Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
singing of the liturgy, the clouds of incense and flickering candles create an unearthly atmo-
sphere.
A block or so south of the church, part of the
medieval wall
of Pest can be seen behind a
children's playground on the corner of Bástya utca and Vernes Pálné utca. There is more of
the wall near the eastern end of Bástya utca, tucked away inside the bank at Kecskeméti utca
19, on the corner of Kalvin tér.
Petőfi Literary Museum
Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum • V, Károlyi utca 16 • Tues-Sun 10am-6pm • 600Ft • 1 317 3611,
pim.hu
A short walk up Szerb utca, and just beyond the University Law Faculty, stands the Károlyi
Palota, the birthplace of Count Mihály Károlyi, the liberal politician who briefly led the gov-
ernment after World War I. Today the palace houses the
Petőfi Literary Museum
, which
has a permanent exhibition on the life of
Sándor Petőfi
,
the nineteenth-century revolution-
ary poet. The wealth of personal effects on display includes his first manuscript of poetry,
and the engagement ring belonging to his wife of just two years, Júlia Szendrey - there are
also several gifts exchanged between Petőfi and his lifelong friend, Arany János, the other
pre-eminent poet of that time. As one of the key figures in the 1848 Revolution, prominent
coverage is given to Petőfi's role both here and as a soldier in the Hungarian Revolutionary
Army, where he fought under the Polish general, Józef Bem; the warrant issued for his arrest
by the Germans is the most poignant item on display in this section. During the summer you
may be able to see round the rest of the palace rooms (separate entry fee).
The mansion's garden, the
Károlyi-kert
, is a delightful green haven in the centre of the
city, and has a children's playground. It was here that Lajos Batthyány, head of the independ-
ent Hungarian government following the 1848 revolution, was arrested in 1849, and Gener-
al Haynau, the “Butcher of Vienna”, signed the death warrants of Batthyány and other rebel
leaders after finishing his morning exercises.
Ferenciek tere
Heading north from the Petőfi Literary Museum, you'll pass the
Centrál Kávéház
,
one of
Pest's grand old coffee houses where, in the early twentieth century, writers and intellectu-
als lingered day and night, while to the right rises the coloured dome of the university lib-
rary. Beyond here is
Ferenciek tere
(Franciscans' Square) - though it's more L-shaped than
square, and is dominated by the network of roads approaching the Erzsébet bridge. Yet even
the six-lane highway that runs across the top of the square cannot detract from the magnifi-
cence of the buildings.
