Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Contra-Aquincum , a Roman fort that was an outpost of the settlement at Óbuda at the end
of the third century. More pertinently to Hungarian history, the name of the square refers to
March 15, 1848, when the anti-Habsburg Revolution began.
Belváros Parish Church
Belvárosi Főplébánia Templom • V, Március 15 tér 2 • Mon-Sat 7am-7pm, Sun 8am-7pm • Free
Dominating Március 15 tér is the Belváros Parish Church , the oldest church in Pest. Foun-
ded in 1046 as the burial place of St Gellért , it was rebuilt as a Gothic hall church in the fif-
teenth century (his remains had long been shipped off to Venice), turned into a mosque by the
Turks and then reconstructed as a church in the eighteenth century. This history is reflected
in the interior, and after Latin Mass at 10am on Sunday you can see the Gothic sedilia and
Turkish mihrab (prayer niche) behind the high altar, which are otherwise out of bounds. The
austere Gothic interior is largely devoid of ornamentation save for a few splashes of colour
on the rib-vaulted nave.
Petőfi tér and Duna-korzó
Petőfitér to the north is named after Sándor Petőfi , whose poem National Song - the anthem
of 1848 - and romantic death in battle the following year made him a patriotic icon . Erected
in 1882, the square's Petőfistatue has long been a focus for demonstrations as well as patri-
otic displays - especially on March 15, when the statue is bedecked with flags and flowers.
The concrete esplanade running north from the square is a sterile attempt at recreating the
prewar Duna-korzó , the most informal of Budapest's promenades, where it was socially ac-
ceptable for strangers to approach celebrities and stroll beside them. The outdoor cafés here,
which boast wonderful views, charge premium rates.
SÁNDOR PETŐFI
Born on New Year's Eve, 1822, of a Slovak mother and a southern Slav butcher-innkeeper
father, Sándor Petőfi was to become obsessed by acting and by poetry, which he started
to write at the age of 15. As a strolling player, soldier and labourer, he absorbed the lan-
guage of working people and composed his lyrical poetry in the vernacular, to the outrage
of critics. Moving to Budapest in 1844, he fell in with the young radical intellectuals who
met at the Pilvax Café on nearby Pilvax koz (the café is no more), and embarked on his ca-
reer as a revolutionary hero. He declaimed his National Song from the steps of the National
Museum on the first day of the 1848 Revolution, and fought in the War of Independence
with General Bem in Transylvania, where he disappeared during the Battle of Segesvár in
1849. Though he was most likely trampled beyond recognition by the Cossacks' horses (as
predicted in one of his poems), Petőfi was long rumoured to have survived as a prisoner. In
1990, a Hungarian entrepreneur sponsored an expedition to Siberia to uncover the putative
grave, but it turned out to be that of a woman.
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