Do you know how these Budapest’s squares got their names?

1. Bosnyák Square/Bosnyák tér
The Square was named by Franz Joseph I of Austria in 1901. The emperor enlisted Bosnian (bosnyák in Hungarian) soldiers as guards of the Buda Castle between the occupation of Bosnia (1878) and its annexation (1908). The soldiers’ field was at today’s Bosnyák Square.

2. Harminckettesek Square/ Harminckettesek tere
The origin of its name comes from Maria Theresa, who founded the Harminckettesek infantry regiment (in mirror translation it’s the “thirty-twoers”). Interestingly, there’s a statue of a soldier with a grenade in his hands on the Square.
The regiment stayed in service after the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), but was relocated to Budapest, and Franz Joseph I of Austria renamed it to Maria Theresa infantry regiment in 1890. It suffered heavy losses after the First World War, and was disbanded under the Trianon Treaty. The soldier’s statue was set up on 14 May 1933 with the public’s money at the corner of József körút (József boulevard) and Baross utca (Baross street). Although the statue depicts a soldier throwing a grenade, the foot of the statue shows engravings of the aristocracy offering their life to Maria Theresa. The infantry was reorganized and was in service until 2007. The square was renamed to Harminckettesek tere in 1933.

3. Lövölde tér/ Lövölde Square
In a 1701 enactment king Leopold I made it obligatory for every guild to force their members to practice shooting on every Sunday and feast day; those who failed to attend had to pay a fine. In 1740, Maria Theresa made it compulsory for every adult men to practice musketry for a whole year. Because Buda already had a shooting gallery as early as 1969 (at Széna Square), one had to be built in Pest as well. First they planned to build one at Astoria, but as the city was rapidly growing a new place had to be found. There was a shooting gallery at Fővám Square, and later one at Kálvin Square, but it was destroyed during the flood in1838; finally, a gallery was built at what is Lövölde Square today. It was named as such in 1874, but sixteen years later it was demolished to give home to several blocks of flats.