Budapest's Finest 2019 Spring

A MARKET HALL AND CULTURAL CENTRE

A VERTICAL FOREST IN ÚJPEST

MICHELANGELO AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES FREE PUBLIC ATION

AT BUDAPEST’S GATE: THE PILIS REGION

SPRING | 2019

LIVELY TEXTURES

YOUTHFUL INFORMALITY AND SPONTANEITY

THE FIVE STAR CITY GUIDE

Photo: © Brigitta Vajk

Photo: © Majtenyi Mihaly

INTRODUCTION

DEAR GUESTS, Sport will be celebrated across Budapest in 2019. By winning the title of European Capital of Sport, we have been granted the opportunity to place an even greater emphasis on sport and to thereby encourage city dwellers to make physical activity an integral part of their lives, through which they will become healthier, happier, and more resolute and active in the future.

Earning the title of European Capital of Sport is recognition of the collective work accomplished in Budapest over the previous nine years, as sport was officially elevated to become its own strategic sector. Developments in this area and encouraging people to be active, together with the addition of new infrastructure and an expansion of professional programmes all received special attention from the city leadership.

Another result of this work is that Budapest has become a worthy home for the world’s great sporting events. The city hosts an increasing number of large international sporting events each year, which is not only highly prestigious, but also allows for a major expansion in the area of sport tourism. With this in mind 2019 will not only be the year of sport for Budapest, but also sport tourism, as the city will provide even more exciting programmes for both local and international guests alike.

The city is ready, now it’s our turn to be active!

DEAR READERS, Budapest is filled with vibrant energy, for life in the Hungarian capital is dynamic. Be it spring or autumn, winter or summer, scores of attractions make the lives of locals and tourists more colourful. Spring is especially exciting from a cultural perspective, for the season of rebirth begins with the renowned Budapest Spring Festival that is famous across Europe and increasingly worldwide. In addition to the 39th Budapest Spring Festival, we await guests at our Budapest Spring Fair and Cultural Heritage Festival at new locations. We have also begun advertising the Budapest Summer Festival’s programme, with the main venue being picturesque Margaret Island.

New or spectacularly renovated cultural institutions as well as restaurants have opened, in which Hungarian star chefs await guests with gourmet dishes. Architects also imagine the city’s 21st century appearance with sustainability in mind.

These dynamic processes were rewarded in 2019, as Budapest was voted the year’s “European Best Destination” by the Brussels-based European Best Destinations tourism organisation. Keeping this title is a great responsibility. Our duty as the Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre is to work hard so that Budapest can be justly proud of this prestigious award.

Teodóra Bán Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre Director

Dr. Alexandra Szalay-Bobrovniczky Deputy Mayor of Budapest

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Spring | 2019

CONTENTS

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Multi-faceted Újpest

The multi-faceted Újpest

Romantic and rational 6 A vertical forest in Újpest 14 Rhythm of the heart 18

At Budapest’s Gate: the Pilis Region Where Earth’s spiritual heart beats

Cultural Quarter

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The National Dance Theatre’s new home Living tradition A vision of greatness and beauty Counterpoints Bach in the Academy In search of Hungarian Bauhaus Dezsô Ránki Hamlet reloaded The goal: Sadhana

At Budapest’s Gate: the Pilis Region

30 The National

Dance Theatre’s new home

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The renovated Dagály Baths

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City Guide

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28 30 33 36 39 40 41 44 45 46

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Sophisticated, bold and authentic 50 The renovated Dagály Baths 53 Textúra 56 Café Parisi 58 Dorko 60 Programme corner 62

Cover photo: The interior of the Textúra Restaurant (Photo: © Gergely Vas)

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

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K ULTUR ÁL IS NEGY ED

BUDAPEST SPRING FAIR AND CULTURAL HERITAGE FESTIVAL 5-28 APRIL 2019

LOCATIONS: DUNA KORZÓ, DEÁK SQUARE, FŐVÁM SQUARE AND VÁROSHÁZA PARK 3

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Photo: Š Eszter Gordon

The multifaceted ÚJPEST The first settlers worked in viniculture, but it soon grew into one of the country’s most important industrial centres.

Olympic champions and world-famous scholars lived amongst its enormous mills, as did an excellent poet as well as one of the finest Hungarian translators of English literature. Újpest has a thousand faces to this day, from listed art nouveau wonders and industrial buildings to one of Central Europe’s largest wall-climbing centres, as well as the leisure opportunities that the Népsziget peninsula provides.

Újpest town hall

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ROMANTIC AND RATIONAL

A district for scholars, industrialists, artists and athletes Text: Marcell Somogyi

Photo: © Fortepan

One of the emblematic construction projects of 21st century Budapest is the Megyeri Bridge, which reaches the Danube’s right bank near Békásmegyer. This monumental work of engineering’s name is also justified by the name of the area on the Pest side of the river, Káposztásmegyer, which came into existence as a town during the Middle Ages. Based on the former town’s name, historians theorise that the area was first settled at the time of the Hungarian Conquest by families belonging to the grand prince’s military guard.

IN THE BEGINNING THERE WERE VINES… In the 1400s the area that later became Újpest was owned by several families, among them the Széchényi family, but by the end of the century the number of residents began to drop, and during the Turkish occupation the settlement depopulated and then disappeared. Once people began to return they settled in the nearby village of Palota, the landowners of which replaced each other on numerous occasions during the 150 years 6

of the occupation. The Fót manor, which included the uninhabited plain on the territory of Palota and Káposztásmegyer, eventually came into the possession of the Károlyi family. This noble family also held István Hill in its possession, which in the first half of the 19th century was leased out for viniculture by Count István Károlyi. It was here in 1832 that a new “megyer” was born: Újmegyer, the community established by the first settlers to this area.

Márton Mildenberger, who built the first house in the area and led the local vine-growing com-

Photo: © Eszter Gordon

ÚJPE ST

munity, had a brewery in addition to his winery.

Soon industry also made its first appearance.

Izsák Lôwy, who would later become the settlement’s first magistrate, moved to the area from Nagysurány (today in Slovakia) to build a leather factory at Újmegyer together with his brothers.

The Wolfner leather processing plant’s history also stretches back to this era. Founded in 1840, the wool workshop and tannery was the country’s largest leather factory by the latter half of the century, with its products sought after internationally. The company profited from the First World War’s military boom, reaching the peak of its success in the 1930s, when there were years where they processed more than 13,000 calf and cow hides weekly. Nationalised in 1948 and known for decades as the Táncsics Leather Factory, today the area is home to residential parks. Certain parts, however, survive to this day as emblematic structures in Újpest, such as the building at József Attila Street 4-6, which at the turn of the millennium was renovated and operated for several years as the MEO Contemporary Arts Collection. In addition to leather processing, the wood industry also soon arrived owing to the Neuschloss family’s

involvement in carpentry and the lumber trade.

The proximity of Pest also attracted manufacturing plants that could not receive permits in the rapidly growing city, therefore the community, which became independent in 1840, featured many craftspeople and workers.

CIVIL LIFE AND SACRED BUILDINGS The horse path from Pest was opened in 1866 and Újpest, which was a popular destination for excursions, saw its population explode as large numbers of factory workers from Pest moved there, so that by the 1870s the population was over 10,000. From 1881 Újpest had its own railway station on the Vác line, and by the end of the century the imposing town hall designed in an eclectic-art nouveau style was built on Szent István Square. By 1907 this building was known as the city hall, for the population had further grown to 53,000, and that year saw it incorporated as a city with its own council.

The city’s important sacred buildings were constructed during the evolving and urbanising 7

Photo: © Eszter Gordon

Egyesült Izzólámpa és Villamossági Rt. was founded in 1896, with the Tungsram brand name invented by its former director, Lipót Aschner

Photo: © Eszter Gordon

General Electric (GE) purchased Tungsram in 1989 but sold it in 2018.

Nonetheless, GE will retain a presence in Hungary focusing on technological and digital innovation

era of the Dual Monarchy. Among these are the Parish Church of the Celestial Queen (1875-1881) and the Downtown Reformed Church (1878), both of which are located on Szent István Square, as well as the Neolog Synagogue (1885-1886) on Berzeviczy Gergely Street built in a romanticeastern style. The nearby Venetianer Lajos Street was named after the synagogue’s rabbi who served there from the turn of the century to his death in 1922. At the end of this street at number

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26 the Hungarian Royal State Gymnasium once stood, where in 1911-1912 the famous poet Mihály Babits taught, who gained international fame with his translation of The Divine Comedy. (He recalled his teaching experiences here in his novel Kártyavár.)

COMPETING WITH POZSONY AND TEMESVÁR By the 1910s the young settlement followed Budapest, Pozsony and Temesvár (today Bratislava and Timišoara respectively) as Hungary’s fourth largest industrial centre. Dozens of factories and manufacturing plants had opened shop in Újpest by the turn of the century, from the Mauthner and Winternitz leather factories to the Phôbus Company founded in 1905, which two years later produced electric power, as well as the Chinoin pharmaceutical and chemical plant and Egyesült Izzólámpa és Villamossági Rt. (“United Filament Lamp and Electricity Inc.”) that produced light bulbs. These industrial facilities also produced excellent scholars, for it was at Egyesült Izzólámpa és Villamossági Rt. that the first tungsten filament lamp was manufactured in 1906, and it was here that Imre Bródy later developed the technique for manufacturing krypton electric bulbs. Zoltán Bay achieved the first results of his world-famous radar echoes from the Moon in the factory’s laboratory. The factory reached its zenith under the direction of Lipót Aschner, who also rechristened it with the Tungsram name, later opening factories across Central Europe.

Several shipyards operated on the Danube in

L ISZ TSTFERENC BUDAPE ST NEMZE TKÖZI REPÜLÔTÉR ÚJPE Újpest Bay in the 1800s. In 1890 the Újpest shipyards merged into a single company. This new company, now known as the Danubius Shipyard, became the Danube basin’s largest and most modern shipbuilding operation. Located on the left shore of Újpest Bay between the bay’s southern end and the railway bridge, on average it employed 2,000 workers on its 13.3-hectare site.

rarity, with the work’s basis being the stories collected by the nail-crafting Gypsies of Újpest, who have since disappeared.

The law that joined 16 towns and seven cities, among them Újpest, to Budapest on 1 January 1950 played a significant role in the transformation and gradual disappearance of the “old world” described in József Berda’s poetry or Tibor Bartos’s collection of stories. Known today as the capital’s District IV, Újpest has properly grown together with Budapest over the previous decades.

District IV was the site of the country’s largest

Újpest’s first representative public building was the synagogue in Berzeviczy Street designed in a

The Parish Church of the Celestial Queen

Photo: © Eszter Gordon

Despite this developed industry and numerous factories, the city always had its own romantic charms. A resident of these small-town streets with their single-story houses was József Berda, known as the “Villon of Újpest”, who wrote of his surrounding environment, natural wonders and pleasures of the flesh in a tone similar to medieval goliardic poetry. He arrived to Újpest at a young age and lived there in abject poverty for decades as a night-lodger, and under somewhat better conditions in his final years.

Tibor Bartos, one of the most prolific Hungarian literary translators also lived in “single-story” Újpest for 76 years. Some of the classics that he translated include Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Tom Wolfe’s The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, as well as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, along with Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. His volume Sosemvolt Cigányország is a true ethnographic and literary

Photo: © Eszter Gordon

PRESERVED ROMANTICISM

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Photo: © Eszter Gordon

The famous Külvárosi Kávéház awaits new ownership

residential complex, which was built in the 1970s and 1980s and which contains 17,000 apartments.

The area’s appearance changed completely, as more than 5,000 typically single-story houses were demolished. The entire city centre was transformed in the process as well, which was in part related to the extension of Metro Line 3, the final section of which (north of Árpád Híd station) opened in 1990.

SWEET, SAVOURY AND BITTER

Photo: © Eszter Gordon

Opposite: The BigWall is unparalleled in Central Europe, for wall climbers can climb as high as 25 metres at the facility

Over the years the panel housing blocks became more inviting as they became a lively part of the city, and you can find notable places there such as the Horváth Confectionery. The confectionary’s employee, Orsolya Vaslóczki, won the national cake-baking competition with her National Sugar-Free Cake in 2015 and the Nation’s Cake Award in 2017. Those searching for the Újpest of old can still find traces of it in the area surrounding the exceptionally restored city hall. (It must be added that Szent István Square also features modern developments, such as the Újpest Market Hall and Cultural Centre, which was nominated for the Média Architectural Prize.)

The popular confectionary surrounded by a housing block complex

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A few blocks to the north at the intersection of István Road and Deák Ferenc Street stands the Külvárosi Kávéház (“Suburban Café”). Although it is unfortunately closed, the building has nonetheless been impressively renovated. At one time the Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Elemér Ragályi owned the café. Another world-famous Hungarian to work in the film industry, Lajos Koltai, the cinematographer of the Academy Award-winning Mephisto, used the pre-war café to depict a bank branch in the film adaptation of Imre Kertész’s Nobel Prize-winning novel Fateless. A few blocks to the west at Attila Street is the location where Béla Tarr filmed the famous scene from Sátántangó, in which two men walk slowly in extreme weather as trash is blown around them by the wind.

SPORT, LEISURE AND CUISINE The smokestack for the former Újpest Shoe Factory can be seen from Attila Street, which for the past six years has hosted a training centre for wall-climbing and mountaineering. BigWall, which has the country’s tallest climbing wall, has become internationally acknowledged, for the only similar facility in Central Europe is located in Vienna. The establishment has 750 square metres of climbing walls across two rooms, with more than 50 paths in the bigger room. The smokestack can be climbed via four different paths, while children and beginners can start on a wall no greater than six metres in height. For experienced climbers there is also a wall 25 metres in height. (The facility is accessible from 10 Károlyi István Street at the old factory gate, and is open weekdays from 8 am to 11 pm, and on weekends from 9 am to 10 pm.)

A lively sporting culture is also characteristic of Újpest. The oldest sporting club in Budapest to be in continuous existence is Újpesti Torna Egylet (UTE), which was founded in 1885. The previously mentioned Lipót Aschner made his mark not

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An additional designer was hired to devise the decorative lighting for the Megyeri Bridge, which spans 1861 metres

Photo: © Fürjes Viktória

The Népsziget is a wonderful destination for families and outdoor athletes, such as bicyclists or rowers. Several cozy beer gardens await guests in the evenings

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only as the director of the Egyesült Izzó lighting company, but also as the secretary and later president of UTE, and even more importantly, as one of the greatest patrons of sport in the area. Over the club’s 134-year history it has featured exceptional athletes such as Olivér Halassy, who despite losing the lower part of his left leg became a twotime Olympic gold medal winner in water polo, and a European Champion in swimming. Dezsô Gyarmati, who won Olympic gold three times as a player in water polo, won another gold at the Montreal Olympics as the coach. Other famous athletes are the five-time Olympic champion gymnast and oldest athlete to medal at the summer games, Ágnes Keleti, as well as the four-time

swimming Olympic champion Tamás Darnyi. In terms of the Olympics in the 21st century, Danuta Kozák is unequivocally the most successful Újpest athlete, winning two golds in London in 2012 (although she belonged to another club at the time), and three more golds in Rio in 2016, by this time as a part of UTE. UTE’s kayak-canoe athletes actually practice over in Óbuda (in “exchange” District IV is host to the Vasas Jégcentrum, the ice rink for the District XIII team, which awaits guests year-round on its international-sized rinks), but fortunately there is plenty of life along the Danube’s banks in Újpest.

Opportunities to rent a kayak or canoe exist near the Megyeri Csárda on Üdülô Row at the Újpest

ÚJPE ST large animal park, where you can take children to watch the grazing goats, while those looking for more equestrian pursuits can find the Népsziget Riding School (pacipont.hu) north of the bridgehead.

For dog lovers we recommend the Népsziget Dog School (kutyasuli.hu/nepsziget). Animal lovers may also enjoy a visit to Állatsziget (“Animal Island”) operated by the Rex Dog Shelter Foundation in Káposztásmegyer (rex.hu). Family activities such as birthday parties can also be organised here in addition to dog training and summer camps. Cat lovers are also welcome, for cat and dog adoptions are both available.

During the cooler parts of the year you can still visit the swimming pool in Tóth Aladár Street, which was named after the previously mentioned Olympic Champion Olivér Halassy, for the pools and wellness areas are covered, while the open-air sport tracks are always a great way to relax during warmer times.

Located nearby and easily reachable via the M0 motorway you can also find Aquaworld with its 17 pools, of which 15 operate throughout the year.

This bathing complex opened in 2008 features an ice cave, as well as pools with neck showers, massage jets and a current pool. Aquaworld also features a 17-metre-tall tower with six slides as well as sauna facilities. Last year the Aquaworld Resort Budapest Hotel & Water Park was selected as Hungary’s best spa hotel by the World Spa Awards.

Photo: © Eszter Gordon

Hajós Klub (hajosklub.wordpress.com) and at the Újpesti Kajak-Kenu és Sárkányhajó Club (uksc. hu). The Népsziget peninsula, which belongs in part to District IV and in part to District XIII, is also the site of several water sports facilities, such as KSI (kajakozz.hu) and MTK’s kayak-canoe section (mtk.hu/elerhetosegeink/kajak-kenu).

The Népsziget peninsula is especially worth mentioning. This former island, which in the 19th century was attached to Újpest through land reclamation, was a potential Olympic site in the 1920s (in the end the rights to the 1928 Summer Games went to Amsterdam). Since the peninsula has a protected harbour in the winter, the Ganz Danubius Boat and Crane Factory was built here. Approachable from Újpest via paved roads or from District XIII via a pedestrian bridge, this peninsula features several excellent locations with a retro flair. Partizán Hajó (“Partisan Boat”) primarily serves grilled foods and stews, with its boathouse surroundings giving it a unique atmosphere. The Sziget Büfé (“Island Buffet”), operating across from the Hawaii Campground, provides what has seemingly completely disappeared from the other side of the river at Római Part: the world of the classic fish stands from the 1970s and 80s. At the base of the Újpesti Railway Bridge you can find the Vasmacska (“Anchor”) Pub, and since 2017 from spring to autumn you can also find Kabin, which with its designer deckchairs and chill music targets younger customers. On the bridgehead’s southern side, you can discover a surprisingly

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In the decades preceding the system change this part of the city was avoided by architectural projects that provided a lasting value. Újpest’s emblematic buildings were all built around the turn of the century or earlier, but the district would like this to change and to also make its mark in Budapest’s architectural history with new developments.

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A VERTICAL FOREST IN ÚJPEST

Panoramic residential towers reveal the district Text: József Gyüre • Graphic layouts: Metrodom

Prior to the Great Financial Crisis, an international architectural tender was launched for the development of the Károlyi István City Centre and the area surrounding it, which is near Újpest’s main square. The investor for this megaproject on the site of the former Újpest Leather Factory (which is bordered by Váci Road and Károlyi István, József Attila and József Streets) got in contact with thousands of architectural firms with the task of developing iconic buildings for Váci Road so that they would organically connect with the city centre nearby.

DESIGNS FROM MILAN Construction is currently underway at the Metrodom Panoráma residential park, as the walls climb higher with each passing day. This local centre currently being built will be separated from vehicle traffic by walking spaces, hospitality establishments and residential towers, the latter of which will attract attention from all over the city.

At 55 metres tall the Panoráma Towers are likely to be the third tallest residential structures in Budapest. (The tallest residential building in the 15

capital, the Újpalota tower house, is in neighbouring District XV, and is 70 metres tall with 20 levels. What makes it unique is that the apartments surround a water tower.) The Panoráma’s towers will not be mundane either, and not just because they will have unparalleled views of the city and the Danube from their roofs, but because a “vertical forest” will grow from its walls following the model of the Bosco Verticale in Milan. The 170 trees planted on the buildings’ facades and balconies, as well as the 10,000 plants located along the balconies will make the Metrodom Panoráma eye-catching and unique, and a true “3-D park”.

The apartment complex featuring a total of 632 flats, stores, offices and towers will be spread across four blocks of various height. Building A will include 174 apartments, while B and C will have 125 each, and D will have 208. The towers, planned by the Ybl Prize-winning Zsolt Hajnal and his team, will have only studio and single 16

bedroom apartments up to the 6th floor, with the 7th floor designed for those who would like the largest terraces, with only three apartments per floor from the 8th floor up. Floors 15-17 will have larger apartments with views of three directions of the compass.

(Zsolt Hajnal’s name is primarily recognised in Hungarian rail enthusiast circles. He was the first Hungarian to win the Brunel Award founded in 1985 for outstanding visual design in railway architecture. The Hajnal Architectural Office won this in 2008 for their renovation of the Lotz Hall at Budapest’s Keleti Railway Station.)

SMART SOLUTIONS More than ten years ago the people who dreamed up the Károlyi István City Centre planned that in order to clean the Danube’s water and use it for irrigation, they would develop a water puri-

ÚJPE ST fication plant operating with biotechnology, and that the building’s heating would be geothermal.

Unfortunately, these plans were dropped, but the question of how to centrally water the greenery planted into the “walls” had to be solved. The architects planned to build a 6-8 cubic metre cistern to collect precipitation beneath the parking structure, to then use for irrigation purposes. “Neither the Danube nor the groundwater is suitable for immediate watering. There will be at least two dozen types of plants on the building, and each plant is sensitive to different types of pollution,” Sales Director Tamás Kricsfalussy explained. He added that when the plants were selected they also kept certain perspectives in mind. The most suitable were chosen to be resistant to various pests, to be tolerant of a constant human presence, to be resistant to strong winds, as well as the amount of sun they would receive based on the direction they faced, meaning that different types of greenery were planted depending on the side of the building they were on. For the first three years the plants will need to be pruned twice annually, but on the other hand they will not require pesticides. The roofs have several access paths and

fixing points, so that the abseiling gardeners can perform their work regularly or when needed, without the need for balcony access.

The properties have smart solutions and intelligent systems that are capable of controlling an apartment’s electronic appliances, lighting and climate control in the interest of managing energy efficiency without human intervention.

These intelligent systems are easy to use, simple to expand and reconfigurable to meet individual needs. Heating is controlled by smart thermostats, the lighting is controlled by motion sensors, and sensors keep track if windows or doors are open or closed. The system can be expanded with light and wind-sensing smart blinds, a smoke detector, water leak sensors, an alarm or camera, so that the homeowner can control it remotely. According to the developer, thanks to the modern solutions, the Panoráma smart homes will remain up-to-date for a long time. Although these tools are no longer considered to be rarities, this area is still in need of further development in Hungary, for it was only last year that the first apartment building in Budapest opened that featured an integrated smart home system.

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RHYTHM OF THE HEART

The Újpest Market Hall and Cultural Centre Text: Eszter Götz • Photos: Eszter Gordon

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Újpest, located at the northern edge of Budapest, was a popular relaxation destination for the local aristocracy in the early 19th century, featuring the romantic riverbanks of the Danube and classicist mansions that were frequently visited by the notable figures of the Reform Era, among them Count István Széchenyi, or Újpest’s great patron, Count Sándor Károlyi, who advocated for full equality under the law.

The main square for this district begins with a charming city hall that could be a fairy-tale palace, with the square then surrounding the Roman Catholic church, while its western end was capped off by a market for over 40 years. This is the heart of a lively small city, which according to the medieval model has the administrative centre, the church and market in close proximity to one another. The only problem was that the

square provided less and less space for community events, and the single-story market hall built in the 1970s had fallen into disrepair, which itself was surrounded by an unorganised parking lot, so that the market was barely visible from the cars. This undesirable situation was harmful not only from a physical perspective, but it was also detrimental to the community. Recognising this, the local council planned a redevelopment project that would cost no small amount. Renovations on the square have been ongoing for nearly a decade now, and the time and energy devoted has already produced results, for the area has become a pleasant and multi-faceted 21st century city centre that is proud of its past as it looks to the future.

This improvement, which can be said to be significant for Budapest, was the result of the new market hall and the prudent organisation of the free spaces that it contains. We do not speak only of a simple covered market, for what opened here in the autumn of 2018 does not belong to any type of genre, nonetheless it blends into its environment as if it had always stood there. This structure was not erected on the site of the building it replaced but behind it, where the Catholic rectory once 19

stood (the earlier market was only demolished after the new one was completed). The rectory was relocated, the street crossing the square was pedestrianised, and thus the square expanded. The new structure, with two subterranean levels for parking and three levels above ground, does not detract from the square but adds to it, which is due to the fact that it is nearly completely transparent.

The finely alternating rhythms of the glass panes, which hide nothing of what goes on inside, make the façade dynamic. Even the lifts moving behind the façade move in transparent glass columns, and the escalators also provide wide panoramas. As such the building feels both indoors and out, and exists as a transition between open-air markets and covered market halls.

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Enormous cylindrical columns support the concrete grid ceiling. Everything has preserved the concrete’s restrained, light grey tone, and this neutral background is filled with lively colours from the main stars of the show: the wares, merchants and customers. Here everything is as it appears, and there are no additional visual distractions to “enliven” the scene, for it is already lively and colourful enough on its own. From the ground floor vegetable stands, bakeries and smaller shops, to the gallery level’s butcher shops, behind which are the customary cafés, all of these belong to one enormous space, where everything can be seen from any point. Even the metal railings upstairs do not detract from the spaciousness and transparency.

During the summer months a retractable shade will ensure that the inner spaces remain comfortable. What sets the building apart is its sincerity, which emphasises that it is a natural meeting place for the community.

But there is more to the building than just this vast open space. From the outside two panoramic stairs lead to the upper floor, which is the events centre located above the market. This floor can also be reached from the gallery through an entrance fitted into a glass surface. The events centre will take over the functions of the district’s former cultural centre and will feature a theatre hall with seating for 520 (which can be folded into the wall) and two smaller multi-function rooms with a combined capacity for 240 people. The larger hall can host the-

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atre performances, concerts and larger community events, while the smaller rooms can host local activities such as smaller events or yoga classes.

The sloping space next to the elevator that leads to the theatre was developed as an agora with wooden seating surfaces, flower pots and a small unfenced stage, so that the various celebratory district programmes requiring a covered area can be organised there. Some of the events expected to attract audiences of all ages and interests are literary, musical and theatre performances, children’s events, travel film series and talk show programmes, as well as meetings with artists after theatre performances. A free library corner was also created in the space before the grand hall, for those students looking for a relaxing location after school.

An enormous rooftop terrace can also be found by the room theatre hall. The most spectacular part of the square’s reconstruction, the Promenád, will soon begin here, which will consist of an elevated walkway above the square filled with green spaces and deckchairs. Beneath it the market will expand, and soon an open-air stage will also be added, to provide an excellent concert location for

summer evenings. A multi-faceted square suited for diverse activities: culture, public life, or anything really that the community may desire can now easily find a place alongside the market. The city centre has thus become a beating heart, the rhythm of which will be provided by the changing of the seasons and the community’s celebrations.

In addition to the high-quality architecture and landscaping, light has also received a central role in this grand development. The vivid LED lights inside the transparent building and the lighting effects that change according to the time of the day impact the entire area and highlight the building while providing a visual experience and a frame of reference. What also belongs among the solutions planned with exceptional thoughtfulness is that the building receives the energy it needs for its climate control system from the sewer system running beneath the square.

With the market and new events centre, along with its related (and still being finished) landscape elements, a new square has been created in Budapest that is thoughtful, complex and planned for the future.

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Photo: © Schumy Csaba

At Budapest’s Gate:

The Pilis Region

A person who has visited Dobogókô may have felt as if they were in Machu Picchu or at Stonehenge. What these geographically distant landmarks have in common is that they are locations where the Earth’s energy lines intersect multiple times. Dobogókô is only the first stage of a magical stroll through the Pilis Hills, while those seeking more adventure can climb the Rám ravine nearby.

From a bird’s-eye view the Pilis Hills truly form the shape of a heart, and positive energy lines criss-cross beneath them, according to a variety of special measuring tools. This magical region is an excellent leisure destination throughout the year for hiking or trekking. In winter people arrive with sleds and skiers glide down Hungary’s first ski slope, which opened in 1923.

The Pilis Mountains provide a spectacular view of the Danube Bend

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WHERE THE EARTH’S SPIRITUAL HEART “BEATS” According to believers in esotericism, the Earth’s heart chakra could be found at Dobogókô, or more specifically at the Ferenczy Rock on Rám Mountain, which is a transmitter for unconditional love and acceptance. These people believe that those who visit this rock can recharge from Gaia’s energy source. It should surprise no one that during his visit to Hungary, this was the Dalai Lama’s first destination.

Text: Zsuzsa Mátraházi • Photos: Eszter Gordon The Ferenczy Rock

His Holiness obviously made the 40-kilometre trip from Budapest by car. Heading north from Budapest on Route 11, turn left in the south of Szentendre to arrive at Dobogókô. The village is also accessible via public transportation, by taking the HÉV suburban train to Pomáz, and then transferring to bus 860.

Dobogókô is a climatic health resort, where one of Hungary’s most beautiful panoramic views of the Danube Bend can be seen from the Grand Viewing Terrace. Belonging to one administrative unit with Pilisszentkereszt, which together totals barely more than 2,000 residents, this village opened its first mountain hut in 1898. The building later included a tourist museum, which is open on the weekends.

TRAVELING THROUGH TIME: A TÁLTOS AND A YURT The Zsindelyes Guesthouse designed by Imre Makovecz is a spectacular architectural specimen. The internationally acclaimed architect’s organic works are immediately recognisable, for among other things, the windows are always of an unusual shape. The Zsindelyes, named after its spectacular roofing, looks onto the landscape like a stylised owl’s head with its paned windows.

It was originally constructed in 1979-1980 with the aim of protecting the ski lift’s motors from the elements, and to provide those partaking in winter sports with the opportunity to warm themselves. Over the years it has adapted to visitor needs and transformed into a restaurant and guesthouse.

On the second Friday of each month the Zsindelyes hosts a drumming circle that pre24

AT BUDAPE ST ’S GATE: THE PIL IS REGION serves minstrel and táltos (shaman) traditions, where owning a drum or being able to sing is not a prerequisite. There is no need for concern if the music stretches long into the night, for since 2012 people can stay in yurts to continue this experience of traveling back in time. In Dobogókô these tent-like structures used by nomadic people are equipped with heating systems.

Those who approach Pilisszentkereszt via the seven-kilometre-long forest trail from Dobogókô will find the Zsivány Rock on their way. According to legend, bandits would hide their loot among the stones here.

THE MURDER OF THE QUEEN Piliszentkereszt, which lies in a picturesque valley, can also be reached via public road. Interestingly, in 2011 this was the only town where minorities (Germans and Slovakians) outnumbered Hungarians.

Despite the area’s positive energies, they did not make an impression upon the nobles, who in the nearby forest on 28 September 1213 assassinated the Hungarian queen, Gertrude of Merania, the mother of the future King Béla IV and Saint Elizabeth.

A statue of King Béla III in Pilisszentkereszt

Born on 24 September 1185 into one of the most influential Bavarian noble families, Gertrude married Hungarian King Andrew II. Following this, the king gifted entire royal counties to the queen’s family, who lived extravagantly, as a result of which the Hungarian nobles grew jealous and hateful. While the king was away on a military campaign in Galicia, several of the nobility hatched a conspiracy. During a hunt organised in the Pilis, they assassinated Gertrude. The king’s beloved wife was buried in a decorated sarcophagus at a Cistercian abbey nearby, the ruins of which can be seen today in Pilisszentkereszt.

József Katona’s play Bánk Bán was written about the royal assassination. This was adapted into a libretto by Béni Egressy, to which Ferenc Erkel wrote music, turning it into an opera. Following its world premiere, Bánk Bán premiered in New York in autumn 2018.

The remains of the Cistercian Abbey and a computer-generated reconstruction

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Photo: © https://zentemple.eu

it, the structure was completely destroyed on 7 September 1526 by the Turks. The abbey’s stones have been removed over the centuries to be used elsewhere, so that today only the foundation stones remain.

A small but worthwhile detour leads to the Pauline monastery ruins in Pilisszentlélek. If a person visits this location in the late afternoon at the end of August or beginning of September, then the sun sets directly above the ruins.

The monastery owes its existence to the royal hunting lodge that stood in Benedek Valley, which King László IV gifted to Péter the hermit of Felhéviz and his companions to establish a monastery. The monastery’s fate was sealed in 1526 by Turkish troops.

WONDERFUL PLACES The Original Light Zen Community’s temple

AN ILL-FATED ABBEY The Cistercian abbey that would become Queen Gertrude’s final resting place was founded by King Béla III in 1184, who was a great patron of this religious order. He invited monks and builders from Acey in France to Pilisszentkereszt to build the abbey. Those who visit Acey can see how the abbey in Pilis looked once upon a time, for the builders constructed a copy of the church from Acey, which had been dedicated in 1136.

The original building in Acey has retained its medieval appearance to this day.

The abbey’s fate was marked by hardships. In 1242 it was set alight by the Mongols. Although Béla IV ensured plenty of resources to rebuild

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One of the Pilis’s gems is the romantic Szurdok Valley that is a kilometre in length and begins below Pilisszentkereszt, with nary an incline along the way. The steep walls of this gorge cut by the Dera Stream are lined with beautiful rocks, and those walking on this path can cross romantic wooden bridges and small waterfalls along the way. The wall reveals limestone formations from the Earth’s distant past, and it can also be seen how the rock layers moved over time. Calcite nuggets can be found everywhere in the stream, and those with a keen eye may even spot megalodus shell fossils in the rock, almandine from the garnet group of gemstones, or even fragments of sapphire.

On the other side of the road that runs through Szurdok Valley a small chapel and spring are

AT BUDAPE ST ’S GATE: THE PIL IS REGION

hidden by the forest. This is the Holy Well, also known as the Mária Spring. It became a pilgrimage site after word spread that a blind child regained their site after facing the cross and praying.

The more adventurous can reach Dobogókô from Dömös by climbing up the Rám ravine.

This hiking trail, which requires climbing up a narrow rocky gorge, is unique in Hungary. A few years ago, it was made safer with the addition of guardrails and ladders, but this trail still requires excellent fitness and nerves of steel.

There is also a longer and less extreme route between Dömös and Dobogókô. Along this path one can find the Holy Tree Chapel. According to legend, two girls grazing geese on the first Sunday of May in 1885 rested beneath a beech tree. The sky then turned an amazing blue, and when they looked up they discovered an image of the Virgin Mary holding the Baby Jesus on the tree. This tree then became a pilgrimage destination, and the appearance of this phenomenon was taken to be certain on full-mooned Saturday evenings.

Spread over five acres in the Pilis forest one can also find the Temple of Original Light. Here they provide a traditional Korean yet distinctly Western Zen training to people of all ages, lifestyles and religious backgrounds

ROCKS WITH A VIEW A few kilometres further, accessible by both car and public transportation, the Vadálló Rocks are located. These 14-15 million-year-old andesite rocks each have their own names. From bottom to top they are Nagytuskó (“Big Stump”), Szélestorony (“Wide Tower”), Bunkó (“Butt”), Függôkô (“Hanging Rock”), Felkiáltójel (“Exclamation Point”) and Árpád trónja (“Árpád’s Throne”). By this point we are on Prédikáloszék (“Preacher’s Stool”) Mountain, which offers breath-taking panoramas from its 639-metre-tall peak. The Danube Bend, the Börzsöny Mountains, Nagymaros, Visegrárd as well as Naszály Mountain overlooking Vác can all be seen.

Those who climb to the top of the 12-metre-tall viewing tower erected a few years ago will not only gain a new perspective of the landscape, but they can also see how many people have visited the tower from its visitor counter.

From here there are only five more kilometres left to reach Dobogókô, where hikers can eat a well-earned lunch or dinner in the Zsindelyes Restaurant, which serves meaty and vegetarian meals next to an open fire. No matter the season, it is enjoyable to look through the paned windows of this stylised owl’s head and take in nature’s beauty.

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28 Photo: Š Eszter Gordon

Cultural Quarter Music and architecture, dance and painting, theatre and film, classical music and contemporary jazz. A colourful cavalcade of genres and eras will come together in Budapest, all condensed into the jubilant weeks of the Budapest Spring Festival.

Renovated and modernised buildings can inspire creators and performers to experiment artistically. The recently renovated Budai Vigadó is one such example, where the Hungarian Heritage House and the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble await those with a passion for folklore in newly improved surroundings.

The National Dance Theatre’s new location, a theatre converted from a former industrial hall, is already worth a visit simply from an architectural perspective. In the coming months the theatre will host performances in every genre featuring seemingly all of the country’s notable dance ensembles.

New from the old: Millenáris Park has grown from a former industrial site to become Buda’s cultural and leisure centre. The latest addition is the new National Dance Theatre, which was designed by Gábor Zoboki

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OPENNESS AND CLOSENESS

The National Dance Theatre’s new building Photo: © Zsolt Hlinka

Text: Gerda Seres • Photos: Eszter Gordon

In mid-February the gates of the National Dance Theatre’s new building opened in Millenáris Park in Buda. “Openness was the key word for us. We are open in the artistic sense to new energies and collaborations, all the while striving for transparent spaces during the building’s development with its large glass surfaces,” Péter Ertl emphasised.

The institution’s director added that they would like to bring dance close to people, and the building’s appearance also serves this purpose. “If a 30

person strolling in the park looks in to the theatre, they can see what’s going on in the café, the foyer, and they get the feeling that they could easily walk in.”

An importance perspective during the reconfiguration of the former Millenáris Teátrum was that the new institution should receive a spacious lobby that can also double as a community space, but which can be easily converted into a theatre owing to its cascading construction. This glass and

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production and see every detail,” Zoboki added.

The grand hall’s sloping auditorium ensures an excellent view of the stage. Since the institution will also function as an events centre, the auditorium can be disassembled to transform it into a ballroom. The chamber theatre is suspended above the foyer and forms a funnel from its wood lamellae so that it commands the attention of those entering the building.

“They say it’s good to operate a theatre along the route of the 4-6 trams, therefore we could not have found a better location if we had tried,” Ertl reveals. “The National Dance Theatre, together-

Photo: © Zsolt Hlinka

wood-panelled spacious building was designed together with the architect Gábor Zoboki, the foundation of which is based on a classical basilica arrangement: a central tall nave with two smaller naves on each side.

The building contains two theatre halls: a grand hall with capacity for 400 people, and a smaller studio for experimental performances and more intimate chamber pieces. “This is quite suitable for us. It would have been unnecessary to develop a larger space for us, since intimacy is important during our larger stage productions as well, so that the audience can feel that they are part of the

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hood with the cultural institutions that surround it, such as the Marczibányi Tér Cultural Centre, the Jurányi Incubator House and the Átrium, can become the new agora of Buda.”

The park is still being developed, and a parking structure is being erected on the side facing Margit Boulevard, which will provide audiences with a convenient location to leave their cars.

The National Dance Theatre operates as a “host theatre” for Hungary’s professional dance troupes.

From classical ballet to contemporary and folk

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dance the institution presents the great variety of formats found in this genre. The goal is to provide just as exciting programmes for children as for dance enthusiasts and casual audiences. As Ertl emphasised, everything here exists to serve the dancers’ needs: the practice hall and stage floor were prepared from special wood, which is solid but nonetheless springy. “The new building, with its rooms of various size, is suitable for workshops and conferences, so we hope that the audience will feel just as home in this institution as we do.”

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LIVING TRADITION The reconstructed Budai Vigadó

Fotó: Práczky István / Budapestinfo.hu

Text: Gerda Seres • Photos: Eszter Gordon

The 120-year-old Budai Vigadó building has been restored inside and out. Functioning as the Hungarian Heritage House, this three-story palace on Corvin Square awaits visitors with its refined façade that evokes the splendour of yesteryear.

“In the latter half of the 19th century the idea arose among the well-to-do in Buda that they shouldn’t have to cross the river to Pest to enjoy themselves in a ballroom, and that Buda should also have a centre for social life,” Csaba Nagy, the architect who oversaw the reconstruction stated, adding that the building was financed through public donations. “There were times when the Vigadó hall hosted more than 20 balls in a year, but its golden age proved short as it soon fell into decay. The operator of the building’s restaurant could not pay his bills and soon closed shop, while the building’s apartments and other spaces for hire did not produce enough income for the building’s upkeep. A bomb struck the entrance during World War II, 33

“We possessed the earlier blueprints, and as can be seen they deviated from them in certain areas, but we also had photographs of the main spaces,” Nagy said. According to him, the aim was to fundamentally restore the building to its original state in terms of appearance and function, which meant that they kept the well-working elements, but they also found new solutions where the old Photo: © Gábor Dusa

after which the façade’s reconstruction was performed in a simpler style.”

The Budai Vigadó (“Buda Entertainment Hall”) underwent some restoration ten years ago. During the comprehensive reconstruction works of the previous two years, however, the building was redone to become the Hungarian Heritage House and was also granted listed status.

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The Heritage House provides artists from the Carpathian Basin the ability to make a name for themselves. Its exhibition hall, chamber hall and theatre hall provide suitable space for a variety of productions. “The building also provides an opportunity for realising new initiatives. I would like, for example, for the theatre hall – which can

Fotó: fotograczia.hu

The reconstructed Vigadó hall now provides a home to the Hungarian Heritage House. As General Director László Kelemen immediately stated, Hungary is a folklore great power to this day, although the process of passing on living tradition has been interrupted in its original medium, therefore it is the Heritage House’s duty to nourish in the cities the folk culture that is increasingly dying out. This is not traditionalism,” he emphasised. As Bertalan Andrásfaly said, tradition must not be guarded or nurtured, but it should be learned so that we can pass it on; this makes it possible for us to become part of a community and to put down roots. “It is crucial that we present folk culture as an experience, for that is how we can be amazed again and again by our beautiful tradition.” The performances belonging to the Masters and Disciples series places an emphasis on the motif of tradition crossing generations.

The Heritage House is at once an educational and research facility, possessing all of the collections from the 20th century, as well as being the home base for the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, which will stage three premieres this season, all the while traveling the Carpathian Basin with its programmes.

“When we planned the building our aim was to restore the public spaces to their original states, and to tailor the service areas to our needs, with function being the primary perspective,” Kelemen added.

Photo: © Dusa Gábor

ones were less appealing. “During the reconstruction the spaces regained their original interior heights as we removed the suspended ceiling, thus the ballroom can evoke its original splendour, although we were more modest with the gilding, for in the stairwell we only preserved the art nouveau decorations, all the while creating a much neater space,” he added. The courtyard received a roof since there was a need for a comfortable and spacious reception hall where arriving groups could rest, which could also be used for staging events.

“When we covered the atrium with the special ceiling windows our goal was to still allow for natural light,” Nagy emphasised. “We strove to create harmony between the classic and modern elements. We did not install concrete elements, although in some places we balanced the classic and occasionally overdecorated parts.”

be reconfigured into a ballroom – to host the Heritage House’s ball during the carnival season,” Kelemen revealed.

Quality and authenticity: these are the two words upon which the house’s programmes are organised. “We would like to present an authenticate image of Hungarian peasant culture, while at the same time remaining open to new forms of expression. The Hungarian State Folk Ensemble has 14 programmes running in parallel. Among these are traditional folk programmes with beautiful, original costumes, but we also have a popular dance house programme, which reinterprets folk traditions through a modern approach, thus everyone can find something to their liking.”

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A VISION OF GREATNESS AND BEAUTY Michelangelo and his contemporaries in the Museum of Fine Arts Text: Györgyi Orbán • Pictures: Museum of Fine Arts

The Museum of Fine Arts will host an exhibition featuring the drawings of the Italian renaissance giant Michelangelo in its ground-floor hall. Thirty-five works will be displayed, along with another 35 drawings from his contemporaries, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and other lesser-known but also talented artists such as Pontormo, Bronzino, Signorelli and Rosso Fiorentino.

Employees of the Museum of Fine Arts worked for five years to ensure that this unique exhibition could come together. Curator Zoltán Kárpáti told Budapest’s Finest that they are exhibiting Michelangelo’s drawings, despite him being better known for his sculptures and frescos in the Sistine Chapel, because the drawings are easier to borrow, transport and exhibit. Budapest received artwork on loan from 20 institutions that contain the most prestigious collections, among them the Teylers Museum, which is the Netherlands’ oldest museum and is located in Haarlem, the British Museum in London, the Casa Buonarroti and Uffizi Gallery of Florence, the Louvre in Paris, the Albertina in Vienna, and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

The Budapest museum’s graphical art collection unfortunately does not contain a single Michelangelo drawing, but two excellent Hungarian art historians, Charles de Tolnay (Károly Tolnay) and Johannes Wilde ( János Wilde) were two of the most important Michelangelo researchers in the world. They defined the art historical approach to Michelangelo in the 20th century, even though Hungary never had a Michelangelo collection. Up to now only large institutions could organise exhibitions of his work, most recently in New York in 2018, Kárpáti explained.

Experts know of more than 700 drawings by Michelangelo, which is a massive body of work, and if we consider that he regularly burned his drawings due to a fear that others would steal his ideas, it is a true miracle that this many survived, Kárpáti revealed. He added that he would also like to show what life in 36

CULTUR AL QUARTER the fine arts was like in Michelangelo’s era, for Michelangelo was among the first to rise to legendary status, a consequence of which was that many could not emerge from his shadow.

Other drawings of exceptional quality from his contemporaries were also selected for this exhibition.

Michelangelo was 13 when he arrived at Ghirlandaio’s painting workshop in Florence, where he learned to draw. He drew huge amounts during his life, primarily studies for his paintings, but many of his drawings for the statues of the Medici Chapel have also survived. The muscle strands in his depictions of the human body appear as if they are dancing. Renaissance artists frequently conducted dissections to more accurately depict the body. Leonardo was known to perform dissections himself, as anatomy interested him. Michelangelo’s drawings are not anatomically precise, but this did not concern him, for he drew from memory. His rival Leonardo scornfully said that Michelangelo’s nudes were as if a sack was stuffed with walnuts. There is some truth to this, but anatomical precision was not expected of Michelangelo, for his nudes were idealistic and beautiful, Kárpáti explained. Until his death in 1981, the art historian Charles de Tolnay was the director of the Casa Buonarroti in Florence, and said that throughout his entire life the artist was obsessed with a single vision of greatness and beauty, and that every one of his works carries the message of the same higher and hidden world.

The exhibition in Budapest will also mark the first time that an early Michelangelo drawing discovered in a private British collection will be displayed. Perhaps his earliest work is the workshop study of a drapery, which has never been published.

The drawings in the exhibition will span his life’s work, but it will not include architectural drawings. The frescos on the vaults of the Sistine Chapel are truly a symphony made from human figures. The most beautiful study of a head from the lost painting Leda and the Swan will also be displayed on a wall. A monumental 3x2 metre study of this painting by Michelangelo’s contemporary, Rosso Fiorentino, will also be showcased. The painting Battle of Cascina, which depicts nude males, was never completed and remained as a cartoon.

The theme of the painting was the Florentine victory over the Pisans following a surprise attack by the latter and was intended for the great hall of the Palazzo della Signoria (today Palazzo Vecchio) in Florence. The exhibition will also feature

works from his famous contemporary rivals, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s Study of Two Warriors’ Heads for the Battle of Anghiari and Raphael’s three Santi drawings, among them a composition sketch for festive decorations.

Michelangelo Buonarroti was born in Caprese, Tuscany in 1475 to noble parents who had lost their wealth. He studied first in Ghirlandaio’s painting workshops and then under the sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni. The Medici Family noticed his outstanding talent, and moved him to the palace, where he sculpted in the company of poets, scholars and philosophers.

He received commissions mainly from the Medicis and the popes, and his famous statue of David stands in Florence.

Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel’s frescos by himself over four years; the world’s largest ceiling painting was in-

Michelangelo’s tomb in Florence, which was sculpted by his fan and contemporary Giorgio Vasari

spired by the Bible. Several notable examples from his architectural work are the dome and apse of Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Medici Chapel in Florence’s San Lorenzo Church. In his later years he composed many poems, sonnets and psalms.

Michelangelo died in 1564 at the age of 89 in Rome, but his nephew secretly transported his body to Florence. His grave was prepared by his fan and contemporary Giorgio Vasari.

A Hungarian and English-language catalogue with an introduction by Zoltán Kárpáti will be published for the first Michelangelo exhibition in Budapest, and it will include scholarship by several international authors. The volume will also feature 200 colour photographs.

The exhibition will open within the framework of the Budapest Spring Festival and will run through 30 June.

The Budapest Card provides free entry to the Museum of Fine Arts' permanent exhibition, but temporary exhibitions require the purchase of a ticket.

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

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COUNTERPOINTS A series of early and later works Text: Máté Ur

Four concerts over two days, with a programme that is dense and comprehensive. These performances will take off with such force that the audience will know that not only have they departed, but that they will also arrive somewhere else. The young cellist Tamás Zétényi has used new themes from one year to the next to tie well-known works together with opuses that have become less known. And that is what he plans to perform this year as well at the Budapest Spring Festival on 9-10 April.

Photo: © Bálint Hrotko

The series tied to Tamás Zétényi’s name, which can deservedly be referred to as a smaller festival within a festival, will this year juxtapose early and later chamber works from the oeuvres of several composers. “It’s not simply about early works,” Zétényi said, “but works that are very serious revelations, as is the case with Alban Berg’s Piano Sonata, Op. 1. We are speaking of an artistic act in these cases that indicates that the composer separates from his teacher, and unequivocally strikes out on his own path. It’s a different question, if within an artist’s oeuvre these works can be placed in parallel at all with music composed later, for a characteristic of turnof-the-century music is that the change in trends accelerated so quickly, that it is difficult to find the roots or starting points of the personal voice even for compositions written only a decade later.”

The first concert is something of an uppercut, as Haydn and Debussy are placed in opposition or rather beside each other.

The opening will be especially excellent, for Debussy’s Hommage à Haydn will precede Haydn’s String Quartet No. 8, which is based on the foundations of Viennese classics. This will be followed by two of Debussy’s piano chamber works, which in turn will be followed by the London Symphony Orchestra’s special period arrangement of Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 in D major. This latter work will be performed by a flute quintet.

In regards to the second concert’s programme, it is quite a special feeling to ponder that Richard Strauss and György Ligeti were literally contemporaries. At the time that Ligeti was writing his examination pieces for the Academy, Strauss was working on Duett-Concertino, his final orchestral work. This programme, which will feature capriccios and concertinos, will also include Haydn’s Piano Trio No. 35 and Stravinsky’s

Concertino, which was written in Carantec in Brittany, of which the composer complained “people start singing outside our windows when we’re in bed and louder than is necessary in the streets at night… I’m sleeping badly and composing music.”

This single-movement piece was nonetheless finished, which the composer later transcribed from a string quartet to 12 instruments.

A chamber music series could not be complete without études, not only because numerous composers did not only approach them as mechanical practice pieces, but because they composed some of their densest masterpieces in this genre. It is enough to consider early works by Chopin, which are just as valuable compositions as Debussy or Ligeti’s pieces, who only turned to composing études toward the ends of their careers.

The truly unique part of the third concert will be Scriabin’s work, who wrote études his entire life, as well the work by Schumann, which was originally composed for pedal piano.

For the occasion of the four concerts, nearly thirty musicians will take the stage at one point, among whom we can find youths at the start of their careers, but also educators from the Liszt Academy of Music, or such legendary artists as the 94-year-old violist György Konrád. Zétényi also invited two Juilliard alumni, the bassoonist Dávid Ádám Nagy, as well as Carnegie Hall’s clarinettist-in-residence Dávid Sallay. In addition to Zétényi, the other members of the Classicus Ensemble, Péter Tornyai, János Palojtay and Zoltán Fejérvári will also participate. Two of them will also perform in the fourth and final concert, which will also feature György Pauk’s student Júlia Pusker, who will visit from London for the performance. The closing concert for the series will focus on Berg, Fauré, Debussy and Schönberg.

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BACH IN THE ACADEMY Text: Máté Ur

Although the Budapest Spring Festival announced a Russian season for 2019, that does not mean that it could be held without Bach’s music. This should come as no surprise, for Bach is the alpha and omega of classical music history. The Liszt Academy of Music will host two performances of Bach’s work on 11 and 13 April.

Audiences love oeuvre-spanning concerts, large-scale productions and musical marathons. This is especially true in the case of Bach, for a months-long concert series spanning the complete collection of his organ works had barely finished in the Hold Street Church, when the Music Academy announced that David Fray would be performing the Goldberg Variations in March. And it will be in the Music Academy again where the South Korean Ji will perform, who in his early twenties had the boldness to record Bach’s monumental series last January. Just looking at the numbers this is a confident move, for over the previous decade more than 150 new recordings were produced of the Goldberg Variations. Ji’s concept was proven to be successful, for his recording was one of the most highly acclaimed internationally.

be performed during the span of a single evening by this team, who have collaborated on other projects in the past. (In the past they have performed Bach’s competition pieces for two, three and four harpsichords in one concert together with three young artists.)

This young talent attended Juilliard and was only ten years old when he won a competition for young artists held by the New York Philharmonic. Since then Ji has garnered attention and popularity with his entirely fresh approach to classical music (and not just his unique approach to Bach’s works). He considers Richter and Horowitz his role models, but has also learned from Piotr Anderszewski.

The orchestra has not followed the trends in classical music that have occurred over the previous decades, and have remained firm in this decision despite the recent updating of their image and when setting out their future plans. With respect to historical outward appearances, the group’s concertmaster observed “… I do not believe that this is the most important perspective, for what is, rather, is that we should be determined as we draw and emphasise what is in the musical score, thereby providing a much stronger listening experience than by obscuring it with visual elements.” One thing is for certain, the concert will be one of the chamber orchestra’s first steps on its new journey, and will undoubtedly also attract international interest.

Ji’s concerts are just too good to be missed, and the same can be said of the concert that will be performed two days later

by Balázs Szokolay, who grew up in the musical world of Pál Kadosa, Zoltán Kocsis, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados. Szokolay will also perform a comprehensive show together with the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra. All of Bach’s solo concertos written for every keyed instrument will 40

On this occasion seven competition pieces will be performed written for the piano that are of historical significance.

They are no less pioneering works despite originally not being written for keyed instruments, but are transcriptions from previously written violin and oboe works. Szokolay will perform the pieces on piano, just as the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, who have plenty of experience with baroque music, will also play modern instruments.

11 April 2019, 7:30 pm, Liszt Academy (Grand Hall), The Goldberg Variations 13 April 2019, 7:30 pm, Liszt Academy (Grand Hall), Seven Piano Concertos

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IN SEARCH OF “HUNGARIAN” BAUHAUS Festival walks with Imagine Budapest Text: Eszter Götz

Photo: © Eszter Gordon

The world will celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus art school in March 1919 in Weimar, which under the leadership of Walter Gropius became a pioneering movement in modern architecture and design. Although the institute operated for only 14 years, it was nonetheless the most influential intellectual workshop of the 20th century.

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Photo: © hu.wikipedia.org

Photo: © Kis Ádám

Following the First World War and the Hungarian Soviet Republic, numerous figures from Hungarian intellectual and cultural life emigrated to Austria and Germany, which is how the world-famous artists László Moholy-Nagy, Marcel Breuer and Andor Weininger became iconic figures in the Bauhaus style. Farkas Molnár and Alfréd Forbát, two architects from Pécs at the start of their careers, also joined the work going on there. When these latter two returned to Hungary, the artistic approach that they brought with themselves from Weimar had a tremendous impact on the generation of architects starting out at that time. Modern architecture conquered Hungary in the late 1920s, and Molnár and Forbát’s fresh ideas were continued by other talents.

Multiple programme series will enliven the traces of Bauhaus in Hungary for the centenary.

Imagine Budapest’s city walks in April, or the

Budapest 100 events on the first weekend of May will draw attention not only to hidden or at least lesser known architectural treasures, but will also help explain which buildings can be specifically tied to Bauhaus, and which belong to one of the other directions in modern architecture. Entirely new parts of the city were built in Budapest during the 1920s and 30s on the former periphery, and that is where new architectural fashions were to be found. The school founded by Gropius did not establish a style or an aesthetic framework, but rather a new vision that kept pace with the early technical development of European society.

Bauhaus’s architecture strove to reform the residential situation of factory workers and administrative officials in the big city. It reversed architectural practice, and in place of a traditional spatial division behind an imposing façade, form followed function as a buildings’ plans were adjusted to the interior spaces’ functional organisation. This called for pure forms and façades without decorations. Bauhaus created simple, bright, functional and cheap apartments and workplaces, and these were furnished with purposeful, up-todate furniture and utilities.

Bauhaus’s heritage in Hungary – owing to the framework of Hungarian society at the time – did not make the working classes’ lives more liveable, but instead represented the progressive intellectualism of the middle class. This is the reason why those looking for examples of Bauhaus in Budapest will not find factories or workers’ colonies, but elegant villas, apartment blocks with views of the Danube, swimming complexes or churches. On Gellért Hill in Buda at 46 Kelenhegyi Road stands one of earliest – and perhaps finest – examples of Bauhaus in Hungary, which was designed in 1924 by Alfréd Forbát for

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the director of a brewery. A little further from the city centre in Pasarét’s Napraforgó Street a model village was built consisting of 22 family homes in 1931. These single and two-story houses present a variety of spatial organisation options from the puritan, white-plastered frame houses to those with colourful window frames, arched terraces and glass stairwells.

Hidden at the bottom of the Buda Hills in Hüvösvölgy in a yard overgrown with dense vegetation is Hungary’s most unique Bauhaus example: the partially-completed structure of the Hungarian Holy Land Church designed by Farkas Molnár with an oval foundation. The genius designer of this structure perished when the building he was in was struck by a bomb in 1945, and although construction continued after the war, it ceased with the communist rise to power in 1949.

The Átrium apartment block designed by Lajos Kozma, which has Bauhaus elements, stands in the middle of Margit Boulevard. A theatre and café now operate in its former cinema. The foyer was recently restored to feature its original columns decorated with white and black mosaics and mirrors, as were its wooden countered snack bar and the orange tile decorations along the stairs.

There are numerous modernist apartment blocks featuring Bauhaus traces on this ring boulevard in Buda, just as there are in Újlipotváros across the river. The most beautiful there, perhaps, is the Dunapark luxury apartment block on Pozsonyi Road as it approaches Szent István Park, which features enclosed balconies on the side facing the Danube. A café operates on the ground floor, while the roof still has its spacious rooftop garden.

Photo: © István Práczky

Bauhaus100.

An exhibition by the Ludwig Museum - Museum of Contemporary Art Open 10 April – 25 August 2019 / Budapest Spring Festival

Photo: © István Práczky

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“WHAT CAN I SAY TO HIM AFTER THAT?” A Brief Portrait of Dezsô Ránki Text: Anna Tóth

This was the question posed by Klára Máthé, the legendary teacher of young talents, to a visitor to her class after Dezsô Ránki played. Accepted directly into the second year of studies at the Liszt Academy of Music at the age of 17, Dezsô Ránki has enjoyed an international career since winning the first prize at the International Schumann Competition in Zwickau.

Photo: © Andrea Felvégi

At the same time childhood experiences stayed with him, such as the Haydn sonatas, which were frequently overlooked by the “great” artists, or the Schumann series Jugendalbum that was confined to the repertoire of music schools. “These pieces were simply stuck in my hands, and I wondered why they are never played in concert. They are true gems, amazing little pieces, and every essential thought by Schumann can be found in them.”

Ránki’s career has included much more than competition and solo pieces. By the summer of 2010, when he performed his 2,500th concert, he already had numerous chamber orchestra concerts in his portfolio. He has performed with the Bartók String Quartet, the Keller and Takács Quartets, and on numerous occasions with Miklós Perényi, just to highlight a few of his emblematic contemporaries. Ránki’s chamber music side is also defined by the fact this his wife Edit Klukon is also an exceptional pianist, and his younger young Fülöp is one of the most outstanding young piano talents of today. Ránki performs 60-65 concerts annually, with a significant proportion of them abroad. The fact that Ránki and Klukon can share the stage with their son Fülöp played a significant role in the composition of Barnabás Dukay’s work for three pianos, as does the transcription of older works.

Following this competition victory, Ránki continued his studies under Pál Kadosa. According to his recollections, by this time Kadosa rarely played, but his seemingly minor observations would drive a point home to his excellent piano students, who in addition to Ránki included Zoltán Kocsis and Jenô Jandó.

The two-time Kossuth Prize-winning performing artist, who as a youth learned 100-120 pieces annually, later on began to focus on a given work with increasing intensity. He practiced eight hours a day for one of his early Stravinsky concerts, and for his second Bartók concert he physically trained and conditioned his fingers even with dozens of performances under his belt.

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The pianist couple are particularly beholden to Liszt’s compositions and are happy to perform infrequently played works by lesser-known composers such as Erik Satie as well. Audiences at a Ránki concert will frequently encounter not only Mozart, the German romantics, Liszt, Bartók or contemporary music, but also the French impressionists. He is appreciative of both Debussy’s pastel tones and Ravel’s acerbic wit. During his performances of Ravel’s Piano Concert in G major, the piano’s bright sound and the clarity of the tiny rhythmic values that are like beads of water from a cool spring, along with the sparkling swiftness of the jazz elements in the final movement will enrapture audiences.

Dezsô Ránki and the Alba Regia Symphony Orchestra 10 April 2019, 7:30 pm, Pesti Vigadó – Ceremonial Hall Budapest Spring Festival

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HAMLET “RELOADED” This year the Budapest Spring Festival will focus on the outstanding creators, classics and contemporary legends of Russian culture. The joint concert by the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Philharmonic Choir in the Liszt Academy of Music’s Grand Hall on 22 April certainly fits with this theme.

Text: Rita Szentgyörgyi In addition to acting, Polgár has also made his name as a director. A graduate of the University of Theatre and Films Arts in Budapest, he formed the HOPPart independent company together with students from his year. Their performance of Korijolánusz is directed with playfulness, humour and moving imagination, and has been invited to many European festivals. As a result of their guest performance in Munich, Polgár was invited to direct Children of the Sun and Julius Caesar in the city. Meanwhile, he also had opportunities in his home theatre, the Örkény, to bring new productions to the stage. The company gave a guest performance in Karlsruhe of Tankred Dorst’s Merlin, which gave him the opportunity to stage Hamlet in the city. What Polgár focused on in his interpretation of Hamlet was the relationship with the father and the unconscious need for adequacy.

Classic themes dressed in contemporary robes, along with placing today’s themes into a wider context is characteristic of Polgár’s theatrical work, as are powerful musical effects and incredibly rich visuals. His most recent staging in the Örkény was A Lélek Legszebb Éjszakája, (“The Most Beautiful Night of the Soul”) which focuses on the trials of a war correspondent in the Middle East.

Polgár took a memorable turn as an actor in his portrayal of the younger Jacob and old Joseph from Thomas Mann’s Joseph and His Brothers. The relationship between a father and son has consistently found the actor-director over the previous few years. He enjoyed limited success in films, until György Pálfi cast him in the leading role in his sci-fi film Az Úr Hang ja (“His Master’s Voice”). In this journey spanning continents the questions of the universe are tied to the search for the Creator and a search for the father. Just as in Hamlet.

Photo: © orkeny.hu

Based on the idea by British conductor Jan Latham-Koenig, who is the director of the Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow and the musical director of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra of Bruges, Csaba Polgár, an actor from the Örkény Theatre will recite parts from Shakespeare’s Hamlet between the movements from Dmitri Shostakovich’s Hamlet Suite. “I consider this multinational production a very exciting idea: the Elizabethan author and contemporary Russian composer’s works will be interpreted by a Russian orchestra with a choir from Prague that are led by a British conductor. This is my first experience with programme music, for I have not participated in similar performances in the past. Obviously, the selections from Hamlet translated by Ádám Nádasdy will have a different impact than when we perform Shakespeare’s drama on the stage,” Polgár said, who has performed as the Danish prince for five years as a part of the Örkény Theatre’s unconventional staging of the play.

Shostakovich composed two Hamlet Suites.

The first, Op. 32a, was derived from the incidental music of Nikolay Akimov’s infamous 1932 staging for Moscow’’s Vakhtangov Theatre. In 1964 Shostakovich also wrote the score for Grigori Kozintsev’s famous film adaptation of Hamlet. The music, which plays an important role dramaturgically, would later be reworked into Op. 116. For the concert in the Liszt Academy, the orchestra and choir will perform Op. 32a.

László Bagossy’s staging of Hamlet in the Örkény, one of Budapest’s leading theatres, is also closer to an absurd comedy or parody than it is to a tragedy. Csaba Polgár, one of the most noteworthy talents of his generation, had been performing in the role of Peer Gynt when he took on Hamlet. He formed the figure of the eternal youth rebelling against his father’s generation somewhere between deviance, neurotic hysteria, artistic sensitivity, and the extreme fringes of the clown’s existence.

The Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Philharmonic Choir 22 April 2019, 7:30pm, Liszt Academy (Grand Hall) Budapest Spring Festival

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THETheGOAL: SADHANA Mátyás Szandai Quartet The Paris-based Hungarian double bassist Mátyás Szandai will arrive to the capital for the Budapest Spring Festival together with his charming quartet, which in addition to the Brazilian star guitarist Nelson Veras also features two additional fantastic musicians living in France.

Photo: © Csendes Krisztina

Text: Kornél Zipernovszky

Based off the events that preceded their album debut concert, it is no exaggeration to say that a special band has been invited. What is typical of Parisian contemporary jazz is that all four members of the quartet, who hail from France, Hungary, Brazil and Cuba represent the musical traditions of their native countries. Their innovative music rich with beautiful melodies and unexpected rhythms refers back to the roots of folk music, and this is underscored by how the record includes an adaptation of a Hungarian folk song.

Szandai’s previous project, in which the double bassist was the bandleader, was a deeply touching homage to Bartók together with Mathias Lévy (violin) and Miklós Lukács (cimbalom). He of course is well known for drawing on influences from the genre of ethno-world music for contemporary jazz.

Szandai is a classically trained double bassist who 46

graduated from the Liszt Academy of Music and was part of the Mihály Dresch Quartet before he turned 20. He performed in era-defining concerts and albums together with Dresch, such as Hungarian Bebop featuring Archie Shepp, which was released in 2002. At this time an increasing number of soloists with strong musical personalities approached him to collaborate, among them Kálmán Oláh, Kristóf Bacsó, Gábor Gadó, Elemér Balázs, Viktor Tóth, Dániel Szabó, Miklós Lukács and András Dés. Szandai organised conversational improvisational and musical evenings under the name Konzervnyitó (“Can Opener”) with the latter musicians. Even when he was based in Hungary, Szandai regularly toured abroad, going as far as India and the United States. He also collaborated with David Murray, Herbie Mann, Chico Freeman, Charlie Mariano, Hamid Drake, Kurt Rosenwin-

Photo: © Antonio Baiano

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kel and Chris Potter when they performed and recorded in Hungary. After gaining experience alongside such notable names as Michel Petrucciani, Gary Peacock, Mark Turner, Paul Motian, Dave Binney and Steve Coleman, Szandai released his first album in 2001 with the quartet bearing his name.

The connections in his music to contemporary European jazz are obvious, which may have motivated him to move to Paris a decade ago. In addition to the cream of the French jazz world crop Szandai also regularly performs together with American stars. He has also had the opportunity to become acquainted with Nelson Veras, one of the most noteworthy musicians from the latest generation of guitarists. Veras arrived in France as a teenager, where Pat Metheny “discovered” him. He has a special relationship with Brazilian guitar tradition (Hélio Delmiro, João Gilberto and Bola Sete), for his fingerpicking, personal gestures and improvisational structure can be recognised from afar.

The tenor and soprano saxophonist Ricardo Izquierdo from Cuba has a somewhat similar approach, having some distance from Afro-Cuban tradition but without denying it. Audiences who saw Cimbiózis, Miklós Lukács’s band last year at the Music Academy could also experience this during his guest performance. Izquierdo belongs to the Movézom French collective and has also performed as part of a trio accompanied by bass and drums over the last few years. The drummer in his trio, Fabrice Moreau, is also the fourth member of the Szandai Quartet, who is frequently invited to perform with many other formations owing to his exceptional ability to adapt to others.

The small band format of contemporary jazz offers plenty of room for creating collectively, especially when the band members place collaboration at the fore. This is also indicated by the fact that the quartet’s new album has a Sanskrit word as its title.

Sadhana, which has many meanings, refers to spiritual development, as well as enlightenment through deeds.

anno 1935

Szamos Gourmet House Budapest, 5th district, Váci street 1.

(Enterance: Deák Ferenc street 5.)

Tel.: +36 30 570 5973

16 April 2019, 8 pm Uránia National Film Theatre – Grand Hall Album Premiere Concert / Budapest Spring Festival

www.szamos.hu

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48 Photo: © Práczky István / budapestinfo.hu

City Guide The classicist, art nouveau and Bauhaus architectural styles can all be easily found across Budapest’s cityscape. Medieval structures are not as easy to locate, while modern architecture is more likely to be found at a distance from the historical areas, with the few examples located in the inner city usually receiving a critical reception from the public.

A new form of modernisation has launched in Budapest as environmentally friendly, energy efficient and smart residential and public buildings will be constructed on greenfield sites. At the same time, to preserve valuable older buildings, architects are repurposing these structures for 21st century needs. An excellent example is the TextĂşra restaurant in the downtown area, in which ancient symbols have been paired with a surprising design.

Following renovation works the Gozsdu Court has become a lively part of town that attracts both tourists and locals

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SOPHISTICATED, BOLD AND AUTHENTIC Sensible ideas for sustainability Text: Mitte Communications • Pictures: Paulinyi-Reith & Partners

Paulinyi-Reith & Partners is one of Hungary’s most prestigious engineering groups and possesses a storied past. This studio, which has operated for more than 30 years, developed their name through their high-quality restorations of listed structures. Over the previous decade their emphasis has shifted to sustainability, and they have taken a pioneering role in Hungary and the region with their green architectural solutions.

Budapest locals know many of their office buildings and shopping centres, while tourists can encounter the countless number of buildings they have redesigned. Examples are the Ybl Palace, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Budapest, the Klotild Palace, and even the Gozsdu Court.

The first impressive building in central Pest that is an outstanding example from the studio’s first era is the building at 12 Károlyi Street originally built according to plans by Miklós Ybl between 18661869, the complete reconstruction of which was completed in 2001. This building, known as the Ybl Palace, is located across the street from the Centrál Café and was originally built for the First 50

Home Savings Bank Association of Pest. Following World War II, it was the headquarters of the Budapest Waterworks. As a result of construction on Metro Line 3, the palace began to sink, thus it was declared uninhabitable in the 1970s, with reconstruction works only commencing in 1998.

During this process the planners were among the first in the country to use environmentally conscious solutions, ground source heat pumps and dropped ceilings for heating and cooling. The building has commercial and hospitality services on its lower floors, while the upper floors and loft contain offices.

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The listed building that is currently the Ritz-Carlton Budapest also has an interesting history. Built in a pre-modern style according to the plans of architects Emil Tûry and Móric Pogány from 1914-1918, the building was originally the headquarters of the Adriatic Insurance Company. Following World War II the building became the Budapest Police headquarters.

Deprived of its treasures during this period, the building was transformed from 1998-2000 to become the Le Méridien luxury hotel. The interior is characterised by sophisticated luxury, while the feeling of cosiness is provided by the fine arts on display and the leather furniture. In 2015 the hotel became

a part of the Ritz-Carlton brand, and underwent additional renovations.

The Gozsdu Court located in the heart of the “nightlife quarter” also has a history worthy of a closer look. The architectural studio’s office was located nearby for many years, thus those working there could see how the building continued to decay. That is why they took special joy in planning the reconstruction of this listed complex, which consists of seven buildings with six courtyards that connects Király and Dob streets.

Gozsdu Court runs parallel with Holló Street and spans Madách Street, and was built in the years following the turn of the 20th century by Manó Gozsdu, according to plans by Gyôzô Cziegler.

During the complete reconstruction the complex’s residential and commercial functions were preserved, as apartments were built above ground level, while at ground level and in the cellar level cultural and hospitality establishments opened their doors. The project is an excellent example of rehabilitating an entire city block. Seeing as this was a listed building complex in the historical Jewish Quarter, changes were kept to the absolute minimum. The most important goal was to preserve the buildings with a comprehensive renovation so that they would regain their original turn-of-the-century atmosphere and appearance, and once again become filled with life.

Over the previous years Paulinyi-Reith & Partners have worked on the reconstruction of buildings that are defining elements of the capital’s cityscape. One example is the Klotild Palace, which saw renovations completed in 2012. The Klotild Palace is one of the city’s most elegant buildings and one of Budapest’s best-known symbols on the Pest side of the Elisabeth Bridge. During the external renovations the aim was to restore the building’s original charm.

Tourists walking in the City Park or arriving to the Széchenyi Thermal Bath can see several buildings under construction that are in some way tied to the company. Paulinyi-Reith & Partners designed the plans for the reconstruction of the Transportation Museum’s former building that will become the Hungarian Innovation House, as well as what is expected to become one of the main tourism draws in Budapest: the Pannon Park that will be built on the premises of the Budapest

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Zoo and Botanical Garden. The central element of the Pannon Park will be Europe’s largest biodome, which with its 1.7 hectare hall and outdoor enclosures will show the wildlife of the Carpathian Basin. The biodome will also include a more than two million litre shark tank. The interior of this structure covered with translucent panels will provide ideal weather throughout the year for the flora and fauna and visitors inside it.

For Paulinyi-Reith & Partners, sustainability is the foundation of their architectural outlook. They plan buildings that are future proofed and can adjust to changing trends and requirements. This approach determined the planning process for the Budapest ONE office building and the Etele Plaza shopping centre, which are located by the Kelenföld Railway Station in Budapest’s southwest, where the M1 and M7 motorways approaching from Austria or Croatia and Slovenia enter the city.

The buildings will not only contribute to the development of Újbuda, but they will also become a dominant part of Budapest’s architectural appearance. The Budapest ONE office complex that will serve as the capital’s western gate will greet those arriving on the motorway with its spectacular amorphous forms. The building will be adjusted to the ide-

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al layout for the site, which was obtained by the experts at Paulinyi-Reith & Partners through parametric design methods on the basis of sustainability measurements. This method utilises a computerised programme to generate the specific form based on the parameters provided by the planners, so that the most optimal construction can be achieved.

This is important because as a result of optimised building, for example, optimal lighting conditions can be established throughout the year, which contributes to a reduction in energy needs. The self-regulating climate control and lighting system can control interior temperatures and lighting according to use. The first stages of construction on Budapest ONE are currently underway.

The Etele Plaza being built across the rail tracks will become Újbuda’s defining commercial and leisure centre. The building, which aims to receive a Very Good rating from the BREEAM sustainability assessment method, will feature a wider selection of shops than usual, and will also have a larger food court with a bigger variety of foods.

The shopping centre will also feature a multiplex capable of screening films to large audiences. This wide palette of services on the inside will be balanced by the building’s spectacular exterior, which will remind visitors of gift boxes stacked atop each other.

This commitment to sustainability can also be found in many of the office buildings designed by Paulinyi-Reith & Partners on the Váci Road office corridor. Examples are the Nordic Light building that features “aurora” lights or the Advance Tower with its exciting façade. This approach can also be found in urban-scale projects such as the tender submitted for the city planning of Dongying in China. Their mentality is summarised by the company motto: “We build and research the sustainable buildings of the future, use cutting edge technologies for future generations, and rely on the foundations of architectural practice with a commitment to sharing societal knowledge."

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A FANTASTIC TIME THROUGHOUT THE YEAR The renovated Dagály Thermal Bath, Beach and Pools Text: Judit Várkonyi • Photos: László Mudra / welovebudapest

One of Budapest’s popular recreational spots is the storied Dagály Bath, which was recently completely renovated and expanded with a 21st century spa and wellness section.

At the turn of the 20th century, before the first beaches appeared in Budapest, more than a dozen thermal facilities already operated in the city, such as the internationally famous Széchenyi and Gellért Baths. The construction of public baths also began at this time.

Budapest became a modern metropolis during the early decades of the 20th century, as urbanisation transformed the population’s habits and needs. The spread of public bathing facilities in the 1920s and 30s is related to this social process, as the masses in the city were provided with new ways to relax and have fun.

The Dagály Bath opened relatively late compared

to this era, only opening its doors in 1948. The artesian well that provided water at a temperature of 41.5°C from 126 metres below the surface was only discovered in 1944. Located below the Danube’s riverbed, the thermal water which had up until then flown away could now serve useful purposes. Construction of the bath’s first incarnation, the Liberty Bath and Beach commenced in 53

1947. The aim was to build an immense public bathing complex with a capacity for 10,000 people, which would provide relief to the 100,000 people living in the area during summer heatwaves. Following its opening, the bath was also easily accessible by boat on the Danube.

The bath was upgraded to a thermal spa in 1970, when the waters of the thermal spring providing the Széchenyi Bath and water from the Magda Well on Margaret Island were connected to supplement the dwindling volume produced by the onsite Béke Well. This was when the bath received its current name, the Dagály, which is how it was already colloquially called after the nearby street.

The original building, which expanded and modernised multiple times over the years, was designed by Lajos Darvas and József Körner, the latter of whom studied under Alfréd Hajós, and the emblematic image of the green tile-covered entryway built in the 1950s will remain as a memory for thousands. The beach closed in 2016 in advance of the large-scale reconstruction works that finished last year.

With the construction of the Duna Arena aquatics centre the eight-hectare park lost a third of its territory. In exchange for this, the bath was upgraded with modern infrastructure, such as lounging, teaching and swimming pools, a colourful and creative playground for children, numerous sporting pitches, an open-air fitness park, and last but not least, a completely modernised wellness and spa section.

The complex has been adapted to meet 21st century needs. The bath features refined bright spaces with a unified appearance consisting of white, grey and turquoise colours. The new building wing erected on the site of the old office building contains a wellness area over 290 square metres and a spa with an area of 300 metres. The available services include dry, steam and

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infrared saunas, a tepidarium and massage facilities. For medicinal purposes spaces for high-frequency therapies, various bathtubs, magnetic and electrotherapies, as well as therapeutic massages have been developed.

According to the Dagály’s marketing director Dóra Kiss, narrowly defining the bath’s target audience would be unfortunate, for the different sections providing a variety of services have something to offer for athletes, those seeking to experi-

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ence the thermal water’s therapeutic properties, or families.

The bath’s old Olympic-size swimming pool was replaced with a new one that is slightly elevated to provide swimmers with views of the Danube’s panorama. The pool is bordered on the north by grassy suntanning terraces, which are an arm’s length from the snack bar. The new 25x22 metre pool with a depth of 2.2 metres has disabled access from the main building.

Beneath the trees on the southern part you can find the previously mentioned playground covering 2,000 square metres with a “Danubian Pirate” theme. The playground features playground castles, nest swings, a recessed trampoline and treehouses, but what is most important is that this area is also disabled accessible.

Those who enjoy open-air sports can use the two sand courts, a renovated basketball court, a children’s beach volleyball court, and a large sand court suitable for beach football and beach volleyball. In addition to the two larger pools, the “butterfly” pools, the teaching, children’s and lounging pools, as well as the thermal bath section are suitable for a variety of needs.

The park also contains two drinking fountains and open-air showers. Use of the deckchairs and chairs is included in the cost of admission, which is still affordable following the bath’s renovation.

The complex has a capacity of 2,500 people and is operated by Budapest Spas Plc.

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TEXTÚRA Playfulness and experimentation paired with mathematical precision

When a restaurant that over the years has continued to develop and received ever greater recognition earns a Michelin Star, it then carefully guards this honour. But then the team that works for this restaurant begins to miss the playfulness of their early days, the relaxed nature of their youth and spontaneity. It was as a result of this that Textúra, the “younger sibling” and at once competitor to Borkonyha (Wine Kitchen) opened its doors following many years of planning.

Text: Szonja Somogyi • Photos: Gergely Vas

The owners of Textúra, Zoltán Kalocsai, Ákos Sárközi and Tamás Horváth. Sárközi is also the restaurant’s executive chef

The two restaurants are located on the same street downtown near the Basilica. The 10-year-long professional relationship between Borkonyha’s owners, Tamás Horváth and Zoltán Kalocsai and executive chef Ákos Sárközi led to Sárközi joining the other two as an owner in the new venture. They wanted to launch a new restaurant that hearkens back to the intimacy and informality with which Borkonyha opened in 2010, four years before it won its Michelin Star. The trio desired to create a restaurant where experimentation is part of each day for both guests and the restaurant staff alike.

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The unique kitchen that produces a frequently changing assortment of dishes led by Sárközi has its foundations in Hungarian traditions with international influences. By using Hungarian ingredients and raw materials from other countries, they can reach back to such long forgotten or less used preparation methods such as poaching, smoking and confiting. By blending the preparation methods of other national cuisines, the meals provide an experimental and exciting experience.

As Textúra owner Zoltán Kalocsai told Budapest’s Finest: “On Ákos’s plates you can always discover a playfulness with the textures, whether they are light, crispy, airy or otherwise.

CIT Y GUIDE There’s more interaction in the relationship between the customers and the restaurant, so that for certain dishes the final steps in preparing a meal involve the customers themselves.”

The menu changes four times a year and the weekly (sometimes daily) menu written on a tablet always features seasonal dishes.

The ingredients for these are sourced from Hungary if possible, and for specialities the best international sources are used. One example is that the fish and seafood are sourced from the fish market in Paris, while the beef is sourced primarily from South American merchants. The pigeon and poultry in turn all arrive from Hungarian producers, Kalocsai revealed.

“A blending of Hungarian courses and international flavours presents itself in the vadas (“hunter’s stew”), which although a classic Hungarian dish, is prepared from Argentine beef in Textúra. There is also the Argentine sirloin steak with lobster sauce and sausage, which uses Hungarian homemade kolbász,” he added.

Textúra places a special emphasis on its wine selection as well, featuring both Hungarian and international wines. Sommelier Krisztián Juhász, who is also responsible for Borkonyha’s wine selection, placed a special emphasis on uniqueness when he compiled the list for Textúra. Most of the wines can be ordered by the glass.

The restaurant has a capacity for 70 guests and its interior décor, a new fusion of minimalism and structuralism, is a fresh splash of colour among Budapest’s restaurants. The design is based on naturally occurring patterns found in nearly all macro and micro structures. The so-called Voronoi diagram, the most natural division of a flat surface, can be seen on the pillowcases of the seats and in the structure of the furnishings and decorations. The diagram is especially emphasised in the wall plinths and in the main attraction of the front room, the column designed by the architect and interior designer Anett Ficzere. The flooring uses a geometric pattern by architect-researcher István Muzsai, which was designed according to the lines and proportions of “Solomon’s Seal”. This unique appearance resonates excellently with the images of the textures of the various ingredients that can be seen in the small private room, and naturally of course, as part of the meals served.

Simple, light and airy dishes, and spontaneity. When art, mathematics and physics meet on the table, that is Textúra.

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TIMELESS BEAUTY AND PURE HISTORY

The renovated Café Párisi opens its doors Text: Szonja Somogyi • Photos: Tamás Koczián - Café Párisi

Fotó: barkert Bistro

The magnificent Andrássy Avenue holds many hidden treasures. Walking the entire length of the boulevard is highly recommended, and not just because of the street’s beauty and the houses that have survived the storms of history, or because of the store offerings that currently shape its appearance. Those wishing to experience the atmosphere, flavours and sights of turn-of-the-century Budapest and along with it the world of traditional grand cafés should visit the hidden treasure located at no. 39 in the Párisi Nagy Áruház (“Paris Department Store”), which contains the Café Párisi in the Lotz Hall, which has just reopened following renovations.

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Budapest has several turn-of-the-century cafés that preserve the atmosphere of the Dual Monarchy or the revolutionary times, but perhaps none of them can offer a journey into the romanticism of art nouveau in such a commanding manner.

The land on the site was purchased in 1884 by Fôvárosi Casinoépület Rt. (“Budapest Casino Building Plc.”) to build a casino according to the plans of Gusztáv Petschacher in a three-story neo-renaissance building. The structure had a beerhall, a restaurant, a billiards hall and a ballroom, as well as a game and reading room. The building underwent its first reconstruction in 1909 in art nouveau-style, when Sámuel Goldberger relocated his department store after a fire and renamed it the Párisi Nagy Áruház, which opened its doors 108 years ago in March 1911. The first modern department store in the country, it stood out from among the others with its unique offerings and attributes. The building’s atrium and its mirrored lifts are truly a sight to behold.

The building survived both world wars and the communist era with nary a scratch. After operating as a library for years it reopened in 1958 as the Divatcsarnok (“Fashion Hall”), becoming a listed building later on. Over the decades that followed, the building changed ownership multiple times, and the ballroom, the Lotz Hall, dating to the era of the casino, retained its charms and atmosphere. Over the past few years it was once again closed to the general public so that it could

undergo minor restoration works and a “facelift”, so that now the Café Párisi has opened to once again showcase the room’s original splendour.

The walls and ceiling are decorated with amazing frescos by Károly Lotz. The works of this Hungarian painter of German background can also be seen in the Hungarian State Opera, the Vigadó Concert Hall, Saint Stephen’s Basilica, the Parliament, and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Beneath the enormous chandeliers that hang from high ceilings and between the opulent walls decorated with gilded stuccos we can imagine ourselves to be noble dignitaries or impassioned poets from the turn of the century, who next to the marble tables and red velvet divans drank their invigorating coffees next to a slice of zserbó torte. A grand piano is also located in a central part of the hall, which already adds a special touch simply through its presence.

During the reconstruction works the café owners refreshed the drinks and food menu so that it would offer something for both those looking for a historical atmosphere and those who prefer more modern tastes. The classic coffees and teas are served in Zsolnay porcelain that hearkens back to the style of when the café originally opened, and the coffee bar is also covered with Zsolnay ceramic tiles.

The dessert selection also largely consists of classic Hungarian sweets. Those interested in sampling the delights and traditions of Hungarian confections can taste the Dobos torte covered in a crunchy sugar glaze, the very chocolatey Sacher torte, the sweet and creamy Esterházy cake, or the Isler, which according to legend was created for Emperor Francis Joseph in Bad Ischl. But traditional krémes, Rákoczi-túros and strudels are also available.

The drinks menu includes alcoholic drinks, featuring such exciting curiosities as the Heart of Art chocolate-coffee cocktail, and for those who enjoy top shelf spirits, Hibiki Whisky from Japan. The wine list features selections from eight wine regions.

The Café Párisi focuses on drinks and sweets, but also offers salads and sandwiches made on site.

The former ballroom enchants with its amazing splendour and visitors with an open heart can immediately imagine what it was like to hear shoes clattering on the floor during a dance or evening gowns swirling to the music. And not by accident: the room is excellent for hosting smaller and larger events with organisational help provided by the café. Be it a company dinner or wedding, the guests can all feel as if they belonged to the high society from the turn of the century.

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Casually on the court and in the street Text: Anett Tóth • Photos: Dorko

Budapest will be Europe’s capital of sport in 2019. Since 2001 the European Capitals and Cities of Sport Federation has bestowed this honour on cities with a population over half a million. Not only will Budapest be able to showcase itself through organising prestigious sporting events, but the event will also provide Dorko, an up-and-coming Hungarian casual clothing label, with the opportunity to build its brand recognition.

Dorko is a young and innovative Hungarian street style brand, which became popular among the younger generation through its reinterpretation of this label. The brand’s name reaches back to the 1920s and the Dorogi Rubber Factory, the first place to produce iconic gym shoes that today would be considered retro style, which had become popular all over the country by the 1970s.

Many youths who would go out at night to hang out with their friends prior to the system change wore “dorkós”. As western brands took over the market, the Hungarian sporting shoe’s popularity fell, and the time was soon up for the “dorkós”.

The year 2014 brought a breakthrough, as Hungarian designers from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and Moholy-Nagy University 60

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of Art and Design saw an opportunity in reviving the brand and reimagined Dorko’s image and style. The Dorko story thus simultaneously represents respect for the past and the power of creation for shaping the future.

Dorko offers more than simple fashion items. The brand’s products carry a message with a certain worldview: dare to stand out from the crowd and to form an opinion. For this reason, the brand frequently collaborates with celebrities, artists, musicians and athletes.

Dorko sells more than just sporting shoes, for the brand has expanded over the years to include clothing and a wide assortment of accessories. From their unembellished and low-key

shoes to extravagant purses the company offers a wide variety of products. For this issue of Budapest’s Finest we have selected the trendiest pieces from Dorko’s 2019 spring/summer collection.

The 81 LOW is a returning model in the brand’s collection. It conforms to the foot with its canvas upper and it rubber nose is wear-resistant, which will give the shoes a long life. The 81 LOW’s new design and quality improvements make it an excellent choice for sightseeing or for wearing to festivals.

The iconic Loyalty is Royalty baseball cap is one of the brand’s highlighted products, since with its creation it launched an admirable campaign in support of training guide dogs for the visually impaired. (On 27 April, in honour of International Guide Dogs Day, a walk is planned in the City Park.) An important perspective in addition to support for this charitable initiative is that a baseball cap is easy to pair with any sightseeing or sporty outfit, for not only is it a fashionable item, but it is also comfortable.

The Dorko Gymbag is a truly unisex item that is practical and easy to store. A perfect choice for a relaxed afternoon spent wandering the city or a long day at the hotel gym. The bag is available in many colours and styles in Dorko stores.

Dorko stores in central Budapest and at the airport: DRK Flagship Store Andrássy 1065 Budapest, Andrássy út 33.

DRK Westend 1062 Budapest, Váci út 1-3.

DRK BUD AIRPORT TERMINAL 2A Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport A significant milestone for Dorko was the contract they signed with the Hungarian Tennis Association. Members of the national tennis team will now wear the most popular Hungarian athletic brand when they play around the world. This also underscores how Dorko is committed to sponsoring outstanding athletes.

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CORNER

PROGRAMME

Perspectives Contemporary Hungarian Landscape 5 April - 19 May 2019.

or the third consecutive year, the Budapest Photo Festival has chosen a classic genre as inspiration for contemporary Hungarian photographers. On this occasion the organisers looked for works that interpret or redefine the landscape genre, or continue along well-established, traditional lines.

Pictures that fit into the broader concept of landscape photography were welcomed for this year’s open call. The exhibition in the Kiscelli Museum, compiled from our final selection from nearly 50 photographers, approached the contemporary interpretation of the landscape genre from the direction of rich fine art traditions.

Among the exhibited works selected by curators Rita Somosi and Klára Szarka, one can find an analysis of the relationship between nature and humanity in the 21st century, as well as the visual representation of the increasingly problematic relationship between nature and humanity, the depictions of which will be on display alongside narrative pictures that project outer (physical) and inner (spiritual) landscapes that transform non-existent scenes into tangibly real and personal images.

Although the execution, atmosphere and message of the works is rich, colorful and diverse, just like the contemporary Hungarian photographic scene, the exhibition also showcases a strong metaphysical feature, an ontological urge that fits into the ever present need of self-expression.

David Lynch Small stories

1 March – 2 June 2019.

Mûcsarnok / Kunsthalle

In addition to his films, David Lynch is also known for directing music videos and being a musician, and that painting has served a defining role in his life because he studied the fine arts. But perhaps fewer people know that he is also an avid photographer who uses the instrument to bring his visions to life. He does not only

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Kiscelli Museum

photograph nudes, specific body details or industrial objects, but he has created surreal images with his compact photos titled “Small Stories” that are typical of him, which the Hungarian public can see as a part of the Budapest Photo Festival in the Mûcsarnok Hall.

Of his passion for photography, Lynch himself said: “Little stories happen in a blink of an eye. Looking at a still image, the mind and the emotional world are exposed to intense effects, and the little stories grow huge. Of course everything depends on the viewer. It is almost impossible to notice the existence of a story from a still image. I find this phenomenon wonderful.”

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Ha Dó 23 March 2019 - 7 pm

National Dance Theatre Budapest

Light and Shadow Following Brazil and Germany, Tadashi Endo will present his work HA DÔ - Wave Motion in Hungary, which will be performed by the Yvette Bozsik Company, which itself is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The joint premiere is the result of three years of collaborative work between Tadashi Endo and the Yvette Bozsik Company, and was preceded by several intensive butoh workshops in Budapest. Tadashi Endo, who lives and works in Göttingen, Germany, is one of the greatest butoh dancers and choreographers alive today and has been the head of the MAMU Butoh-Centre in Göttingen for 25 years.

25 May 2019 - 8 pm

Festival Theatre

The cimbalom player Miklós Lukács is without a doubt one of the most exceptional figures on the Hungarian music scene.

His classical music training provided him with the opportunity to also delve deeply into jazz and contemporary music. He founded the Cimbiózis trio together with György Orbán and István Baló in 2013. On this evening they will present material from the group's third album with the help of two partners from the world of classical music, the clarinet player Csaba Klenyán and the bassoonist Attila Jankó. Their new album, Lux et umbra - Light and Shadow - seeks to assess the connecting points of seemingly contradictory natural phenomena.

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CORNER

Works by Zoltán Jeney Concerto Budapest Conducted by Zoltán Rácz 23 May 2019 10 pm

Liszt Academy of Music

This concert will present both the Zoltán Jeney of today and the early 1970s, as his composition Alef pays homage to the middle movement (Farben) of Schönberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra, which was first heard by audiences and somewhat confused and even angry critics in 1972.

Officially ostracised at the time due to its “oriental notes”, Alef has since taken its rightful place among the enduring Hungarian compositions of the past few decades, and for this occasion it will be performed with new orchestration.

The Buda Castle District Uncovered 10 Years of Archaeological Excavation Open: 17 April – 31 July 2019

Budapest History Museum

– Castle Museum

Photo: © kozkincskereso.hu

The archaeologists of the Budapest History Museum undertake archaeological excavations across Budapest, and thus also within the Buda Castle District. Our understanding of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary’s centre has become clearer though many smaller and larger excavation sites. This exhibition presents the historical sites of Buda Castle from the Árpád Dynasty to the modern era, and will be a subjective selection of the most interesting artefacts from 10 years’ worth of excavations.

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Puccini: Manon Lescaut Opera in four acts, in Italian, with Hungarian and English surtitles Erkel Theatre

Puccini's imagination was captivated by the love story of Manon Lescaut and the Chevalier des Grieux, in which the protagonists defy social norms and the accepted moral law to be with each other. More than one associate tried to talk him out of using the subject, not only because of his own personal proximity to it, but because of the tremendous success of Massenet's own Manon as well. Fortunately, however, Puccini could not be swayed, and his first nationwide success was born, which was soon conquering stages all over the world. The Opera's audience will get to see this work once again, this time in a production directed by Máté Szabó.

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18 May 2019 - 7 pm

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