Naphegy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Naphegy (German: Sonnenberg; literally: Sun Hill) is a hill and neighbourhood in Budapest, Hungary. It is part of Krisztinaváros and administratively belongs to the 1st District.
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[edit] Location
Naphegy is rising south of the center of Krisztinaváros, between Gellérthegy and Tabán. Its boundaries are Hegyalja út, Naphegy utca, Gellérthegy utca and Mészáros utca.
The highest point (154 m) is on Naphegy tér.
[edit] Maps
[edit] History
The history of Naphegy is inseparable from that of the neighboring Tabán and Gellérthegy. During the Middle Ages the hill was called Nyárshegy ("Stake Hill"), which probably referred to its function as a scaffold. (The name is preserved in the name of today's Nyárs Street, where the traitor Lieutenant Conrad Fink – who, during the 1686 siege of Buda, planned to surrender the Castle of Buda to the Pasha of Fehérvár – was executed in 1686.)
In 1686 Buda was freed from the Turks. Naphegy played a vital role in this: from the hill the castle walls could be kept under incessant cannonfire. In the 17th–18th centuries newly settled Serbian people resurrected viticulture in the area. (The fyloxera epidemic of the 1880s brought vinegrowing to the end.) The slopes of the hill remained unbuilt for centuries. A map by Benedict J. from 1896 shows that the hill was still unbuilt at that time.
On a map from 1885 five streets of Naphegy were mentioned: Mészáros (Butcher) Street, Gellérthegy ("Gellért Hill") Street, Naphegy Street, Lisznyai Street, Czakó Street. The area, of which these streets were boundaries of, was still unbuilt. The immediate surroundings of where today's Naphegy Square lies, were still empty according to the Meyers Konversations-Lexikon published in 1905, but the Révai Lexicon published between 1910–1914 already shows the whole area built up. Most of the buildings standing on Naphegy today were built between 1910–1939.
The history of Naphegy is inseparable from that of the neighboring Tabán district. After the 1930 urban planning in Budapest only a few old Tabán houses were left in the Naphegy city part; one of them was the Tabán school, which has been destroyed in January 1945, during the battle of Budapest. Today a sports field can be found where once the school stood.
The events of World War II in this city part can be followed from the diaries and memoirs of its inhabitants. László Deseő, who was 15 years old in 1944, lived in 32 Mészáros Street with his family. This area was one of the most attacked ones because of its proximity to the Southern Railway Station and the strategical importance of the hill. Deseő kept a diary throughout the siege.[1] The memoirs of András Németh also describe the siege and the bombing of the empty school building which he and his fellow soldiers used as an observation post shortly before.[2]
After 1945 the pupils from Naphegy went to the Krisztina Téri Iskola (Christina Square Grade School), until the new school building on Lisznyai Street was finished. In 1953 the Hungarian News Agency moved to its new headquarters in Naphegy.
One of the houses typical of old Tabán can be seen on the corner of Czakó Street and Aladár Street. Before 1953 there was a similar house where now the Lisznyai Street School stands.
Duna TV, the first satellite TV channel of Hungary began broadcasting on December 24, 1992. Originally based in the Rónai Street building of Mafilm, the staff moved to the Mészáros Street of Naphegy in 1994.
[edit] Famous people
- János Fadrusz sculptor (built his villa and study on the south slopes of the hill)
- Péter Gárdos journalist (a memorial plaque of him is placed on the wall of the Naphegy Square building of MTI Hungarian News Agency)
- Margit Kaffka writer (lived in 15 Naphegy Street from July 1915 to her death in December 1918)
- Józsi Jenő Tersánszky (lived in 9 Avar Street)
- Endre Vészi (lived in Angelikaváros)
[edit] Institutions
- Magyar Távirati Iroda (Hungarian News Agency, MTI)
- Duna Televízió
- Lisznyai Street School
[edit] List of streets and squares in Naphegy
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[edit] Gallery
 The last Tabán house; Czakó Street–Aladár Street |
 The sports field on Naphegy, view to Gellért Hill. Here was the old Tabán School. |
 Hungarian News Agency at Naphegy tér |
[edit] Sources
- ^ Deseő László naplója (Hungarian)
- ^ Németh András – Mostohafiak (Hungarian)
- Meyers Konversations-Lexikon 1905 [2] [3]
- Révai Lexicon 1910
- Élet és Tudomány – Szablyár Péter: A Nap-hegy text in Hungarian, with rare old maps of Naphegy
[edit] External links
[edit] Pictures and maps
[edit] Institutions
- museum, Tabán Museum
- museum, Semmelweis Museum of Medicine
- Lisznyai Street Grade School
- Lisznyai Street Grade School
