Hunglish.orgWhere I live and work in the fifth district of the city of Budapest there are a few particular details that have come to have meaning for me, specifically, the unique area in which I reside-Freedom Square.
Written by Natalie Jaro
Where I live and work in the fifth district of Budapest has a splendor and authenticity of an old world developing fast into the 21rst century. Although most of the buildings are nearly a hundred years old, beautifully handcrafted with moldings, columns and burly men holding up doorways, with scary faces chiseled into the stone and serpent-like and mythological symbols—the streets are filled with people heading quickly into a steroid-enhanced computer age, many with an iPod and/or an
The street most familiar to me is Szabadsag ter (Freedom Square in Hungarian). On the corner is a Szabadsag Kavé house where the famed Endre Ady, one of the most revered poets, not only of Hungarian literature, but of world literature, wrote. It is here in this square that I now move to and fro from day to day, primarily, within the radius that includes the scope of Freedom Park and its perimeter. Within this distance are many memorials, statues and fountains. There is one memorial in particular around the corner, in Freedom Park that was erected to the Soviet Union’s liberation of Budapest nearing the end of WWII. It is a large, tall obelisk with a star on the top; it is the only remaining memorial from the Soviet Union as the last statue of Lenin which was pulled down in 1989. In the middle of these old world monuments you’ll often see fresh flowers and wreaths that have been left by some unidentified patron who honors and romanticizes the unforgotten, Hungarian past. These are small signs that although the world is changing, the past is not being abandoned in the memories of its Hungarian people. In Freedom Park at dusk, people bring their dogs to play and frolic on the lawns while people sit outside on street corners with glasses of wine or coffees. Bordering the park is the United States Embassy along with the Hungarian National Television Building that was recently sold toward the end of this year.
Crossing over either Margaret or Chain Bridge is the way I generally go to get across the Danube and into Buda. Parliament, the Chain and Margaret Bridges, Margaret Island, the Buda Castle on Castle Hill and the Fishermen’s Bastilion are other places I frequent that are within walking distance. Newly renovated is the Four Seasons nested at the front of Chain Bridge like its own private driveway. The hotel is also known as the Grisham Palace and is considered one of the most beautiful in all of Europe. On either side of Chain Bridge are two stone lion statues that guard both bridgeheads. Apparently, the sculptor of the two lions, Marschalko János, forgot to carve out the lions’ tongues and when a boy made a comment about it during the opening ceremony, he became so distressed that he threw himself off the bridge and into the Danube. Yet the lions remain, along with the sad tale, lying proud, brave and silent at either sides of the bridge, the lions are a presence to their creator, to the city and its inhabitants. At night the bridge is lit up along with the citadel in Buda and the Buda castle and even a panoramic picture does not do justice to the majestic scene. The Fisherman’s Bastilion on Castle Hill is a Neo-Romanesque style viewing terrace with many stairs and walking paths along with a bronze statue of Stephen I of Hungary on a horse. It was a guild of fishermen that defended that part of the city wall during the Middle Ages and this is why it is called The Fisherman’s Bastilion.
All these places of ancient heritage and prominence, along with many others, make Budapest what it is today. The other bridge I often cross is Margaret Bridge that leads to Margaret Island on the Duna where recordings of Pavarotti play at the large fountain near the entrance. While the water spurts skyward, people lounge on blankets in the summer grass, play Frisbee or run around the athletic track that spans the perimeter of the island. There are families who visit the small zoo on the island and tourists who either take rides in a horse-drawn buggy that trots through the wooded paths or who walk or ride bicycles. Parliament is a sight to behold as it stretches on the Pest side 268 meters in length with a 96-meter high central dome. The building has 12.5 miles of corridors inside as well as 691 rooms and is open for tours. The esteemed St. Stephen’s Basilica is another nearby landmark, the largest church in Hungary that houses the preserved right hand of St. King Stephen. Ascend either a winding staircase or traverse upward in an elevator where you can view the city below from above. Szabadsag tér is where I live in Budapest. It is this track of territory that has been the nursery I’ve returned to time and again as I’ve grown here. Szabadsag is the origination of where I have launched a newfound life in Hungary, it has only been appropriate, that ‘freedom’ is its name.