User:Tamas Szabo/Naphegy

Naphegy (Sun Hill, literally: Sun Mountain) is a historic part of Krisztinaváros, near to old Tabán in the District I. of Budapest, Hungary.

Location[edit]

Naphegy is south of the center of Krisztinaváros, between Gellérthegy and Tabán. Its boundaries are Hegyalja Street, Naphegy Street, Gellérthegy Street and Mészáros Street.

Its highest point (154 m) is on Naphegy Square.

The old map from the Meyers Lexikon (pictured right) shows that in 1905 there were only a few buildings in this city part. Between 1910 and 1930 the area was gradually built up.

The history of old Tabán is inseparable from that of the neighboring Naphegy and Gellérthegy. The rest of the old Tabán streets are today Orom utca on Gellérthegy and old Tabán Czakó utca today on Naphegy.

Maps[edit]

History[edit]

The first inhabitants of the area were the Celtic Eravisci. Their settlement here had its prime in the 1st century BCE. Their fortress, the Oppidum Eraviscorum stood on the top of Gellért Hill, in place of today's Citadel. According to archeological findings, their cottages were built on wooden frames. The inside of the cottage was about 2-3 meters long and 3-4 meters wide, with fireplaces, ovens and hand mills. They also make pottery, grew barley, wheat, millet and rye, which they stored in pits after harvest. The temple of their main god Iuppiter Teutanus stood on the top of the hill until the 3rd century CE.

After the Roman Empire conquered the area, the Eravisci were settled in Aquincum, in the city part called Civitas Eraviscorum. (An archeological sensation, the burial place of an Eraviscus nobleman, buried together with his two-horse chariot, was excavated recently on Bécsi Street.)

The area was already used as a vineyard during the lifetime of Probus, a Roman general (under Marcus Aurelius) of Pannonian origin. This continued under the Hungarian conquest of the area. A document in Hungarian, dated to 1231, mentions large vineyards here.

During the Middle Ages the hill was called Nyárshegy ("Stake Hill"), which probably referred to its function as a scaffold. (The name is preserved in the name of today's Nyárs Street, where the traitor Lieutenant Conrad Fink – who, during the 1686 siege of Buda, planned to surrender the Castle of Buda to the Pasha of Fehérvár – was executed in 1686.)

Under King Matthias (15th century) the place became part of the gardens belonging to the royal palace. A little more than half a century after his death Buta fell to the invading Ottoman Army, and in the following century the vineyards were neglected, the area became depopulated.

In 1686 Buda was freed from the Turks. Naphegy played a vital role in this: from the hill the castle walls could be kept under incessant cannonfire. In the 17th–18th centuries newly settled Serbian people resurrected viticulture in the area. (The fyloxera epidemic of the 1880s brought vinegrowing to the end.) In accord with a decree brought in 1752 by the Military Council buildings weren't allowed to be built within rifle shot of the castle walls, and existing buildings had to be demolished. Due to this the slopes of the hill remained unbuilt for centuries. A map by Benedict J. from 1896 shows that the hill was still unbuilt at that time.

During the Congress of Vienna (1814) Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, Tsar Alexander I of Russia and King Frederick William III of Prussia could see a grape harvest and the new observatory on Gellért Hill (where now the Citadel stands).

On a map from 1885 five streets of Naphegy were mentioned: Mészáros (Butcher) Street, Gellérthegy ("Gellért Hill") Street, Naphegy Street, Lisznyai Street, Czakó Street. The area, of which these streets were boundaries of, was still unbuilt. The immediate surroundings of where today's Naphegy Square lies, were still empty according to the Meyers Konversations-Lexikon published in 1905, but the Révai Lexicon published between 1910–1914 already shows the whole area built up. Most of the buildings standing on Naphegy today were built betweem 1910–1939.

The history of Naphegy is inseparable from that of the neighboring Tabán district. After the 1930 urban planning in Budapest only a few old Tabán houses were left in the Naphegy city part; one of them was the Tabán school, which has been destroyed in January 1945, during the battle of Budapest. Today a sports field can be found where once the school stood.

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The events of World War II in this city part can be followed from the diaries and memoirs of its inhabitants. László Deseő, who was 15 years old in 1944, lived in 32 Mészáros Street with his family. This area was one of the most attacked ones because of its proximity to the Southern Railway Station and the strategical importance of the hill. Deseő kept a diary throughout the siege^[1]. The memoirs of András Németh also describe the siege and the bombing of the empty school building which he and his fellow soldiers used as an observation post shortly before^[2].

After 1945 the pupils from Naphegy went to the Krisztina Téri Iskola (Christina Square Grade School), until the new school building on Lisznyai Street was finished. In 1953 the Hungarian News Agency moved to its new headquarters in Naphegy.

One of the houses typical of old Tabán can be seen on the corner of Czakó Street and Aladár Street. Before 1953 there was a similar house where now the Lisznyai Street School stands.

Duna TV, the first satellite TV channel of Hungary began broadcasting on December 24, 1992. Originally based in the Rónai Street building of Mafilm, the staff moved to the Mészáros Street of Naphegy in 1994.

Panoramic view points[edit]

Near to the west border of Naphegy, just 5 minutes from Hegyalja út: view to Sashegy, the largest Natural Reserve Park of Budapest. View point on the Map [[4]]: Somlói út - Mihály utca.

view to Sashegy, to the largest Natural Reserve Park of Budapest from Gellérthegy, Somlói út - Mihály utca

Famous people[edit]

János Fadrusz sculptor (built his villa and study on the south slopes of the hill)
Péter Gárdos journalist (a memorial plaque of him is placed on the wall of the Naphegy Square building of MTI Hungarian News Agency)
Margit Kaffka writer (lived in 15 Naphegy Street from July 1915 to her death in December 1918)
Józsi Jenő Tersánszky (lived in 9 Avar Street)
Endre Vészi (lived in Angelikaváros)

Institutions[edit]

Magyar Távirati Iroda (Hungarian News Agency, MTI)
Duna Televízió
Lisznyai Street School

List of streets and squares in Naphegy[edit]

Aladár Street
Ág Street
Czakó Street
Derék Street
Dezső Street
Fenyő Street
Fém Street
Galeotti Street
Gellérthegy Street
Lisznyai Street

Naphegy Square [5]
Naphegy Street
Nyárs Street
Orvos Street
Párduc Street
Piroska Street
Róka Street
Tibor Street
Tigris Street
Zsolt Street

Gallery[edit]

Naphegy 2003
The last Tabán house; Czakó Street–Aladár Street
The old Tabán School about 1930, destroyed later in January 1945. Today sports field. Archives [[1]]

The old Tabán School about 1930, destroyed later in January 1945. Today sports field. Archives [[1]]
The sports field on Naphegy, view to Gellért Hill. Here was the old Tabán School.
Hungarian News Agency at Naphegy tér