Budapest General Assembly Approves City Park Building Regulations

(MTI) – The Budapest City Council’s general assembly on Monday approved the building regulations for the City Park which includes a project to establish a museum quarter.

The Liget Budapest project based on a government programme will involve setting up museums for fine arts, architecture, ethnography, music and photography by utilising the museum buildings already present in the area and building five new ones. It will also involve the re-development of the park.

According to the proposal, the Liget Budapest scheme represents the largest museum development investment project in Europe.

Agnes Somfai, of the opposition PM, said the museum quarter should be built at a different location because the Liget Budapest project would lead to the destruction of Europe’s first designed public park.

Ministerial commissioner for the project Laszlo Baan, the director of the Hungarian National Gallery, rejected the accusation, arguing that several professional and civil consultations have been held about the project over the past three years. He also refuted claims that the project would bring about a decrease in the green area. Although the proportion of buildings will increase from 5.6 to 7 percent of the total park area, huge areas that are now paved will be put under grass, he said.