halmai

Christmas Markets have been held since the 1300s, first gaining popularity in German-speaking lands before conquering the world.

The first mentions of the Nikolausmarkt in Munich date to 1310.

These markets have been known as a Dezember Markt, an Advent Market, a Christkindlmarkt or a Handbell Market, with variations existing to this day that frequently include the city or district’s name where they are held.

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Photo © István Práczky / Budapestinfo.hu

The tradition began with single-day markets that offered townsfolk the opportunity to purchase their winter meat supplies at the start of the cold season. In the 14th century it became customary for craftsman, toymakers, basket weavers and confectioners who operated stands to decorate them for the holidays, and in addition to their usual products, they also sold delicacies that would be suitable as Christmas gifts such as chestnuts, gilded walnuts or candied almonds.

By the 20th century, Christmas Markets had evolved into complex amusement centres. In addition to the market goods, decorations and chocolate figures, visitors could also find food and essential spirit warmers such as punch, mulled wine, and the devil’s drink, Feuerzangenbowle, which is when a rum-soaked sugarloaf is set on fire to drip into mulled wine.

It is also customary to erect a nativity scene, which in some cases features live animals around the baby Jesus lying in the manger. The markets are visited by Saint Nicholas – that is Santa Claus – and the Budapest Advent and Christmas Market at Vörösmarty Square is visited by the Finnish Joulopukki, who will arrive on 6 December in 2018.

The usual order of things at the Budapest Advent and Christmas Market developed over two decades, for this event

series that turns 20 this year is rated as one of the 10 most beautiful Christmas markets in Europe. The market is organised by the Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre together with the Hungarian Handicrafts Association.

From 9 November to 29 December, more than 120 craftspeople will sell their beautiful wares in 32 wooden huts. These handicraft makers have previously passed a quality inspection with strict rules in order to be able to sell their products at this prestigious event.

The aim of the market’s organisers is to support Hungarian handicraft dynasties. Starting with Hungarian folk traditions, these families prepare products used to this day that the wider public are always pleased to purchase. From ceramic dishes,

Photo © István Práczky / Budapestinfo.hu

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decorations and wooden toys, seasonal accessories are also popular, such as hats, furs, knitted caps, hand-painted decorative scarfs and fine leather gloves. There is also a rich assortment of jewellery made from metal, glass or ceramics in all sorts of shapes, or another idea for a gift is a beautifully bound calendar or diary. Leather purses, wallets and attaché cases can also be found in various colours and sizes. The market, which will feature more than 20 types of crafts, provides a fantastic display of Hungarian craftmanship’s diversity and quality to visitors from both Hungary and abroad.

In one of Budapest’s busiest squares an Advent wreath measuring three metres in diameter and half a metre in thickness was placed. This sizable wreath is beautifully decorated, and each Sunday afternoon during Advent a candle will be lit accompanied by the sounds of an angelic choir.

The Café Gerbeaud is one of Vörösmarty Square’s iconic buildings. This imposing building built in the eclectic style was constructed in 1858 and is 160 years old this year. A light show on the building’s façade will entertain guests at the market each day after sunset from 1-24 December. In front of the building people can escape the cold by tasting notable Hungarian wines alongside literary evenings in the Hütte Bisztró.

The live stage will feature folk music, jazz, crossover, alternative, blues and soul concerts. Children will be entertained on the weekends with puppet shows and musical dance performances.

The handicrafts playhouse also awaits children where they can pour candles, bake gingerbread, string beads, and learn felting or how to weave baskets.

In keeping with tradition, the organisers have invited a number of charity organisations who will appear in the market’s charity wooden house.

Culinary options also grow more exciting from one year to the next, which will feed hungry visitors until New Year’s Day with their characteristic delights found across 15 pavilions.

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IN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT Designer and luxury shops Should the topic of discussion be a traditional Christmas market, a sparkling New Year’s Eve gathering or fancy fun during carnival season, attire appropriate for the holiday is necessary.

Wandering the streets of Budapest, one can find true gems on both crowded and popular avenues or in the hidden side streets, for over the previous years the city seems to have produced one talented designer after another. Since the creative industry offers such a wide assortment of options, everyone is certain to find something to their liking.

Text: Anett Andrea Tóth For those looking beyond fast fashion brands, downtown Budapest is an ideal “hunting ground” with its many shops selling high quality fashionwear by Hungarian designers. The thriving fashion scene offers numerous opportunities not only for finding evening wear but accessories as well. These stores are true treasure chests, which contain numerous wonders inside them.

PUNCH STORE

PUNCH Store, with its feminine, youthful and welcoming atmosphere awaits customers who believe that less is more and look for the same when selecting their clothes. Functioning as a concept store, it emphasises products inspired by the modern young woman’s attitude towards life. The name itself was a conscious decision. The collection and interior contain soft femininity, while also providing space for the strength and confidence that “punch” through. The store has a wonderful selection for those women who enjoy wearing clothes that express their individuality.

What makes the store unique is that its five designers (Anna Oláh, Anna Daubner, Melinda Makk, Dóri Visy and Zsófi Vecsei) personally greet customers on a rotating basis, so that the atmosphere is much more intimate and personal. Leather purses, clothes, jewellery and hats await those who step inside.

With the holiday spirit in mind we selected Anna Amélie’s belt bag, since its metallic shine is a perfect accessory for any combination of evening attire. It is a trendy but timeless piece that can hold all of the essential things a woman might need during the evening.

PUNCH Store – truly unique personalities in Hungarian design: clothing, hats and jewellery 1061 Budapest, Paulay Ede utca 15.

Facebook @punchstorebudapest Instagram @ punch_store_budapest

KE-FASHION

Located near the Opera, the KE-Fashion shop offers a variety of opportunities for those who love feminine dresses made from unique high-quality materials using modern technology. When designing the outfits, what is important is that the items should be long-lasting, unique, and that they will lend themselves to the lifestyle of the wearer. The designer, Erika Kovács, keeps her eye on simple elegance. In addition to cocktail dresses, she also prepares a small number of off-the-rack dresses for women looking for wearable and comfortable outfits.

The shop’s most unique piece is a tulle skirt that is somewhere between peanut and rose gold in colour with tailoring that perfectly emphasis a woman’s waist. It can be worn more casually with a jean shirt, or as a classic holiday outfit when paired with a black blouse.

KE-fashion – unique dresses 1065 Budapest, Hajós utca 19.

Facebook @ KEfashiondesigner Instagram @ ke_fashiondesign, @ ke_weddingline

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HOME OF FASHION

In the Home of Fashion, you will find everything to do with Hungarian design: a showroom, a function hall and an educational centre, all in one location. For fashion enthusiasts, the store offers Hungarian products at affordable cost-value ratios that are designed for women who are happy to stand out from the crowd.

Realising the dreams of its three founders, the store has collected several Hungarian designers into one bouquet, who present their quality materials in an exclusive environment. They sell footwear, jewellery and even fur vests, among the many other items available for purchase. The store also regularly hosts exhibitions and fashion shows, which is why it is worth taking a look at their social media channels to remain up to date with the latest news. Our favourite item was a pair of gold coloured heels. A classic item that is unlikely to ever go out of fashion, they command attention with their metallic shine.

HOF - Home of Fashion at the start of Fashion Street 1052 Budapest, Bécsi utca 1-3.

Facebook @ hofhomeoffashion Instagram @ hof_homeoffashion

CINQ FILLES BUDAPEST

Those looking for custom-packaged, speciality luxury gifts to go alongside their clothes purchases should head to Cinq Filles’ Budapest shop. This contemporary yet classical giftshop offers elegant, timeless gift boxes to be filled with tasty sweets and delicacies that make an excellent gift choice for any special occasion.

To ensure a pleasant time, we recommend buying a Prestige Brut sparkling wine from the Kreinbacher Estate. The harmony of the deep structure and sophisticated balance assures us that this is an outstanding product. Simultaneously fresh and ripe, it is perfect for those who desire the best not only on special occasions.

Cinq Filles Budapest – if luxury gift boxes are what we need 1061 Budapest, Paulay Ede u. 44 Facebook @ cinqfillesbudapest Instagram @ cinqfillesbudapest

Regardless of which shop strikes your fancy, you will come across such valuable items complemented with welcoming and professional customer service that in the future it will remind you of how amazing downtown is, and of the joy-filled moments that it provides.

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An Early New Year’s Eve with the Budapest Gypsy Symphony Orchestra 30 December 2018, 6:15 pm

Budapest Congress Center

The world-famous orchestra will await guests with folk dances, a gala performance and wine-tasting to ensure an unforgettable experience for those wishing to relax. This grand concert will feature 100 virtuosos playing popular works by Liszt, Brahms, Strauss, Sarasate and Ferraris as the audience can sample the finest vintages from Hungarian winemakers. Those in attendance can also enjoy a four-course holiday meal based on Hungarian cuisine, as well as savoury bites to accompany their wine as they enjoy the Budapest Gypsy Symphony Orchestra’s unparalleled performance.

Jazz New Year’s Eve 31 December 2018, 9 pm

Budapest Jazz Club

Photo © BJC.hu

This concert comprised of the most popular performers turns into a jam session that extends into the morning hours. Accompanied by fantastic flavours prepared by the club’s culinary team, the event is known as the Jazz New Year’s Eve. Featured performers will include the Balázs Bágyi New Quartet featuring Kriszta Pocsai singing Ella Fitzgerald’s tunes, who will be followed by Trio Midnight and Veronika Harcsa. Following the toasts at midnight a jam session by the Kálmán Oláh Jr. Quartet will entertain the audience. The menu will feature broccoli cream soup with goat’s cheese, as well as red lentils, champagne roast pork, pork knuckle rillette with red onion chutney, and stuffed cabbage with sour cream and fresh bread after midnight.

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Photo © Máté Péter / Magyar Nemzet

PROGRAMME

CORNER

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La Veneziana – Pure Baroque

Hungarian soprano Emőke Baráth and the Il Pomo d’Oro early music ensemble aims to change this lamentable state of affairs.

The best-known female music composer of the 1600s was Barbara Strozzi, daughter of Venetian poet Giulio Strozzi; her songs, madrigals and cantatas speak of the influence of her teacher Francesco Cavalli, a student of Monteverdi.

Photo © @ Julien Mignot

Although one of the first composers to be known by their first name was a woman (Hildegard von Bingen), men continue to dominate mainstream composition to this 5 January 2019, 7:30 pm Liszt Academy day. If one were to ask people in the street

of Music, Grand Hall to name a few female composers, the majority would be unable to give a single example, irrespective of music genre. It is no secret that the January programme of the youthful albeit world-famous

Internationally Acclaimed British Vocals 18 January 2019, 7 pm

László Papp Budapest Sports Arena

The renowned crossover group BLAKE will take the stage for the first time in Budapest. Celebrating their 10-year anniversary, the British trio are the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s favourite vocal group. The group had an easy time winning the royal couple over, for the group’s members Stephen Bowman, Humphrey Berney and Ollie Baines attended university with them, who they continue to have a good relationship with.

Queen Elizabeth II has also invited them to Buckingham Palace twice.

The group topped the UK Classical Album Chart with their first album and also cracked the Top Twenty Pop Chart. Other notable fans include the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning American actress and singer Jennifer Hudson.

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Photo © mta.hu

PROGRAMME

CORNER

Science in the Court of King Matthias

The exhibition is open through 28 February 2019 Library and Information Centre

of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences For the 575th anniversary of King Matthias’s birth and the 560th anniversary of his coronation, the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences will host an exhibition titled “Stars, Constellations – Science in the Court of King Matthias” (1051 Budapest, Arany János utca 1.). On display will be 15th century astronomical works, significant works from humanist historiographers, as well as an entire volume from the Bibliotheca Corviniana, the Carbo-Corvina. Ludovicus Carbo’s work about and dedicated to Matthias is one of the surviving 216 volumes from the famous library. The codex was purchased by Count József Teleki, the Academy of Sciences first president and founder of its library, who gifted it to the institution.

Close to Haydn A performance by the Budapest Strings

Photo © budapestivonosok.hu

16 February 2019, 6 pm Budapest Music Center Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 39 in G minor, Hob. I:39 and Symphony No. 47 in G major, Hob. I:47 will be performed in the Budapest Music Center’s concert hall. Haydn’s contemporaries no doubt envied him for

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the fact that he could work for a cultured prince with a wide musical taste such as Nikolaus Esterházy, who created a flowering musical life in his palaces in Eisenstadt and Fertőd. For Haydn every condition was provided so that he could rise to be among the most celebrated composers of his era. The programme will feature two unique symphonies from the experimental composer. György Vashegyi, who will conduct, will also provide introductions to the works.

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