Lajos Kossuth Square
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kossuth Lajos tér (in English: Lajos Kossuth Square, in short: Kossuth tér) is situated in the Lipótváros neighbourhood of Budapest, District V, on the bank of the Danube. Its most notable landmark is the Hungarian Parliament Building (Hungarian: Országház). There is a station of the M2 (East-West) line of the Budapest Metro on the square.
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[edit] Name and History
The square got its present name in 1927. Before that it was called Országház tér ("Parliament Square") between 1898 and 1927, and Tömő tér or Stadt Schopper Platz in German ("Landfill Square") between 1853 and 1898. The former name indicates that this low-lying territory next to the river, then outside the town of Pest, was filled with rubbish to raise the level of the ground. The first recorded name was Stadtischer Auswind Platz ("Unloading Square for the Ships") in 1820.
In the second half of the 19th century, great public buildings were erected on the square that became the symbolic centre of the Hungarian state. The most important among them is the Hungarian Parliament Building on the western side.
Facing the Parliament, the Museum of Ethnography (originally the Palace of Justice) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development can be found.
After World War II, a temporary bridge was built between Kossuth Lajos tér and Batthyány tér (on the opposite side of the Danube), named Kossuth híd, which functioned from 1946 until 1960. It was dismantled when most of the permanent bridges were re-built. It is marked with memorial stones on the Pest and the Buda sides. In its place, a pontoon bridge was built in 1973 and in 2003, for a few days around national holidays.
[edit] Memorials
In front of the Parliament building, the Kossuth Memorial and an equestrian statue of Francis II Rákóczi are situated, as well as a 1956 Hungarian Revolution memorial. A modern statue of Attila József is to be found nearby, south of the Parliament, sitting on the bank of the river (actually he is sitting on a grassy mound quiet far from the water) as described in his poem By the Danube.
[edit] Neighbourhood
Vértanúk tere ("Martyrs' Square") is immediately adjacent to the square (to the southeast), with a statue of Imre Nagy standing on a bridge. This is the terminus of two trolleybuses.
Szabadság tér ("Liberty Square") can be found approximately 150 metres away, to the southeast, with the main building of the Hungarian Television as well as the Hungarian National Bank and the U.S. Embassy.
Two hundred metres east of Kossuth Lajos tér, the Batthyány Eternal Flame can be found, remembering the execution of the first Prime Minister of Hungary in 1849.
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is approximately 400 metres away to the south on the banks of the Danube.
The neighbourhood of Kossuth Lajos tér is generally quiet; it mostly comprises ministries, court-houses and offices beside residential buildings.
