As Europe’s leading centre for circus arts, Hungary is hosting the world’s first scientific conference on circus buildings. A model of the National Circus Arts Centre building was also presented at the conference.
Between 12 and 17 January, the XIV. Budapest International Circus Festival takes place at the Budapest Grand Circus. As an overture, organisers held a scientific and professional conference on circus buildings at the Museum of Fine Arts on Wednesday. Several foreign circus arts experts took part in the conference.
The mock-up of the circus building named Csodagömb (Magic Globe). Source: Zoltán Balogh/MTI
The conference and the exhibition
As PestBuda reported, participants had the chance to learn about the history of circus buildings in Europe. What is more, organisers opened an exhibition in the Baroque Hall of the Museum of Fine Arts to mark the occasion.
At this exhibition, participants could observe a mock-up of the National Circus Arts Centre. The building will be under construction next to Nyugati Railway Station in the near future. Visitors could also get to know the new circus building and the artists’ training institute that will be built as part of the Circus Arts Centre.
“For the first time in the world, Hungary, as Europe’s leading centre of circus arts, is hosting a scientific conference on circus buildings and a conference on circus education,”
shared Péter Fekete, State Secretary for Culture and Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Budapest International Circus Festival.
The government adopted a decision to build the Centre as an investment of key national economic importance in February 2021.
The new Circus Arts Centre will have the following parts: a new circus building and an artist training school. The former will be built on a long-vacant site next to Nyugati Railway Station, and the latter will be converted from an old railway hangar.
Kornél Almássy, Director of the Hungarian Museum of Architecture, said the following about the exhibition:
“With the help of numerous models, blueprints, maps, and other documents, as well as works of art, the exhibition reviews the history of Hungarian circus art and architecture and also looks to the future of the National Circus Arts Centre.”
As we wrote in one of our previous articles, many of the world’s top circus performers view Hungary as a refuge. The reason for this is that all over the world, circuses closed due to the pandemic situation. However, they remained open in Hungary.
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Wednesday met his Sri Lankan counerpart, Gamini Lakshman Peiris, and pledged to strengthen the ties between the two countries. Earlier on Wednesday, Szijjártó announced the largest Hungarian road construction project which is getting under way in South Asia.
Betonútépítő is building two large motorway overpasses near Sri Lanka’s capital as part of a 20 billion forint (EUR 56m) development, the ministry said in a statement. Szijjártó noted that the government supports Hungarian companies entering international markets. Hungary’s Eximbank is backing the investment which is expected to conclude by October 2023. Metal structures for the construction are being made in Nyíregyháza, while their delivery will take place in March.
At the joint press conference with Peiris, Szijjártó said cutting-edge technologies implemented by numerous Hungarian companies gave them a competitive edge internationally
, opening up investment opportunities in Sri Lanka and elsewhere.
Besides infrastructure development, Hungarian printing and water management companies are also present in the country, he said. A recently reconstructed water purifying plant has given 2 million people access to clean drinknig water, he said. While many development projects worldwide have fallen victim to the coronavirus pandemic, the Hungarian government is supporting Hungarian companies present on foreign markets to prevent further losses, he said.
The ministers have agreed to convene the second meeting of its economic committee as soon as possible and to speed up talks on
the elimination of double taxation to ensure “fair and honest cooperation”,
Szijjártó said.
Starting this year, Hungary is also
offering 20 scholarships to Sri Lankan students wishing to study in Hungary,
he said. “We have always been fair, honest and reliable partners. We have not interfered in each other’s internal affairs, we’ve never criticised each other, and we’ve supported each other in international organisations; and we wish to carry on that way in the future,” Szijjártó said.
Peiris praised Hungarian economic development and said his country was on track to implement similar projects, which made robust cooperation and knowledge exchange very important. During the visit, Szijjarto also met Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as well as the ministers of commerce, education and highways.
Puskás Arena won yet another award. This time it was awarded at Mapei World Competition for Reference Buildings.
The reconstruction of the Puskás Arena in Budapest won an award at the world competition of reference buildings. –writes Hello Magyar. Béla Markovich, managing director at Mapei Kft. said that the Hungarian building competed with monumental investments. Hello Magyar also writes that hundreds of outstanding entries from around the world have participated in the competition. The Reference Grand Prix competition was organized for the 19th time among the Mapei Group subsidiaries.
The reconstruction of Puskás Arena was one of the biggest investments of the past few years in Hungary. The award at the The Reference Grand Prix was not the first acknowledgement of the building.
The building won the Red Dot. The arena was voted Stadium of the Year 2019 by the public’s votes of Stadium Database. The jury voted to give the building second place. – writes pestbuda.hu. Hello Magyar writes that the arena won the Special Prize for the Most Beautiful Sports Facility at the Prix Versailles Architecture Awards in 2020. In 2021, the iconic Hungarian stadium was chosen as a candidate for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture.
It is no surprise that the arena won an award, as Hungary invests a lot of money in sports facilities.
Budapest Multifunctional Sports and Event Hall is built in Budapest’s Népliget. The building will be able to host 22,000 visitors. The modern building will have 49 VIP boxes, 14 lifts, 8 escalators and a display that weighs a total of 12 tons and has more than 14 million pixels.
Budapest Handball Arena, Hungary’s biggest sports hall, was already inaugurated in Budapest. The sports hall would be suitable for competitions in 26 branches of sport. The impressive arena occupies a total area of over 50,000sqm and has 20,022 seats for spectators.
Pick Arena in Szeged is another impressive building. Pick Arena can host 8,143 spectators. The building’s size is over 28,000 square meters.
The government has extended the mandatory declaration of the export of strategic building materials from Hungary until May 31, the innovation and technology ministry said on Monday.
The government obligated building materials sellers to declare exports in the summer amid concerns that runaway prices could counter the benefits of a home renovation subsidy scheme.
Tamás Schanda, a state secretary of the ministry, said that iron and steel products, isolation materials, sand, stone and gravel, among others, can be exported only after the say-so of the ministry so that “exports do not hinder or risk the building, operation or development of key domestic infrastructure”.
The transport of strategic products and raw materials also has to be registered,
he said.
Schanda said that
measures to control the price of two of the most important building materials, gravel and sand, has brought 5 billion forints (EUR 13.9m) in state revenues until the end of December.
At the same time, prices have also gone down, he said, pointing to the price of gravel in the Budapest area, which dropped to 3,000 forints/ton from 8,000 forints/ton.
It is not only the capital’s highest building but also Hungary’s highest office block. Check out how the construction of the MOL Campus is progressing.
The building of the MOL Campus started in October 2019 and will be completed along with the BudaPark project that started in 2018. In the case everything goes as planned, the Campus will be inaugurated this year. The office building designed by Foster+Partners will be the new headquarters of the MOL Group. The building is located on the northern bank of Lágymányosi Bay, next to the Kopaszi Dam and Infopark.
Now, let’s see the numbers. The tower will be 28 floors high, with the highest part accessible to people at 120 metres, and the total height of the building will be 143 metres.
As we wrote earlier, the project is not an easy one. Since the beginning, it has posed some great challenges. The MOL Campus is not a traditional building: it has a twice-curved surface. Both the glass and the supporting aluminium structure have to trace the surface to ensure that the joints are airtight and watertight.
The building has also divided the local population: will it beautify the area or just damage it?
As Market Építő Zrt. posted on Facebook, more than three-quarters of the MOL Campus building are now complete. The project was at 76% completion at the end of December. At the end of the year, many events took place:
the installation of solar panels continued;
the construction of the supporting structure for the green walls on floors 29-32 and the façade insulation system behind the green walls continued;
additional internal lifts were installed;
the glazing work on the steel structure of the crown started;
on the podium part of the building, the installation of the prefabricated façade continued on floors 4-5, and the finishing works on the corridor link started;
the construction of the small retaining wall system around the building for the landscaping also started;
specialist and technical work is being carried out on the building from the basement to the 28th floor, and specialist work continued on the 29th to 32nd floors (mechanical levels above the viewing terrace).
The series of successful real estate developments continue in the new year as well. Accordingly, we collected the most significant residential, office, hotel, commercial and urban development projects in Budapest that will boom in 2022.
Residential developments
Photo: www.facebook.com/dunateraszgrande/
According to the Budapest Housing Market Report, in total 25,000 new apartments will be completed this year within the framework of Budapest’s new housing projects. The five most important development projects in Budapest will take place in the 14th district (Zugló City Center) with 950 planned new apartments, Lake 11 (11th district) with 900 planned new apartments, Duna Terasz Grande (13th district) with 790 new apartments, Grand Corvin (8th district) with 364 new apartments and City Pearl (9th district) with 341 new apartments.
New office buildings
There is no stop in the office market either where the price/m2 is approaching EUR 10,910 (~HUF 4 million) in the Hungarian capital. Despite the growing popularity of home office and hybrid working, several market players are still investing in the construction of new office buildings. Besides their compliance with energy and sustainability requirements, good location and excellent quality are also among the most important factors considered in these projects.
Photo: budapart.hu
According to the latest data, the total modern office stock in Budapest is 3,955,600 m2.
And this will increase by 350,000 m2 in 2022,
the majority of which is for the market, while a fifth is for the construction of own headquarters, such as the Mol and OTP headquarters.
Hotel developments
Despite the predicted new waves of the pandemic, the hotel market in Budapest remains active from a development perspective. Accordingly, the series of new hotel openings realized last year – such as the B&B Hotel Budapest City, the Crowne Plaza Budapest, the IntercityHotel and the five-star Matild Palace – can continue with new accommodation projects in the upcoming year as well.
Still, the majority of hotel owners take deliberate actions due to the current situation. The previously planned new hotel openings might have some delays, due to which, they can actually welcome guests 1-2 years later than scheduled. According to an expert, this can mean that
only half of the 5,000 hotel rooms planned for this year can actually be constructed.
In 2022, the most important luxury hotel development projects in Budapest are the 5-star Tüköry Hotel with 152 guestrooms, the W Marriott Hotel with 165 guest-rooms, the Autograph Collection Vörösmarty Square and the reopening of Klotild Palota.
In the 3 and 4-star categories, we must mention the Quality Inn Hotel, the Jo&Joe Hybrid hotel and the Hampton by Hilton. Presumably, this year we can also visit those hotels whose inauguration was previously scheduled for 2021.
New shopping malls
In 2021, Hungary could be proud of several remarkable shopping mall projects, including the opening of the 55,000 m2 Etele Plaza in the 11th district of Budapest, as well as the inauguration of the 11,000 m2 S-Park brand new retail unit in Kaposvár. In addition, the Indotek Group completed the renovation of Szeged Plaza, Kaposvár Plaza and Szolnok Plaza last autumn and will realize new reconstruction projects this year as well.
Photo: Press release
Namely, the GOBUDA Mall in Budapest’s 3rd district, Campona in South Buda and the 4,500-square-metre Corvin department store will get a new internal and external design in 2022.
Budapest’s new city centers
Undoubtedly, the most complex projects are the construction of mini city centers in some Budapest districts. These large-scale projects are carried out for the development of a large area, including the residential and office areas, hotels, shops, parks, and the necessary infrastructure (transport, kindergarten, doctors’ offices, etc.), reports the Hungarian news portal Portfolio.
By way of example, we must mention the BudaPart project in the 11th district, where the fifth residential building was handed over last year and the “F” residential building will be completed soon. The total investment that took over 10 years includes the construction of 15 residential buildings, 13 office buildings and a hotel. This represents approximately 3,000 apartments and 250,000 m2 of new office space.
In addition, the final elements of the Corvin rehabilitation project in Budapest’s 8th district – carried out by Futureal Group – are also put into place. Presumably, the second phase of the Grand Corvin, the last residential building on the promenade, will also be completed soon. So far, the project has generated 22 hectares of land, 2,700 new apartments, 100,000 square metres of office space and 50,000 square metres of retail space, worth nearly EUR 1 billion.
In 2022, similar remarkable developments will start in Budapest’s 9th district and 14th district.
In the 9th district of the Hungarian capital, the new mini city centre named City Pearl will give place to 10 residential buildings, 4 office buildings, a hotel and a shopping mall.
Photo: www.facebook.com/City.Pearl.Budapest/
In addition, Zugló City Center will also be renewed within the framework of the Bayer Construct’s project. The project will start in the first half of the year and is expected to last for 8 years. The entire area will boast 35,000 square metres of landscaped areas. The residential area will be 55,000 square metres, with roof gardens and green roofs. In total, 950 new apartments will be built. The commercial area of the project will be 84,000 m2. This will include a grocery store and a shopping street of 12,000 square metres.
The new bridge inaugurated this week has elliptical pylons, which is unique in Hungary. It was built within the framework of a motorway extension project. The M44 expressway was expanded between Lakitelek and Tiszakürt, and this bridge is probably the construction’s most spectacular part.
Unique bridge in Europe over the River Tisza
According to the statement of the National Infrastructure Developing Private Limited Company (NIF Zrt.), the new expressway aims to improve the accessibility of the south-eastern corner of the country. Furthermore, it would provide a high-quality link between the central parts of Hungary and Békéscsaba. With the handover of the new segment between Lakitelek and Tiszakürt, a 90-kilometre section has been finished of the M44 expressway, writes telex.hu.
MTI/Csaba Bús
The longest segment of the road between Tiszakürt and Kondoros (61.5 km) has been in use since October 2019. In December 2020, NIF Zrt. finished a 17.6 km part between Kondoros and Békéscsaba. Now, a 10-kilometre-long segment is ready with
2X2 lanes and without a hard shoulder.
MTI/Csaba Bús
Elliptical pylons
Probably the most spectacular element of the project is the new bridge over the River Tisza near Tiszaug. It is the fourth 4-lane bridge over the river. The length of the bridge is 556 metres, while the
distance between its two pillars is 152 metres.
The bridge’s structure is unique in Europe because of its elliptical pylons, Helló Magyar said.
Thanks to the current development, the M44 expressway links three counties: Békés, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok and Bács-Kiskun. Cars and buses will be allowed to use the new road for free already from January. László Mosóczi, the secretary of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology responsible for transport, said that
90 kilometres of the expressway would remain free of charge.
The development cost HUF 51.3 bn (EUR 140 million) paid by the Ministry. The contractor was Duna Aszfalt Ltd.
Budapest Handball Arena, Hungary’s biggest sports hall, was inaugurated in Budapest on Thursday.
The facility will be one of three Hungarian venues of the European men’s handball championship to be held in Hungary and Slovakia from January 13 to 30.
Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, noted that Hungary had won the right to host the championship in the summer of 2018, so
it took just 27 months for the Hungarian construction industry to complete the project.
Former member of men’s handball team, Péter Kovács. Photo: MTI/Zsolt Szigetváry
MTI/Zsolt Szigetváry
Hall of fame of the Hungarian handball in the newly inaugurated arena in Budapest. Photo: MTI/Zsolt Szigetváry
Gulyás said he trusted the facility would host many memorable competitions as well as concerts and other cultural events.
Máté Kocsis, head of the Hungarian Handball Federation, said that the sports hall would be suitable for competitions in 26 branches of sport. In addition to the forthcoming European championship, it will be the venue of the women’s handball European championship in 2024 and the women’s handball world championship three years later.
As for the forthcoming men’s handball European championships, the facility will be the venue of the group B round-robin tournament with Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal and Island participating.
The semi-finals and the final will also be held here.
The Budapest Handball Arena occupies a total area of over 50,000sqm and has 20,022 seats for spectators.
This week, the last steel track plate has been put into place at the arch of the Budapest Chain Bridge. Accordingly, the renovation project of the capital city’s iconic bridge is closing a productive year.
the last new steel track plate was put into place at the arch of the Budapest Chain Bridge.
As the Centre of Budapest Transport (BKK) reports, the reinstallation work of the aging reinforced concrete replacement deck structure began at the middle of the Budapest Chain Bridge. The first new steel deck was delivered to the site at the end of July and lifted onto the bridge by a tower crane, before being installed on the Chain Bridge in August.
The steel track plate having been put into place this week was the last element on the section between the two bridge piers. The element – which is 11 metres long and 3.5 metres wide, and weighs 8 tonnes – was transported to the bridge by a special track system with a specifically designed, custom-made bucking crane.
Photo: www.facebook.com/bkkbudapest/
Photo: www.facebook.com/bkkbudapest/
Photo: www.facebook.com/bkkbudapest/
Renovation works on the bridge and its surroundings have been ongoing since spring 2021. According to BKK, coordinating the workflow is a huge engineering challenge. It requires a systematic approach on the site, in the steel structure factory and in the architect office, as most of the elements are manufactured and installed on site.
Photo: www.facebook.com/bkkbudapest/
The most important milestones this year
In February, the Budapest Transport Centre and A-Híd Plc, the winner of the public procurement procedure, signed the contract so that the renovation of Budapest’s most important cultural heritage site could finally begin. One month later, the pavement and the surrounding areas were closed to pedestrian traffic. In spring, the contractor took over the entire site and the work began with the de-metalling and demining of the waterfront of the Budapest Chain Bridge and the reconstruction of the Clark Adam Square. In June, the crossing and its surroundings were completely closed to pedestrian and road traffic, and the actual construction work on the site started. Later on, a giant Turkish-era cannonball was lifted from the water below the Chain Bridge which was followed the completion on the de-metalling work around the crossing. In July, the renovation reached its most spectacular stage, with the demolition of the bridge’s deck structure. One month later, the stone ornaments decorating the bridge decks were removed, and the installation of the new deck structure began. In September, the first section of the renovated chain was completed, displaying the renewed colour of the bridge, and the demolition of the Buda underpass began. Last month, the reinforced concrete structure of the new Buda underpass has been concreted and half of the underpass on the Pest side of the bridge has been demolished. And finally at the end of the year, the last new steel track plate has been put into place at the arch of the Budapest Chain Bridge.
The renovation project of one of Hungary’s most important cultural heritage sites is projected to last until 2023.
Photo: www.facebook.com/bkkbudapest/
According to BKK, similar work processes can be expected next year as well. The complete renovation of the crossing, which started this spring, has been already scheduled. The bridge deck is projected to open for road traffic within a year.
The Habsburg gate and the Well and Terrace of Angling Kids were inaugurated yesterday in Buda Castle. The project was finished in the framework of the National Hauszmann Program. The castle expects guests with an open-air exhibition on the rebuilt terrace and one of the most beautiful Christmas fairs.
According to Helló Magyar, the National Hauszmann Program aims to transform the Buda Castle district into a world heritage site. Furthermore, they would like to create a district that attracts people with colourful and quality events. Krisztina Sikota, the deputy CEO responsible for the tourism and cultural area at the Várkapitányság Nonprofit Ltd, said this year they inaugurated the rebuilt Szent István hall and the Royal Riding Hall.
They also rebuilt the Csikós Garden, the Stöckl stairs, the Hauszmann ramp and built new elevators in the castle.
She highlighted that now they renewed the well and the Terrace of the Angling Kids and the Habsburg gate. Both projects were significant milestones in renewing the Buda Castle, she added. Mrs Sikota said that the gate was built following the plans of Alajos Habsburg. The wrought-iron gate and the fence were the work of Gyula Jungfer.
The renewed turul statue made by Gyula Donáth was reinstalled on the edge of the fence some weeks ago.
Last year, Várkapitányság Ltd renewed the Well of Mathias King. Now they reconstructed the Well of the Angling Kids. Around the statue, they restored the original height of the pool and renewed the green spaces and the coating of the neighbouring terrain. Henrietta Kiss, one of the tour guides of the company, highlighted that the Habsburg gate was damaged during WWII. The authorities did the restoration work in the 1970s and 1980s. However, since then, its state has deteriorated significantly.
They restored the gate’s stone surface, supplied the missing wrought-iron elements and solved the water management problems. The Well of the Angling Kids is the work of Károly Senyei, who set it up in 1900. It depicts some boys struggling with a giant catfish watched by a girl.
Gábor Kőrösi, the communications director of the Várkapitányság, said that they started the reconstruction of the former headquarters of the Hungarian military and the seat of the Red Cross in Dísz square. They also do the renovation of the palace of Archduke Joseph in the Szent György square. Furthermore, they reconstruct the Fehérvári Roundel, while research on renovating the castle’s B building is also in progress.
He added that the reborn terrace of the angling kids reopened with an open-air exhibition and a Christmas fair yesterday.
The National Election Office (NVI) on Wednesday said it has handed over the signature collection sheets to Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony for the planned referendums on the Hungarian campus of China’s Fudan University and on extending the eligibility period for jobless benefits.
The Kúria, Hungary’s supreme court, last week granted its approval to referendum questions aimed at preventing property from being transferred to Fudan University and at extending the job seekers’ benefit to a maximum 270 days.
Karácsony, the petitioner, requested 26,677 signature collection sheets for each question. One sheet has room for a maximum of 15 signatures, the NVI’s press department said.
120 days to gather 200,000 supporting signatures, which the NVI will then have 60 days to review.
Karácsony told a press conference in front of the election office that “after the success that was the [opposition] primary”, it was time for the opposition to “get back among the people, back on the streets and to go back to discussing the most pressing issues in Hungary for bringing about change”.
“Primary, referendum, and a change of government: that’s the agenda
we’re offering to those who want change and to everyone else in Hungary,” the mayor said.
Karácsony said the opposition aimed to gather the required 200,000 signatures as quickly as possible so that the eligibility period for the jobless benefit could be raised to nine months from three and a vote could be held on repealing “the Fudan law”.
The lower embankment of the Danube in Budapest between Parliament and Margaret Bridge has been made more pedestrian-friendly, with a new walkway completed two weeks ahead of schedule, the Budapest transport centre BKK said on Friday.
The area has also been made greener, with 35 saplings planted between the road and the Danube. Thanks to the revamp, pedestrians will be able to more conveniently enjoy views of the world heritage site, BKK said.
The area will reopen to pedestrians on Monday
FB/Gergely Karácsony
but cars will not be allowed to return for the time being, it added.
Planning for the continuation of the lower embankment revamp project is under way, BKK said.
Pick Arena, a new multifunctional sports hall in the city of Szeged, in southern Hungary, was inaugurated on Thursday.
The facility will be one of three Hungarian venues of the European men’s handball championships to be held in Hungary and Slovakia in January.
Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, noted that Hungary had won the right to host the championship in the summer of 2018, so it took just two and a half years for the Hungarian construction industry to complete the project.
Máté Kocsis, head of the Hungarian Handball Federation, noted that Pick Arena is Hungary’s third biggest sports hall. In addition to competitions, it will accommodate concerts and other cultural events, he said.
As for the handball European championships, the facility will be the venue of the group C round-robin tournament of Croatia, France, Ukraine and Serbia from January 13 to 17.
Mayor Laszlo Botka said the men’s team of Pick Szeged, a regular participant in the Champions League for several years, attracts capacity crowds in almost all matches.
Pick Arena occupies a total area of over 28,000sqm and has 8,143 seats for spectators. The first match, played as part of the Champions’ League, will feature Pick-Szeged and Germany’s THW Kiel tonight.
According to the plans, Buda Castle will be completely renewed. The visualisations are ready, and the work is to start soon.
Buda Castle was destroyed during WWII
The Buda Castle district is a world heritage site and one of the national symbols of Hungary. You can find the Matthias Church there, one of the most beautiful churches in Hungary. The Fisherman’s Bastion is a national symbol and a place where you should take some photos and selfies if you visit Budapest. There is also the Sándor Palace, where the president of Hungary lives, and the Carmelite Monastery of Buda, where the prime minister works.
Buda Castle is the former seat of Hungarian kings and queens, though none lived there from the mid-16th century. After WWI, Governor Miklós Horthy lived in the palace. In WWII, most of it was destroyed by the Anglo-Saxon bombers and during the siege of Budapest. Furthermore, the residents took away the furniture and the equipment they found inside.
The Buda Castle in 1930. Source: wikipedia
After WWII, the rebuilding took decades. Some Communist leaders even suggested the complete demolition of the building to have enough place for the erection of a new university district there. Even though many parts could have been preserved and restored, the Communist leadership accepted a minimalist design to keep the renovation budget low. Therefore, instead of rebuilding the ornate halls, the architects chose modern solutions inside. Only the Palatinal Crypt kept its original design, but its graves were looted.
The Buda Castle and the Chain Bridge in February 1945, after the siege of Budapest. Photo: Wikipedia
It will look beautiful again
Now it seems that the palace will be completely renewed. The work started this year with the reconstruction of the southern wing where Saint Stephen Hall was rebuilt. The architects paid attention to preserving the original exterior, and the result is unquestionably breathtaking, Helló Magyar reported.
The Saint Stephen Hall. Photo: Facebook
The plans are the same for the palace: restoring how it looked at the beginning of the 20th century. What makes it difficult is that after WWII, many parts were modified.
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Róbert Gutowski is leading the renovation project. He has already won the Pro Architectura Award with his firm. They built the new Roman Catholic church of Páty and rebuilt the concert hall of the Pannonhalma Archabbey. The firm won many international awards like the “Architizer A+Awards Special Mention” and the “Dezeen Awards 2020, Highly Commended”.
Finally, here is an interesting fact about Buda Castle. Its halls can be opened together to form one big space. Thus, you can get 350 square metres of contiguous space. The only palace bigger in Europe is the seat of the French monarchs in Versailles.
The government has allocated 2,100 billion forints (EUR 5.8bn) for supporting sports since it came to power in 2010, to save the sector from “withering away” due to lack of funding for infrastructure and training, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday, inaugurating a swimming pool in Gödöllő, near Budapest.
Thanks to government support, the number of competitive athletes has grown to 560,000, he said.
Viktor Orbán inaugurating a swimming pool in Gödöllő Photo: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán
The Gödöllő pool, which belongs to the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences but also caters to the needs of the general public, is part of a detailed development plan the government has accepted in cooperation with the national swimming association, Orbán said.
Since 2010, 35 swimming pools have been built and 10 revamped nationwide at a total cost of 180 billion forints, he said.
Viktor Orbán inaugurating a swimming pool in Gödöllő
Photo: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán
Viktor Orbán inaugurating a swimming pool in Gödöllő
Photo: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán
Viktor Orbán inaugurating a swimming pool in Gödöllő
Photo: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán
Developing universities will contribute to propelling Hungary to the top of European Union countries, he said.
Sándor Csányi, the head of the board of trusties at the university, thanked the government for the investment which “filled a huge gap” in the services in the region. High quality sports life is a key element of university training, that also serves the general public in the region, he said.
The construction phase of the Paks nuclear plant upgrade project is set to get under way in 2022, János Süli, the minister without portfolio responsible for the project, said on Friday.
Before construction on the two new reactor blocks can begin, however, Hungary’s National Atomic Energy Authority (OAH) has to issue the implementation permit for the project and several other permits must also be obtained, Suli told the Tolna County assembly in southern Hungary.
The application for a manufacturing permit for the reactor vessel was submitted to the authority last month, which it has five months to assess, he said. Süli noted that the OAH had asked Paks II Zrt, the company managing the upgrade, to resolve a discrepancy in its implementation permit application.
“But what’s more important than the deadline is that the blocks function safely with high production indicators for 60 years,” the minister said. Work on the construction pit is expected to start early next year and the concrete cover is set to be completed in mid-2023, he said.
The amendment to the project’s financing agreement has been approved by both the Hungarian and the Russian parliaments, Süli said. “We definitely aim to have the new reactors operational by 2029-2030,” he added.
It “flew away” this March for restoration works due to its run-down condition. The statue, which has been towering over the Hungarian capital for almost 120 years, is one of the most outstanding parts of the Palace district of the Buda Castle.
Why did the turul statue need to be removed?
The work of art of Gyula Donáth was erected in 1905 during the 100th anniversary of the Palace’s construction, on the corner of the ornamented fence of the Habsburg Gate.
Photo: MTI/Péter Lakatos
The enormous bronze monument holds a sword in its claws while looking towards the Danube with its wings wide open, ready to fly at any second. The statue representing the legendary bird featured in Hungarian mythology is a considerable work just by its size:
it is 10.5 metres tall, and the distance between its open wings reaches 12.5 metres. Its stone pedestal is decorated with Hungary’s crest.
Photo: MTI/Péter Lakatos
Interestingly, the professionals restored it in an open-air restoration workshop set up on the Savoya terrace. As a result, everybody could follow their work.
But why is this bird important for Hungarians?
The turul is a mythological bird of prey, mostly depicted as a giant saker falcon. It has a significant role in the tradition of the Turkic people, and it is a national symbol for Hungarians.
The turul was one of the most widely-used symbols of the Árpád dynasty.
This family gave the first leaders and kings to Hungary, conquering the Carpathian Basin in 896. In the Gesta Hungarorum, containing mostly mythological elements about the prehistory of the Hungarian people, written around 1200, the turul appears in a dream of Emese, the ancestress of the Hungarians, when she was already pregnant. Texts differ, but the bird was either a protector spirit or the impregnator of baby Álmos, the first recorded leader of the Hungarian tribes, Emese’s son.
The turul on chieftain Ügyek’s shield from the Chronicum Pictum (Képes Krónika, 14th century). Source: wikipedia
What happened with the statue?
The giant turul of the Buda Castle was replaced in its original place with a 60-tonne crane yesterday. Therefore, now it decorates the Habsburg Gate of the magnificent former residence of the Hungarian monarchs, infostart.hu reported.
Photo: MTI/Péter Lakatos
Professionals
cleaned and restored
the statue using the bronze manufacturing technique Gyula Donáth worked with in 1905. They strengthened the internal frame. Furthermore, they added stainless screws to make it more resistant.
The work of art was damaged during WWII. Moreover, its state – despite minor restorations – deteriorated in the past few decades. According to the Várkapitányság,
they will finish the renovation of the Habsburg gate and the stairs in December.
The Museum of Ethnography will reopen at its new home, a “state of the art” new building near City Park, with large-scale exhibitions in the spring next year when it will celebrate its 150th anniversary, ministerial commissioner László Baán said on Wednesday.
The construction of the new 7,000sqm building which will be three times the size of the museum’s old facility at Kossuth Square near Parliament is nearing completion, he told reporters at a walk-through.
The architect firm, Hungary’s Napur Architect, was selected by an international jury from among plans submitted to a competition by eminent designers such as Zaha Hadid and the Bjarke Ingels Group, Baán said.
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MTI
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MTI
“As the owner of one of Hungary’s most significant public collections, the Ethnography Museum celebrating the 150th anniversary of its foundation has been given a home designed and built for the first time according to its needs,”
The museum will reopen next March with a temporary exhibition entitled “We Have Arrived” showcasing 150 highlight artefacts of its collection across more than 1,000 square metres, Baan told MTI. Another exhibition opening in the same month will present several hundred items including the oldest, a Szekler gate from 1673, and a 7-metre trunk boat in a 500sqm exhibition space dubbed ZOOM, he said. The new building will also house a grand Ceramics Space with 3,000 works of art on display, which will be permanently open to the public free of charge, the commissioner said.
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MTI
In January next year, another hallmark building of the museum quarter Liget Budapest Project,
the House of Hungarian Music designed by Japanese star architect Sou Fujimoto,
will open to the public, said Baán, who is in charge of the Liget project.
The Museum of Ethnography won World’s Best Architecture in 2018 and the House of Hungarian Music won Best Public Service Architecture in Europe in 2019.
