City Park (Budapest)

The City Park (Hungarian: Városliget, pronounced [ˈvaːroʃliɡɛt]; German: Stadtwäldchen) is a public park close to the centre of Budapest, Hungary. It is a 0.9-by-0.6-mile (1,400 by 970 m) rectangle, with an area of 302 acres (1.2 km²),^[1][2] located in District XIV of Budapest, between Hungária körút, Ajtósi Dürer sor, Vágány utca and Dózsa György út. Its main entrance is at Heroes' Square (Hősök tere), one of Hungary's World Heritage sites.

The Széchenyi Thermal Bath

The City Park Ice Rink with Vajdahunyad Castle in the background

Map

– Gundel Restaurant – Municipal Zoological and Botanical Garden – Municipal Grand Circus – Former Amusement Park – Széchenyi Medicinal Baths and Swimming Pool – Vajdahunyad Castle – Former Petőfi Hall – Former Transport Museum of Budapest – Heroes' Square – Museum of Fine Arts – Palace of Art

Updated Map 2022^[3]

Name

The area was formerly called Ökör-dűlő, meaning "Oxmeadow". The first mention of the name comes from 1241 in the archaic form, Ukurföld. In the 18th century, the area was called Ochsenried in German. Around 1800 the official name was changed to Batthyány-erdő (Batthyány Forest) after its tenants, the Batthyány family. The first trees and planned walkways were established in 1751 and after the public park was created in the first decades of the 19th century the present-day name, Városliget (and its German version, Stadtwäldchen, lit.: "little city forest") was accepted and it became one of the first public parks in the world. ^{[citation needed]}

History

The City Park was the main venue of the 1896 millennium celebrations of Hungary, by which time Andrássy Avenue, Millennium Underground and the Grand Boulevard had been built. Városliget (Budapest City Park) museum additions and renewal Liget Project^[4]

Sports

The park hosted motorsport events in the 1950s. ^{[citation needed]}

Main sights

City Park includes the following sights:^[5]

• Vajdahunyad Castle, opened in 1896
• Széchenyi thermal bath
• Budapest Zoo, including the Elephant House
• Municipal Circus, opened in 1891
• Gundel Restaurant, opened in 1894
• Budapest Circus Building^[6][7][8]
• House of Music, Hungary opened January 2022^[9][10]
• Museum of Ethnography, opened 23 May 2022^[11]

See also

• People's Park (Népliget)
• Margaret Island (Margitsziget)