A South Korean citizen died on Friday evening in the area of a factory under construction in Iváncsa, the Fejér County Police Headquarters confirmed the information of Telex.
Deadly accident
The police said that on 13 January at around 8:55 PM, the police received a report of an accident at the factory in Iváncsa, Fejér county, Hungary. According to the police response to Telex, a South Korean citizen was involved in an accident at 21, Route 9, Iváncsa. He died on the spot. The circumstances of the accident are being investigated by the police under the administrative procedure.
A battery factory is being built on 135 hectares in Iváncsa, for the South Korean-owned SK Innovation by Market Építő Zrt. Telex contacted both companies by e-mail to find out whether the fatal accident occurred at this construction site, but they had not received any reply by the time their article was published. The government has given HUF 50 billion (EUR 126.2 million) for the battery factory’s infrastructure in 2021.
On 11 May 2022, a worker also died on the construction site: the 52-year-old man was killed when the hydraulic lifting machine he was driving fell on him. And on 8 January 2023, a 38-year-old man of Slovak nationality was hit by a forklift truck driven by a 39-year-old man, also of Slovak nationality. The 38-year-old man suffered such serious injuries that he died at the scene, Telex writes.
Archaeologists found traces of an antique Sarmatian village under a segment of the Belgrade-Budapest railway before its construction started. The village is close to Kishegyes, a small town of approximately 5,000 residents, almost 90 percent of which are Hungarians.
Balázs Szűcs, the director of the Szabadka Cultural Heritage Institution, highlighted that they knew where they had to search for the village thanks to examinations conducted with modern equipment. Therefore, they expected that there would be something under the construction sites.
Now it is clear that an antique Sarmatian village existed near Kishegyes. He added that they do not regularly do excavations during the winter period. Currently, it was urgent to help the construction project continue. Thanks to the mild weather, they could carry out the work easier.
They removed the upper layer of the soil. Drone images show the shape of the antique buildings, ditches, and ovens the Sarmatians built between AD 1st and 5th centuries. They will be able to say precise data in the project’s second phase when they dig everything out, analyse and organise them systematically. Finally, of course, they will be exhibited.
Here are some photos about the sensational discovery from the Facebook page of the mayor of Kishegyes, István Sárközi:
The mayor said in his post that archaeologists expect Sarmatian and early-medieval findings in a territory that is almost 10 thousand square metres.
The Sarmatians were nomadic people, arriving to the Carpathian Basin in AD 1st century. There they settled down and merged with other peoples during the following centuries.
The building of the new Danube bridge near Paks, the South Hungarian city hosting Hungary’s sole nuclear power plant, has reached an important milestone. The constructor, Duna Aszfalt, shared a spectacular video about their progress.
According to origo.hu, the company has already placed the formwork trolleys on the two pillars of the bridge with the help of the Adam Clark floating crane, Magyar Építők wrote. This milestone in the construction project concerned the central segment of the bridge, which will be 440 metres long. Here is a video about the work:
The current project segment needs four formwork trolleys on the pillars. Interestingly, the parts of the equipment came from six countries. Finally, the unique device was assembled in Hungary.
Below are some visuals depicting the way the bridge will look once it is completed. That will be the 20th arching over the Danube in Hungary.
The renovation of Hungary’s and Budapest’s emblematic Buda Palace, the seat of the Hungarian Monarchs, has started recently. Furthermore, Várkapitányság, the state-owned company operating the Buda Palace, shared some breathtaking visuals of how the palace will look when the renovation work is completed.
According to pestbuda.hu, the Neo-Baroque palace was built between 1890 and 1905 by extending the previous palace building. However, the American air raids and the Soviet siege of Budapest in 1944-45 destroyed it almost entirely. After the war, the Communist regime rebuilt a simplified, cheaper version of the pre-WWII buildings serving the seat of the governor of Hungary, Miklós Horthy, between 1920 and 1944.
Photo: facebook.com/nemzetihauszmannprogram
Photo: facebook.com/nemzetihauszmannprogram
The Várkapitányság, a state-owned company responsible for managing and rebuilding the Buda Castle district, shared the visuals of the renewed Buda Palace. We have to say that the building will look astonishing when completed. Company officials announced the start of the reconstruction on 19 December, at a press conference. The work began with the scaffolding of the palace’s north wing.
The North wing reception building. Photo: facebook.com/nemzetihauszmannprogram
Krisztina Sikota, the deputy CEO responsible for tourism, culture and communications at the Várkapitányság, said that the palace wing near the Szent György Square would be the reception building. From there, visitors may reach the marvellous banquet halls running parallel to the River Danube.
Furthermore, they will rebuild the Ball Hall, the buffet gallery, the Habsburg Hall and the throne room. The Neo-Rococo style throne room will be re-established following its original outlook.
The Ball Hall. Photo: facebook.com/nemzetihauszmannprogram
The Throne Room. Photo: facebook.com/nemzetihauszmannprogram
The Habsburg Hall. The frescoes were made by Károly Lotz. Photo: facebook.com/nemzetihauszmannprogram
Várkapitányság said the reconstruction work started after a long preparatory phase. Years ago, they restored Saint Stephen Hall and experts carried out the entire technical, architectural, artistic and functional measurement of the palace. As a result, now they can restore the buildings entirely, Mrs Sikota said.
The buffet gallery. Photo: facebook.com/nemzetihauszmannprogram
She added that the planning had several challenges. They used photos and other documents for the reconstruction. However, Robert Gutowski, the leading architect of the reconstruction, highlighted that the new building would have to meet all the technical requirements of the modern era. Therefore, they will use 21st-century technologies and quality but re-establish the 1905 grandeur and character.
In the visitor’s centre, everybody can check out the visuals of the renewed Buda Palace. There is even a 3D miniature. Here are some photos:
Mr Gutowski said that there were more than 100,000 documents supporting the experts’ views and findings. Mrs Sikota said they would like to recreate the buildings of the Buda Castle with the help of the National Hauszmann Program. Furthermore, they would like to fill them with colourful programmes. For example, in the visitor’s centre, people will not only be able to get information about the reconstruction work, but they may also buy tickets to the programmes.
They added that the number of visitors attending the programmes of the Buda Castle reached pre-pandemic levels. For instance, the number of guests in Saint Stephen Hall was 110,000 in the last 18 months. That is why they plan to increase service quality. They created additional toilets, parks, walkways, elevators and drinking wells.
The renewed Buda Castle with the emblematic Chain Bridge. Photo: facebook.com/nemzetihauszmannprogram
Photo: facebook.com/nemzetihauszmannprogram
In 2023, construction work will continue in Dísz Square (near the Matthias Church) and Szent György Square. She added that projects like rebuilding the Red Cross headquarters, the Headquarters of Hungarian Defense Forces, and Archduke Joseph’s Palace showed adequate progress.
It has never been so hard to save money to buy our own home in Hungary. Without significant financial support from the family, it is now almost impossible to buy a house or a flat. In the past three years, Hungary has seen the biggest price increases in the EU. There has been a sharp increase in construction, rents and house prices. Budapest ranks in the top third of the EU in terms of house prices relative to income, Telex reports. The question their new Telexicon aims to answer is this: why is it so expensive to have a roof over our heads?
Because there is so much money in the housing market, people’s housing needs are not the only thing that is taken into account: making a profit is just as important for those for whom it is an investment. There are periods when there is more financial investment in the sector and the logic of the money market is becoming increasingly dominant in the housing market. This is called financialisation.
The abundance of money makes getting a home both easier and harder, Telex says. On the one hand, money flows into the housing market through bank loans, and banks make it easier for customers to borrow and get into debt. On the other hand, the abundance of money and demand drives up prices, making housing more expensive. If this bubble bursts, many people could even losing the housing they have acquired with their loans. The majority of people are defenceless against rising prices, but making housing unaffordable would cause a social crisis. That is why no country would allow the market logic in housing to be completely unleashed.
The extent and modalities of public involvement vary from country to country. In Hungary, it sounds good when the state helps families to get a home through various programmes (CSOK, Baby waiting loan). But these programmes have several drawbacks: on the one hand, they do not help the most needy, only the middle class. On the other hand, the state provides most of its support at a time when the housing market and the economy are booming anyway. And this kind of intervention only adds to the ups and downs of the housing market.
And finally, as both sellers and builders expect buyers to have more money, they raise their prices. Thus, the bulk of the government aid (or public money) ends up going to contractors, property owners and lending banks. The model also performs poorly in quantitative terms, with too few homes being built. This is not good neither for buyers nor for the construction industry. The construction industry could be producing many more homes today, but instead, it has been tied up in large-scale projects commissioned by the state over the last decade.
In the crisis, several building blocks of the system are now coming out at the same time: soaring construction costs are eating away at contractors’ profits, interest rate rises are making borrowing less attractive, and subsidised loans are becoming a burden on the public purse. The established model of housing support is therefore fragile and not very successful. But what could be an alternative?
According to housing policy experts, the solution is supply-side intervention, which focuses on providing secure housing for all, rather than financial support for home ownership. An important element of a people-centred housing policy would be to offer a solution for all sections of society, not just those who already have the initial capital to buy a home.
In an optimal case, public intervention will create a so-called housing ladder, with a jumpable distance between levels (1 – social rented housing, 2 – rent, 3 – small flat, 4 – garden house), so that even those who start at the bottom can move up over time. Supply-side intervention may include public construction or the creation of institutions such as municipal and non-governmental housing agencies and housing associations.
It is likely that an economic crisis will break the current momentum, with far fewer deals being struck in the property market and it will be harder to sell a home. This could leave buyers with more room to bargain. But there is little prospect of a price fall like we saw in the early 2010s in Hungary.
Output of Hungary’s construction sector fell by an annual 2.5 percent in October, after edging up by 1.6 percent in the previous month, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Thursday.
Output of the buildings segment declined by 3.0 percent and civil engineering output slipped by 0.9 percent.
In absolute terms, construction sector output reached HUF 633.3 billion (EUR 1.6bn) in October. The buildings segment accounted for 60.5 percent of the total.
Budapest’s landmark Chain Bridge under reconstruction will reopen to buses, taxis, motorbikes and bicycles on December 16 in the afternoon, the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) said on Tuesday.
A ban for cars to use the bridge will remain in effect, BKK said in a statement. In an effort to promote the use of public transport, BKK will operate daytime and nighttime bus services crossing the bridge along a route to connect the Buda and Pest sides of the capital city more frequently, the company said.
The bridge will reopen to pedestrians once the upgrade’s last phase is completed which is expected in the autumn of 2023, BKK said, adding that the reconstruction was going according to schedule.
The 26.75 billion forint (EUR 65m) renovation of the Chain Bridge and its immediate vicinity began in spring 2021 and is expected to be completed by next autumn, in time for celebrations marking the anniversary of the formation of Budapest on November 17.
Budapest’s Corvinus University is one of Hungary’s most popular among local and foreign students. Now the institution is to receive a new, modern campus in the 11th district at the crossroads of the Ménesi and Mányoki Avenues. Apart from buildings serving educational purposes, innovation and social spaces are to be constructed. Moreover, Corvinus University will receive a dormitory with 180 beds and an 11-thousand-square-metre park. According to the plans, the new campus will be ready by 2023 autumn.
Márton Barta, the strategic director of the university, told the press on 9 December that there was a large-scale digital, infrastructural and educational development at the university. They not only erect new buildings but also modernise the Neptune system used for education administration, pestbuda.hu wrote.
“Corvinus constantly strives to preserve its leading role in Hungarian higher education. Therefore, it started a comprehensive digital, infrastructural and educational modernisation”, Mr Barta said. At the press conference last week, they also presented some visuals of the new campus.
The strategic director highlighted that 600-700 students would be able to work at the new campus. Its educational and social spaces will serve creative cooperations, he added.
They would like to create a multifunctional centre for education, innovation and social interactions. There will be sports facilities, social spaces, an 11-square-metre park, and a dormitory with 180 beds. Furthermore, the buildings will meet the latest sustainability and energy efficiency criteria, he added.
The university plans to start a device-lending programme on the new campus to help socially disadvantaged students by providing a tablet, a wireless headset or a webcam.
Construction started last autumn and the cost reaches 16 billion HUF (EUR 38.4 million). The government chipped in with HUF 12 billion, and HUF 650 million comes from EU funds. The university’s Maecenas Universitatis Corvini Foundation provided the remaining billions.
Photo: MTI/Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem
Photo: MTI/Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem
Mr Barta recalled that from 1 July 2019, the Corvinus University of Budapest had been operated by Maecenas Universitatis Corvini Foundation. He said the current developments were possible because of that. He added that thanks to the new operation form, the university’s research efficiency tripled, the number of foreign lecturers grew significantly, they carried out a considerable wage increase and would launch two English language programmes next autumn.
“We aim to make Budapest’s Corvinus University Central Europe’s best economic and social studies university”, the strategic director highlighted.
Photo: MTI/Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem
Péter Major, the leader of the university’s student service unit, said they would like to be pioneers in introducing online enrollment in Hungary. Furthermore, they will advance the institution’s Neptune educational system enabling students and lecturers to concentrate solely on the teaching-learning process.
Oil and gas company MOL opened its new headquarters in the Kopaszi-gát area of south Budapest on Thursday.
MOL President-CEO Zsolt Hernádi told the opening event that 2,500 people will be working in the building to ensure the company’s growth with the further aim of securing Hungary’s energy supplies. The building was designed by FintaStudio, the Hungarian partner of Foster and Partners, and the interior design was created by Kinzo and the Minusplus planning and design office, he added. Construction was carried out by Market Építő.
Director in charge of consumer services, Péter Ratatics, noted the building is 143m high, with total floor space of 86,000sqm. He added that the construction was financed by MOL from own resources, but he declined to reveal the total cost.
According to the Wikipedia, “modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least 100 metres (330 ft)[1] or 150 metres (490 ft)[2] in height, though there is no universally accepted definition.” The height of MOL’s new headquarters in Budapest is 143 metres, Hungary’s tallest office building.
The Millennium House in Budapest’s Városliget (City Park) has been awarded the Bernhard Remmers Prize 2022 in the “International” category.
The Millenium House, Budapest
The 1,250 square metre building has been renovated as a cultural community space, with an interactive exhibition space and a small auditorium on the lower ground floor, which has been used primarily as a museum education space since 2019.
The rich Zsolnay decoration on the façade has been restored by dozens of restorers, while the interior design has been rebuilt by removing the retrofitting, thus restoring the original structure of the space. Large glass panels have been installed over the two wings of the building, allowing natural light to flood the interior spaces. The main entrance of the building has been returned to its original position facing Hermina Street.
In front of the main entrance of the building, which is more than 130 years old, a rose garden of 1,500 plants has been created as part of the landscape renewal of the park, with a new Zsolnay fountain as a central feature, in harmony with the rich decoration of the building’s facade.
Bernhard Remmers Prize
After a break of 4 years, the Bernhard Remmers Academy has again awarded the Bernhard Remmers Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of monument preservation.
“It symbolises an important cause close to the heart of the Remmers company in recognition of outstanding achievements in the field of heritage conservation. The company distributes restoration materials worldwide,”
After the ceremony could not take place in 2020 due to the crown virus, the event celebrated a successful return this year. Another special feature of this year’s awards is the launch of an International Awards category for the first time.
The renovation of the National Glypothek in Munich and the restoration of a historic building in Budapest, the Millennium House, by Épkar Zrt.
The Millennium House in Budapest’s City Park (Városliget). Photo: Épkar Zrt.
The Millennium House in Budapest’s City Park (Városliget). Photo: Épkar Zrt.
The Millennium House in Budapest’s City Park (Városliget). Photo: Épkar Zrt.
Output of Hungary’s construction sector rose by an annual 1.6 percent in September, after edging down 0.4 percent in the previous month, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Monday.
Output of the buildings segment rose by 3.3 percent but civil engineering output was down 0.5 percent.
In absolute terms, construction sector output reached 688.5 billion forints (EUR 1.8bn) in September. The buildings segment accounted for 62 percent of the total.
In a month-on-month comparison, construction sector output climbed 2.2 percent, adjusted for seasonal and workday effects.
For the period January-September, construction sector output increased by an annual 4.8 percent.
KSH says, in the 3rd quarter, within the divisions of construction, prices increased by a similar rate (28.0 and 27.7%) in the construction of buildings and in the greatest weight-carrying specialized construction activities, and they grew by 22.1% in civil engineering compared to the 3rd quarter of 2021. The price increase was caused principally by the rising costs, especially the significant price hike of several building materials.
Construction prices were 5.2% higher than in the previous quarter.
The bridge load testing of Budapest’s iconic Chain Bridge was successful today afternoon. The test was carried out with 24 trucks weighing 20 tonnes each. It aimed to discover the capacity of the overpass. Based on the first results, the test was successful, and its revamp will continue following the schedule and the budget allocated by the municipal council and the Hungarian government.
Important milestone in the Chain Bridge revamp project
On 12 November, experts carried out a static and dynamic bridge load test. Experts measured what deformations trucks weighing 20 tonnes would cause in the overpass’s structure. Furthermore, they wanted to know how the bridge “behaves” if multiple heavy vehicles cross it with a speed of 5 km/h, 20 km/h, 30 km/h, and 50 km/h.
Photo: facebook.com/bkkbudapest
Professionals of the Department of Bridges and Structures at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics carried out the test. They used 24 trucks weighing 20 tonnes each placing them in 12 different positions on the bridge. For example, the drivers halted them in one then in two rows. Another time, 12 of them occupied the overpass. In the next phase, all of them did so.
Photo: facebook.com/bkkbudapest
Careful measures and evaluation
Meanwhile, they measured the bridge structure’s shifts from the overpass and the Danube embankments with a 0.5 mm precise geodetic apparatus.
Here is the device and the experts:
Photo: facebook.com/bkkbudapest
Photo: facebook.com/bkkbudapest
They placed strain gauges on the chain coils, suspensions, old structures and the new steel elements of the bridge. Afterwards, they measured the deformations and tensions the trucks created in the overpass’s structure. Furthermore, they monitored the shifts in the so-called “koronasaru”, an element on the top of the Buda pillar of the bridge.
Experts did not yet finish the complex evaluation of the results. But based on the preliminary report, the test was successful. The measured figures equalled the previously calculated ones.
Here is a video about what exactly happened:
The revamp of the Chain Bridge started in 2021 spring and is carried out by A-Híd Ltd. 2023 spring will see the end of the project, the plans say. On 9 November, the asphalting of the Chain Bridge in Budapest was completed in one day. Furthermore, on 10 November, the limestone lions guarding the overpass returned.
Here are some additional photos about the bridge load testing:
The latest part of the project, carried out by A-Híd Zrt., is the paving of the entire section of the bridge in just one day.
The asphalt is ready
On Wednesday, 9 November, the asphalting of the Chain Bridge in Budapest was completed in one day. The work was carried out by A-Híd Zrt. on behalf of the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK), magyarepitok.hu reports.
The capital’s most famous bridge was last in the news for the lions built from Lego bricks. Now, a 2,400 square metre area of roadway has been completed in a day, the so-called wearing course being rolled asphalt. This will be followed by the mastic asphalt strips covering the edges, and the coating system for the kerbs. Another important task is to paint the pavement markings.
It also means that the 18-month closure of the Chain Bridge is almost over. The bridge will be open to traffic again in mid-December. Work on the pavement and underpasses will continue into 2023. In the coming weeks, work will continue on the connecting sections.
A test load of the crossing will follow on 12 November. This will involve 24 20-tonne trucks, telex.hu reports. Road closures can be expected due to the test load. After the test load, the construction of street lighting will continue.
Rising vacancy rates, declining investment flows, rising yields and the potential risk of property depreciation are the main findings of the latest report on the commercial real estate market published by the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB).
High energy costs are usually the main topic of discussion when it comes to the future of businesses. However, the high and rapidly changing price of building materials should not be forgotten either. This remains a problem in property development and construction. In the near future, given the risks of price rises, the most viable real estate developments will be those where there is greater transparency and closer cooperation between the developer and the contractor.
There is currently a lot of uncertainty in the construction materials market in terms of prices. This is illustrated by the fact that there is no operator able to give a quotation with a validity of more than 30 days, Portfolio writes.
What has risen most in price?
According to market experts, since May 2022, the price of cement, steel, mineral fibre insulation and chemicals has risen most. Their production is linked to energy-intensive industries. The price of cement has risen by more than 100 percent in the four months since may. Several building material groups have also seen price increases of up to 50 percent.
In the construction sector, the volatility of the euro exchange rate is also a problem due to the high import rate, Portfolio writes. Looking ahead, expectations are mixed on the likely price developments for building materials. Some say that if the expected economic slowdown does not shut down building material factories, building material prices could fall. Others argue that there will be no downward movement in construction material prices, leaving the sector vulnerable.
László Koji, president of the National Association of Construction Contractors (Építési Vállalkozók Országos Szakszövetsége, ÉVOSZ), said in an interview with hvg.hu that new orders have fallen so much that the sector’s performance could drop by 15 percent in 2023-2024.
The Constitutional Court dismissed the complaint of the Municipality of the 13th district of the Hungarian capital without any serious examination. Against the will of the district, a huge condominium is being built on the area bounded by Népfürdő street, Dagály street, Jakab József street and Bodor street in Angyalföld. The investor is a billionaire businessman close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin’s friend’s mega investment comes to Budapest
In Budapest, a huge residential complex is being built in Angyalföld, 13th district. One year ago, the municipality of Angyalföld filed a complaint against the development of the area between Népfürdő, Dagály, Jakab József and Bodor streets.
A sports hall would be built on one half of the site, and a huge apartment building on the other. The concept plan presented was considered too big and out of harmony with its surroundings by the district planning council, which did not support it, hvg.hu reports.
According to the legislation in force, the project could not have been realised, but the Hungarian government has classified it as an investment of major national economic importance. The rejection of the district is therefore not an obstacle.
The case was referred to the Constitutional Court for a ruling. However, the Constitutional Court has ruled that it is not a fundamental question of constitutionality that the area is being built on against the will of the municipality. They rejected the complaint.
One of the owners of the investment company is the son of Megdet Rahimkulov, a Russian billionaire businessman close to President Vladimir Putin. According to the government agency, the project has no significant environmental impact and was therefore exempted from the environmental impact assessment, 444.hu reports.
The district council, on the other hand, believes that the huge building will have a negative impact on the microclimate of the area. It increases the density, reduces the green area and increases the height of the ledges.
The Constitutional Court, chaired by László Salamon, considered the harms as “hypothetical future potential harms that have not yet occurred, at the level of generality”.
One of Budapest’s most significant megaprojects, the MOL Campus, was built by Market Építő Zrt. as part of the new Danube-front district BudaPart in District XI.
The text accompanying the video recently published on Facebook summarises the work in figures, pointing out its huge scale, writes Magyar Építők. The building is:
143 metres high,
4 levels below the surface,
28 office levels above the surface;
with a completely unique spatial design,
with a total gross floor area of 86.000 m², the MOL Campus is a professional feat.
Several innovative solutions have been presented to support this latter claim. We learn that the project included the construction of one of the largest automatic crawler tunnels in Europe and the first in Hungary; that slab concreting was carried out at a maximum speed of every 8 days; and that an average of 1,200 people worked on the site every day, with 1,800 workers at peak times.
It was high time that the park opposite the Mammut Shopping Centre, Széna Square, a central and historic square, was brought back to life. There had been a huge mess there before, with many people not even wanting to take a quick walk through it, preferring to bypass it.
Renovated square, made into a memorial park
However, from now on, the park is bound to even attract people. According to the municipality of District II, the largest possible green area has now been created, the main pedestrian and cycling routes have been marked, accessibility has been improved, new bicycle storage facilities, street lighting and surveillance systems have been installed, and even public Wi-Fi is available, Travelo reports.
Source: Facebook/Őrsi Gergely
New elements include a city wall installation, a water display, more street furniture and more aesthetically pleasing metro vents. The water feature is illuminated in national colours from 10:23 AM to 11:04 AM and from 7:56 PM for 13 minutes.
The Széna Square Memorial Park is home to two statues: the statue of Hanna Szenes by Zsófia Fáskerti and the 1956 Monument by the artist group Hatdé. Hanna Szenes was a Hungarian poet, British paratrooper of Jewish origin and Israeli national hero. She died at the age of 23 in 1944 after she was arrested at the Hungarian border by Hungarian gendarmes. She was imprisoned, tortured and eventually executed by firing squad.
Statue of Hanna Szenes, Hungarian poet, British parachutist of Jewish descent, Israeli national hero in the square. Source: Facebook/Őrsi Gergely
The square also houses three chronoscopes, which allow you to look back in time from specific points in the square. Fortepan’s photographs show how the square looked in the 1930s, during the siege of 1945 and in 1956, the days of the revolution.
Source: Facebook/Őrsi Gergely
The maze of memories is made up of four poems, Géza Bereményi: Széna tér (Széna Square); János Térey: A városi hadviselés gyakorlata (The practice of urban warfare); Sándor Márai: Mennyből az angyal (The angel from heaven) and Hanna Szenes: Meghalni (To die), all of which appear on a uniquely designed paving stone.
68 trees have been planted on the renewed Széna Square, and the archaeological remains of the old St. John’s Hospital found during the construction work will be exhibited on the site, based on the concept of architect Tamás Dévényi, according to a statement by the municipality, MTI reported.
Budapest’s newest bridge arches between Ferencváros and Csepel, the capital’s 9th and 21st districts. It is also near the new National Athletics Centre of Budapest. The bridge’s structure is completed, the building company Hídépítő Ltd announced this week. The unique overpass will serve the growing number of cyclists and pedestrians since cars will not be allowed to access it.
Connecting two districts
Budapest’s brand new bridge is over the RSD, the Ráckevei-Soroksári Danube, an arm embracing the Island of Csepel from the Eastern side. Some already call it Robinson bridge for some unknown reason. It was designed by Speciálterv Ltd and built by Hídépítő Ltd. Meanwhile, the steel structures were created by ACÉLHIDAK Ltd, Magyar Építők wrote.
Photo: facebook.com/Specialterv
The bridge aims to become an integral part of the nearby stadium. Gábor Pál, the designer of the overpass, said that the pipes’ skewness on the stadium’s facade is echoed back by the bridge’s great pylon. Mr Pál said that only electric cars carrying the athletes would be allowed to drive through the bridge and only during the competitions. That is because those vehicles serve the traffic between the training tracks of Csepel (21st district) and the stadium in Ferencváros (9th district). Otherwise, only pedestrians and cyclists will use the new arch.
The building company cooperated with the stadium’s designer, Marcel Ferencz (Napur Architect). The bridge’s central element is the tall but slender pylon on which the weight of the archway rests. The cable network attached to the pylon and the bridge is spreading but remains transparent for the viewers.
Photo: facebook.com/Specialterv
A new symbol of Budapest?
The bridge follows the structure of the new nearby stadium. Both are slender, which is the result of the cables. Both buildings’ structure hangs on those cables, which is the most cost-effective technique for spanning gaps. However, carrying out such plans needs precise work and preparedness.
Based on the aesthetics concept, the 170-metre-long bridge will float over the two arms of the Danube. The bridge deck hangs on the needle-like pylon with 53 Full Lock Coil cables. Thanks to that, the viewers’ spatial experience is different from every angle. According to the plans, the bridge will get a floodlight at night.
The new National Athletics Centre of Budapest. Photo: facebook.com/Specialterv
The bridge’s useful width is 7 metres and the total width is 12.71 metres. The pylon’s height is 65 metres. Its structure is completed, Gábor Pál said. They are now carrying out the final work phases. By the start of the athletics world championships organised in Budapest in August 2023, they will complete Budapest’s probably slimmest bridge. Mr Pál believes it may become a new symbol of the Hungarian capital.
Here is a video about how the bridge will look when fully completed. You may check out some additional photos in the article of the Magyar Építők HERE.
And here is another video about the technology the bridge is being built:
