Marshall in Strange Places

Deep into the dark of the National Graveyard

The prettiest parks are not parks, they are cemeteries. It’s not appropriate to have a picnic and toss around a Frisbee, but there a few equals in beauty and calm than a stroll in a cemetery.

Budapest’s National Graveyard is no exception. It is similar to the big one in Paris. There are men of letters buried there, especially the poets, they love their poets here. Hungarian movie starlets. A few politicians: Deak, Kossuth, Batthyany, Antall.

Deak's mausoleum

Kossuth got a big monument.

Beyond the big names, there are richly decorative grave markers and crypts shaded by old, tall trees (a rarity in Pest’s centre).

It’s easy to forget to visit since it lacks the international resident's of Paris' cemetery, but it is no less compelling. Kata and I dropped in for one-hour walk to digest breakfast. It turned into an afternoon tour. We saw the great monuments and mausoleums near the entrance then, as we got deeper, saw the more remote corners of the cemetery. The grass was overgrown, the forest was taking over, and the stones were covered in vines and bushes.

Some markers were over 100 years old, others just 50 years old, many you simply could not tell. Had their families forgotten about them? Or was there no one left to pay the bills?

We went deeper into the darker ends of the cemetery, towards the walled edges where it backs up against the abandoned factories of Kobanya.

As the sun set and the air cooling, we left for sunnier parts of the cemetery, past newer grave markers. With little sun it got colder, so we settled in for warm goulash at a nearby restaurant.

A bit of Kobanya peeking over the wall.

Deep into the far corners of the cemetery.

Metro Politics

The Hungarian election came and went this past weekend. Fidesz, the incumbent ruling party, bullied its ways into power with its supermajority intact. It won despite entering the election with, according to some estimates, a 25 per cent approval rating.

I’m not going to get too deep into Hungarian politics, mostly because I have tried and failed in eight blog drafts, which lay crumpled in my computer’s recycle bin. It’s tough for a non-Hungarian, unable to read the local news or watch evening news, I rely reports from foreign sources and scuttlebutt from Hungarian friends – all of which are helpful, but not completely reliable on their own.

When I sat to write this draft, I thought about what I have seen myself and what I know for certain.

Since my arrival to Hungary, construction is everywhere. A large public square near my apartment has constantly been closed with maze-like fenced detours. Some workers look as if they are simply rearranging bricks on the sidewalks. Others working in a heavily-used pedestrian underpass are hidden from sight behind partitions and there was not a lot of work noises coming from behind that partition.

Then there is Budapest’s fourth subway line, which has been under construction for, depending on who you ask, ten to twenty years. It has been held up as an object of infrastructure mismanagement and outright graft. All the signs are there: workers leaning on shovels every time I pass by, opaque government contracts, and construction that never ends.

This has changed. Roads and public squares and pedestrian underpasses have been miraculously completed in the weeks leading up to last weekend’s vote, culminating in the opening of Budapest's fourth subway line.

There are problems, of course. It is a relatively short line, the stops are close together (like five-minute walk close together), and its opening on the weekend before the election has clearly timed to coincide with the election.

Despite all of that, the completed subway is impressive to behold. Its high ceilings mean you do not feel like you are underground. Its tiled mosaics, curious lighting features, exposed concrete beams and buttresses, outdoor water features are attractive, without feeling excessive.

The Budapest transit authority allowed riders on the shiny new subway for free on its inaugural weekend. The whole city it seemed came out to check out this once mythical fourth subway line, including myself and a few friends.

Is it a monument to mismanagement and graft? Possibly, and it would not be surprising. Was its recent opening a feckless political maneuver conveniently timed to grab votes? Of course! But, I think we can all agree that despite all of this, at least it is very easy on the eyes.

The trippy mosaic at Szent Gellért tér

The escalator from heaven at Rákóczy tér.

You can skip stones at Rákóczy tér. Good? Bad? Fun!

These guys agree, it's a metro with a lot of room to breathe

A few of the stations, like Fővám tér, have high ceilings with criss-crossing concrete beams.

Posters Of Hungary

The Hungarian National Museum

Last Saturday was the Ides of March, which is important if you are Julius Caesar, or if you are Hungarian. For the latter, March 15 is the anniversary of the Revolution of 1848. I wrote about that here so I will not get into the specifics, but to commemorate the occasion there are marches, speeches, and free admission for a few museums.

Despite living around the corner from the Hungarian National Museum, I have never visited it. I took advantage of the fact of the free admission and dropped in for a visit.

The museum's collection is dedicated to the general history of Hungary with archaeological relics and artifacts – a whole lot of goodies stretching from the Hungary's settlement by the Magyars in 895 to the fall of communism.

Going through the museum is quite a treat. One thing did stand out in particular: they have an amazing collection of old advertising and propaganda posters from the pre-World War I days and onward into the 1920s.

Most of the labels were in Hungarian, so they are a little out of context for me, but I thought they were very interesting. Behold, my not-so-good museum photography skills: