This year, Főkert will renew several rows of trees in Budapest, plant 12,000 trees and make a mini-forest. Several previously started works are continuing, including park renovations, and benches are being placed in the small forests planted last year.
The capital's natural beauties are quite scattered. This is perhaps fortunate in that every district has at least one park, forest or waterfront. During this trip, Pestbuda will take a look at the southernmost part of the main branch of the Danube near Budapest. The region where the wide, slow-flowing Danube has been touching the quiet settlements for thousands of years. This region is the most beautiful part of the 22nd District along the Danube: Háros.
The Metropolitan council has issued a tender for the renewal of Népliget, design teams of which at least one member is a landscape architect can apply for the task. Based on the strategic plan adopted last year about Népliget, they have to formulate how they would imagine the future of Budapest's 130-hectare public park, protected since 2005.
The Jókai Garden and the listed Steindl Villa will be renewed, and it will be a new nature exhibition place from next autumn. Construction work has already begun.
A community garden will be set up in Újpest on the site of an unused sports field bordered by Tavasz, Nyár and Viola streets. In addition to forty beds and fruit bushes, plans include building a garden house and a shady sandpit for children.
They cut out the iconic tree of Deák Square, the Himalayan silk pine leaning over the benches. The fallen tree was a favorite meeting place for many, and since the people of Budapest were attached to it, Főkert also said a sensitive goodbye to it on its website. It has been said that it cannot be transplanted or supported, there is no other option but to cut it down, as the popular tree is accident-prone.
Zoltán Kodály is one of the greatest figures in Hungarian music literature, who was not only an exceptionally talented composer but also a researcher and teacher. He began his work as a folk song collector in 1905 and presented his own works to the public in 1910, and Psalmus Hungaricus, written in 1923, was a huge international success. His music pedagogy method is still used in education today. The composer's former home on Kodály Körönd now houses the memorial museum named after him.
The Hungarian National Gallery is one of the best-known institutions in the country and the capital, which celebrates its 65th anniversary this year. The institution, which collects masterpieces of Hungarian art, opened its doors to visitors on 5 October 1957 in its first home, in the Curia's building on Kossuth Square designed by Alajos Hauszmann, to which the Museum of Ethnography later moved. It occupied its current location, buildings B, C and D of the Buda Castle, in 1975. Within the framework of the Liget Project, the plans for the new home have already been drawn up, although its implementation is still pending.
Undeservedly little is said about sculptor József Damkó, even though the artist produced many works that stand at important points in the Hungarian capital. Such is the statue of Saint Elizabeth of the House of Árpád on Rózsák Square, the statue of St. John of Capistrano on Kapisztrán Square in Buda Castle or the statue of Pope Innocent XI on Hess András Square. His architectural sculptures and tombstones are also of considerable value. Pestbuda now presents the Budapest works of József Damkó on the 150th anniversary of his birth.
In addition to the Renaissance Hall and the Romanian Hall, the almost renovated Baroque Hall of almost 800 square meters will also be available to the public from tomorrow. The last three large museum squares displaying and stylizing architectural styles were last opened simultaneously for 80 years.
One hundred and fifty years ago, on 12 January, 1872, the first issue of the Hungarian Language Guard magazine, edited by Gábor Szarvas, was published. In the 19th century, the paper took a stand in discussions of language renewal, opposing foreign turns. He also laid down rules for spelling and grammar, and he had great merit in learning about dialects and vernacular.
On the occasion of the Hungarian Artists Day on 18 October, we followed in the footsteps of Budapest's artist sculptures: we show how the famous artists live in the memory of the capital, which painters' memories were preserved, why and how.
The Catholic Caritas was reorganized after the change of regime, and by 1995 a nationwide network of aid organizations had been established. They are celebrating its 90th anniversary right now. The headquarters of the institution have been in an apartment on Béla Bartók Street in Újbuda since 1990, but these days the aid organization has moved into its own building.
The 260-page publication showcases the 90-years history of the Csepel Freeport. Beyond photographs, the album contains unique historical documents.
A small collection of poems from Hungarian poets was published recently. Naturally, it is connected to Budapest. The pages of the booklet are decorated with pictures of statues found around Budapest.
When asked to name Hungarian architects, most people will likely mention Miklós Ybl and Ödön Lechner. This is no coincidence; the two architects were prolific and important artists is their age. But how much do people know about their time and their contemporaries? The new volume Ylb és Lechner vonzásában provides information on these.