Beneath Budapest's Bullet Holes

There must be a department in Budapest’s city hall that prevents bullet holes in buildings from being patched because there are a lot of them.

The 1956 Revolution, the siege of Budapest during World War II before that – all literally left their mark on the face of the city. Budapest has seen its fair share of violence. And while we spend so much time talking about the scars from that violence, we don't spend near enough time talking about what is beneath the scars.

Before the First World War, Budapest was a centre of rich culture, scientific endeavour and engineering achievement. It was the second city of the mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire. Beneath today's bullet holes and decade of neglect, this is the real Budapest.

Explosive economic and industrial growth created incredible wealth back then. Writers and thinkers gathered in the coffee houses. Classical masterpieces were composed and performed in the Opera House.

This is a city where the continent’s first subway system was built. They built the Chain Bridge, at the time was one of the longest bridges in Europe over one of the world’s mightiest rivers – a feat of engineering.

This is also when most of the city’s apartment blocks went up in the city’s centre. Thick-walled, high-ceilinged, with dramatic sculptures on the front – many of these have survived decades destruction and disuse visited upon the city. And all this time many people, like me, now live here too.

The layers of upheaval and violence that have passed through the city have added layers of grottiness over that grandeur, but it’s easy to get a feel for Budapest’s old time urban beauty and grandeur as you walk down the streets.

Those grand, old days might be long gone, but this is a city that seems to embrace its entire past, from the Old World ostentation to its more recent decrepitude, like the new ruin bars pop up in old, vacant apartment blocks.

But that’s an easy example.

Many of these buildings were put up during a massive building boom from the 1870s until the 1910s. They have lasted as long as they have because they are built like fortresses.

While opportunistic people build their ruin bars, by and large people live in these buildings, as they have since they went up. The limestone fades but it lasts, the stone Atlas out front crumble but still bear their load. All the while life goes on beneath the facade – families are raised, courtyard gardens, hidden from the streets, are tended and lives are lived.

We might see the bullet holes and marvel over them, but the real attraction are these beautiful buildings and the generations that have and will continue to live in them.