Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Napraforgó utca housing estate
II, Napraforgó utca • Signposted from Pasaréti tér, the terminus of bus #5: follow Pasaréti út until you reach a
playing field and cross the bridge on the left
Before you return to Széll Kálmán tér from the Bartók Memorial House, it's worth a brief
detour to see the delightful
Napraforgó utca housing estate
, built in 1931. Its 22 houses
- designed by as many architects - embody different trends in Modernist architecture, from
severe Bauhaus to folksy Arts and Crafts style. The houses are all occupied - you can't go in
- but they have pretty much preserved their original look. For refreshment afterwards, head
for the café in the listed 1930s
bus shelter
on Pasaréti tér. The shelter's curving horizontal
form contrasts with the slender vertical lines of the Franciscan Church of St Antal across the
road - both were designed by the architect Géza Rimanóczy as a single project for the square.
Farkasréti Cemetery
Farkasréti temető • XII, Németvölgyi út 99 • Daily 7.30am-5pm • Free • Tram #59 from Széll Kálmán tér or
bus #8 from Astoria in Pest
Two kilometres west of Gellért-hegy in the hilly XII district is the
Farkasréti Cemetery
,
where a mass of flower stalls and funerary masons indicate that you've arrived. Among the
ten thousand graves in the “Wolf's Meadow Cemetery” are those of
Béla Bartók
(whose
remains were ceremonially reburied in 1988 following their return from America, where he
died in exile in 1945); his fellow composer
Zoltán Kodály
; and the conductor
Georg Solti
,
who left Hungary in 1939 to meet Toscanini and thus escaped the fate of his Jewish parents.
Less well known abroad are the actress Gizi Bajor, Olympic-medal-winning boxer László
Papp and some infamous figures from the Communist era: Hungary's Stalinist dictator
MátyásRákosi
(as a precaution against vandalism, only the initials on his grave are visible),
his secret police chief
Gábor Péter
, and András Hegedüs, the Politburo member who asked
theSovietstocrushtheUprising.Alsolookoutforthemanywoodengravemarkersinscribed
in the ancient runic Székely alphabet - the Székely people now form roughly half of the Hun-
garian population of the Székely region in Transylvania, Romania.
However, the real attraction is the amazing
mortuarychapel
by architect Imre Makovecz -
one of his finest designs, dating from 1975, which was used for his own funeral in 2011. Its
wood-ribbed vault resembles the inside of a human ribcage, with a casket for corpses where
the heart would be. Be discreet, as the chapel is in constant use by mourners. Visitors keen to
capital.
