Budapest Guide
The Belváros
Vörösmarty tér
Vörösmarty tér, the leafy centre of the Belváros, is a good starting point for exploring the area. Crowds eddy around the portraitists, conjurers and saxophonists, and the craft stalls that are set up over summer, Christmas and the wine festival. While children play in the fountains, teenagers lounge around the statue of Mihály Vörösmarty (1800–50), a poet and translator whose hymn to Magyar identity, Szózat ("Appeal"), is publicly declaimed at moments of national crisis. Its opening line "Be faithful to your land forever, Oh Hungarians" is carved on the statue's pedestal. Made of Carrara marble, the statue has to be wrapped in plastic sheeting each winter to prevent it from cracking. The black spot below the inscription is reputedly a "lucky" coin donated by a beggar towards the cost of the monument.
On the north side of the square is the Gerbeaud patisserie, Budapest's most famous confectioners. Founded in 1858 by Henrik Kugler, it was bought in 1884 by the Swiss confectioner Emile Gerbeaud, who invented the konyakos meggy (cognac-cherry bonbon) – still a popular sweet with Hungarians. He sold top-class cakes at reasonable prices, making the Gerbeaud a popular rendezvous for the middle classes. His portrait hangs in one of the rooms, whose gilded ceilings and china recall the belle époque.
From the terrace outside you can observe the entrance to the Underground Railway (Földalattivasút, the yellow line), whose vaguely Art Nouveau cast-iron fixtures and elegant tilework stamp it as decades older than the other metro lines. For its centenary in 1996, the line was equipped with the latest technology and its stations restored to their original decor. If you're curious to know more about its history, visit the Underground Railway Museum at Deák tér.
Otherwise, take a look at the two fine Art Nouveau buildings facing the square. Directly behind Vörösmarty's statue stands the erstwhile Luxus department store, its facade adorned with bronze panels with plant motifs. The square's southwest corner is dominated by the (sadly derelict) former Bank Palace, built between 1913 and 1915, in the heyday of Hungarian self-confidence, by Ignác Alpár.