Heroes’ Square and City Park

This morning in Budapest, I headed to and stayed within a relatively confined area: Heroes Square and the next-door City Park.

After staying up to a stupidly late hour last night or, more accurately, early this morning, to publish three posts here, including one about a dinnertime Budapest Food Tour I went on, I was beyond tired, and I slept a little (not enough) later than I normally do. In addition to seeing the sights, I sat a lot on shaded benches in the park. So I didn’t do much this morning.

About the need for shade, it’s hot here. At 10:30 in the morning, it was already 27°C, with an expected high of 33°C today. It’s forecast to get even hotter over the next few days.

Heroes’ Square

Heroes’ Square was constructed in 1896 to commemorate the millennial anniversary of the arrival of Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin.

It’s a mostly unshaded square. The lack of shade discouraged lingering today. The leaders of the few tour groups there when I was in Heroes’ Square gave their spiels in the limited available shade provided by three monuments.

One of those monuments is a very tall, fluted stone column. Statues of men carrying spears and riding on horses circle the base of the column.

Extending from the top of the column are four equal-height rods. Only people in the square during a limited period have the immense honour of seeing those rods. Normally, they’re obscured by a five-meter-tall bronze statue of the Archangel Gabriel. His wings protrude sharply out from the rest of his body. Gabriel’s arms are raised high, one holding a crown and the other holding a double cross.

Speaking of a double-cross, Gabriel had left Heroes’ Square before I got there. I learned the details of the sculpture from a picture on a sign at the base of the column.

The sign told me, “Dear Visitor, following expert examinations, the condition of the nearly 5-meter-tall bronze statue of Archangel Gabriel and its monumental pedestal was deemed critically unsafe due to continuous deterioration over recent decades. Therefore, the statue had to be removed and transported for a comprehensive restoration. The nearly 5-meter-tall bronze statue was removed for the first time in more than 120 years from the 36-meter Corinthian column that supported it.

“The renewed artwork will return to Heroes’ Square in 2026.”

Oh, sure. That’s what they say. But we all know the truth. Gabriel’s disappearance is clearly the work of the DLJSSIA (Don’t Let Joel See Stuff International Association), a growing, nefarious force in the world. It’s now June 2026. I’m sure Gabriel will return to Heroes’ Square as soon as I leave Budapest.

The other two monuments in Heroes’ Square are of identical design. (Identical to each other, not to the Gabriel-lacking column.) There is a shallow arc of columns bookended by thicker columns at either end of the arc. Sculptures of venerated men stand between the columns. A plinth rests atop the columns. Heftier heraldic statues sit on either end of the plinth above the thicker columns.

Because of the aforementioned heat and lack of shade, I didn’t spend much time in Heroes’ Square.

City Park

Budapest’s City Park sits just across the street from Heroes’ Square. It’s a large park with lots of trees and grass, a couple of ponds, some statues, and more. A few streets intersect the it. It’s lovely and relaxing.

I’ll get to the “and more” in length shortly, but first, a note about one of the sculptures. It is of a hooded figure seated comfortably on a bench, with his head bent slightly forward, casting his gaze down. The figure is Anonymous.

It’s about time Anonymous gets some respect. He is undoubtedly the longest-living and most prolific writer and visual artist of all time. His name graces many texts, paintings, and drawings. I’ve seen several of his works in galleries around the world. His name, “Anonymous,” is proudly displayed on placards beside his pieces and credited on much of his writing. Sometimes, disrespectful curators fail to capitalize it, but they can’t deprive Anonymous of his due credit.

When describing the monument of Anonymous, one of my guidebooks mentions only his time at the court of King Béla IV and his authorship of the first Hungarian history in the Middle Ages. But I’d like to think the sculpture commemorates his work through time immemorial.

On to the “and more” in City Park.

A large red-and-white balloon with a circular observation platform below it floats above one section of a lawn in the park, tethered to the ground. Because it’s high up, I’ve seen it from elsewhere in Budapest. Neither during my time in the park, nor when I spotted it from elsewhere, have I ever seen it coming down or going up. But there is a ticket booth, with a ticket seller inside when I was there, selling tickets to ride. So I guess it does come down and go back up sometimes. I didn’t test that theory. Neither did anyone else who walked by and looked at the prices when I was there.

The park also contains a fake castle, Vajdahunyad Castle. In addition to building Heroes’ Square to celebrate the millennial anniversary of the Hungarians’ arrival in the Carpathian valley, Hungary also held a Millennial Nation Exhibition. One of the buildings at the exhibition was Vajdahunyad Castle. It was a group of buildings designed to represent all of the classic architectural styles present in Hungary. Consequently, there is a Romanesque chapel, a Gothic gate, a Renaissance castle, and a Baroque palace.

The thing is, the buildings erected for the Millennial National Exhibition were supposed to be temporary. They were meant to be torn down after the fair and, consequently, they were made of wood. However, the people of Budapest liked Vajdahunyad Castle so much that they tore down the structure built for the fair and rebuilt it out of stone. And there it stands today.

The Baroque palace today contains the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture. That didn’t sound the least bit interesting to me, so I didn’t go inside. (There is a fee to go in.)

The only open building that I went into was the chapel. It’s small but cute. It may be a make-believe chapel, but there were a couple of people in there who seemed to be praying. So, perhaps it’s not so make-believe.

On the far end of City Park is the largest, by far, of its “and more” components: The Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden.

Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden

Allow me to start by saying I found the layout of the zoo and botanical garden confusing. That’s not surprising because I find the layout of just about everything confusing. I can easily get lost in cities with streets that form a perfect grid. Any city that deviates significantly from a grid pattern should be bulldozed. They should then start again because they’re unnavigable as far as I’m concerned.

Sorry, Boston, you’ve got a great city, but you’ve got to figure out how to straighten your streets.

Wait. Where was I? Oh, yeah. The Budapest zoo and botanical garden. Because I couldn’t figure out its layout. I passed through some sections a few times, and I know I missed a few other sections. Nevertheless, I did manage to see a lot of animals and birds, big and small, including penguins, pelicans, a bear, gorillas, giraffes, anteaters, emus, and more.

There was also a butterfly house with some gorgeous butterflies with blue wings outlined with a band of black. I tried to take a picture of some of them, but they rapidly flit around perpetually, so I couldn’t capture more than a blur.

The zoo grounds are beautiful. The botanical garden isn’t a separate element off to itself. There’s a Japanese garden here, a section of North American plants there, and some desert and near-desert plants elsewhere.

There are some greenhouses as well. And, ooh, ooh, ooh. Don’t let me forget. In the basement of one of the greenhouses, there’s a small aquarium. There are fewer than, I think, a couple of dozen tanks, but they contain some very attractive fish. There are no jellyfish, so that’s a strike against the aquarium. But just having a decent aquarium of any size in a zoo and botanical garden is a bonus.

What more can I say? It’s a zoo and a botanical garden in one. It’s a lovely one, but there’s not much more to add other than to mention I had a meh sandwich there and stayed until the early afternoon. So this is definitely the end of my morning post. Move along. There’s nothing more to see here.

More pictures from the Budapest Zoo (and aquarium) and Botanical Garden: