Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
with its geometric motifs and its decorative screws, while at no. 5 the
Rózsavölgyi Building
(1911-12) was built by the “father” of Hungarian Modernism,
Béla Lajta
, whose earlier as-
sociation with the National Romantic school is evident from the majolica bands on its upper
storeys, typical of the style. The Rózsavölgyi music shop on the ground floor is one of the
oldest, and best, in the city - sadly Lajta's interior fittings were lost in a fire in 1955.
Servite Church
Szervita Templom • V, Szervita tér 6 • Daily 10am-1pm & 2-6pm • Free; concerts Wed noon, donations accep-
ted
Szervita tér is named after the eighteenth-century
Servite Church
(otherwise known as St
Anne's Church), built following liberation from Turkish rule, indeed on the site of a former
mosque. Its badly crumbling facade bears a relief of an angel cradling a dying horseman, in
memory of the Seventh Kaiser Wilhelm Hussars killed in World War I. The interior, mean-
while, is standard Baroque exuberance, the pick of the paintings being those of the seven
founders of the Servite order, located on the right-hand side of the nave. The attached mon-
astery was damaged in World War II and in 1964 was replaced with the brutalist communic-
ations centre that now hems in the church.
Along the embankment
The riverbank bore the brunt of the fighting in 1944-45, when the Nazis and the Red Army
exchanged salvoes across the Danube. As with the Vár in Buda, postwar clearances exposed
historic sites and provided an opportunity to integrate them into the environment - but the
magnificent
view
of the Royal Palace and Gellért-hegy is hardly matched by the row of mod-
ern hotels on the Pest side. While such historic architecture as remains can be seen in a
fifteen-minute stroll between the Erzsébet híd and the Lánchíd, tram #2 enables you to see a
longer stretch of the waterfront between Szabadság híd and Kossuth tér in the north, interrup-
ted by a tunnel at the Lánchíd.
Erzsébet híd
The bold white pylons and cables of the
Erzsébet híd
(Elizabeth Bridge) are as dominant a
feature of the panorama as the stone Lánchíd to the north or the wrought-iron Szabadság híd
to the south. Of all the Danube bridges blown up by the Germans as they retreated to Buda
in January 1945, the Erzsébet híd was the only one not rebuilt in its original form. In fact it
was not replaced until 1964 - and even then had to be closed down immediately due to faulty
engineering.
Március 15 tér
A largely nondescript square today,
Március 15 tér
nevertheless betrays strong military as-
sociations - in one corner you can peer down through the glass covers at the remains of
