02 July 2019

Budapest Part 2 - other amusements, starting with museums

So, what did we do when not on or in water?

We climbed Castle Hill - no, that's a lie - it was so hot that we went by bus both times. The church was closed (too late once, mass once) and the fake mediaeval structures like the Fishermen's Bastion and Vajdahunyad Castle in City Park are a bit too Disney for us to do more than admire from a distance. Instead we spend time in the History Museum and Museum of Music History. The latter has a great collection of musical instruments and other music-related artefacts like a six-sided music stand.


The History Museum provides an insight into Hungarian history. We began in the cool lower stories which are the oldest parts. It seems that when you want to upgrade your palace you just build a new bit on top of the old, especially if you are on a hill. So as you go up through the floors you go from Romanesque to Baroque - the top layer is one of Maria Theresa's many palace-building projects.

This trip is providing an education into the history of the area, which was pretty much a blank page for me. I knew that it was all part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until it fell apart, but that was about it. In Budapest you realise that Hungary has repeatedly drawn history's short straw. Of course, a settlement situated at a point where you can cross a very large river is bound to be a place where battles are fought, and where invaders settle. Hungary has been invaded or colonised by the Romans, the Huns, the Magyars, the Mongols, the Turks. The final driving back of the Ottoman Empire puts Hungary under the Hapsburgs until 1918, during which time the Hungarians manage at least one failed rebellion. They are on the wrong side in both World Wars, and then suffer forty years as a Soviet satellite. It's no wonder they have a cynical turn of mind, especially about politics.

And if you really want to look at the black side of history, you look at what happened to the Jews. Vienna, Budapest and Prague all had large Jewish communities before WW1 (70,000+). By the end of the war most had died in concentration camps, the lucky survivors were almost all refugees, scattered across the world. We get a feeling for this in Budapest, walking through the Jewish quarter, visiting the Synagogue and very well-presented Jewish museum.

Our final history lesson comes from a visit to the Parlament (not a typo, that's how they spell it). This magnificent building is as interesting on the inside as it is spectacular on the outside. You can only go through on a tour - our guide is good and amusingly disrespectful of  politicians. Hungary no longer has a bicameral system, which means that what was the upper house chamber is now a spare, available for tour groups to look at, and when maintenance work is needed on the other chamber. Notable feature was electronic voting apparatus on every seat in the chamber - none of the old-fashioned nos-to-the-left-ayes-to-the-right shuffling for a division.

Another highlight was the moment when someone ignored the instruction about no photos of the crown jewels (there's always at least one person who thinks the rule doesn't apply). As he clicked, there was a swishing sound of metal on metal as the two hitherto motionless guards drew their swords and waved then threateningly. No one else tried to take a picture...


One other museum visit was to a Retro Museum in Szentendre - all 70s stuff, with a whole yard full of old cars for Peter. Since this was the Communist era, it was all Trabants, Skodas, Nivas, no style.


After all the art in Vienna we didn't go in search of galleries in Budapest, but we did go to three during our day in Szentendre, each dedicated to an artist who lived there, of which the most interesting was the one holding a large collection of work by the ceramicist Margit Kovacs.

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