Budapest Guide
The Belváros
Petőfi tér
Petőfi tér is named after Sándor Petőfi, whose poem National Song – the anthem of 1848 – and romantic death in battle the following year made him a patriotic icon. Erected in 1882, the square's Petőfi statue has long been a focus for demonstrations as well as patriotic displays – especially on March 15, when the statue is bedecked with flags and flowers. Beyond it looms the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition, built by the Greek community in the 1790s and, more recently, the object of a tug-of-war between the Patriarchate of Moscow that gained control of it after 1945 and the Orthodox Church in Greece that previously owned it. The cathedral admits sightseers (Wed 2–5pm, Fri 1–5pm, Sat 3–8pm, Sun noon–5pm), and has services in Hungarian, accompanied by singing in the Orthodox fashion.