Budapest Guide
The Buda Hills
Farkasréti Cemetery
Opening time: Daily 7.30am–5pm
Price: Free
Address: XI district
Two kilometres west of Gellért-hegy is the Farkasréti Cemetery (Farkasréti temető;), easily reached by riding tram #59 from Moszkva tér to the penultimate stop or by catching bus #8 from Március 15 tér in Pest – flower stalls and funerary masons indicate that you've arrived. Among the 10,000 graves in the "Wolf's Meadow Cemetery" are those of Béla Bartók (whose remains were ceremonially reburied in 1988 following their return from America, where he died in exile in 1945); his fellow composer Zoltán Kodály; and the conductor Georg Solti, who left Hungary in 1939 to meet Toscanini and thus escaped the fate of his Jewish parents.
Less well-known abroad are the actress Gizi Bajor, Olympic-medal winning boxer László Papp and some infamous figures from the Communist era: Hungary's Stalinist dictator Mátyás Rákosi (as a precaution against vandalism, only the initials on his grave are visible), his secret police chief Gábor Péter, and András Hegedüs, the Politburo member who asked the Soviets to crush the Uprising. Also look out for the many wooden grave markers inscribed in the ancient runic Székely alphabet.
However, the real attraction is the amazing mortuary chapel by architect Imre Makovecz – one of his finest designs, and dating from 1975 – whose wood-ribbed vault resembles the inside of a human ribcage, with a casket for corpses where the heart would be. Be discreet, as the chapel is in constant use by mourners. Visitors keen to see more of Makovecz's work could pay a visit to Visegrád, an hour's journey north of the capital.