Gellért Hill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gellért Hill (or Gellérthegy in Hungarian) is part of Budapest’s Ist and XIth Districts, named after the saint thrown to his death from the hill. The famous Hotel Gellért and the Gellért Baths can be found in Gellért Square at the foot of the hill, next to Liberty Bridge. The Gellért Hill Cave is located within the hill, facing toward the Hotel Gellért and the Danube River.
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[edit] Maps
- Budapest 1905 Meyers Lexikon, Orom utca was the border of old Tabán to Gellérthegy
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 Gellérthegy and old Tabán Czakó utca Naphegy.
[edit] Panoramic view
The highest point of the hill is 235 m. At the top of the hill is the famous Citadella (Citadel), from which a glorious view is available down both directions of the Danube.
Panoramic view points
- from the highest point, Citadella, Citadel, far view to the
- from Hegyalja út - near view to
- Naphegy panoramic sporting field in Czakó utca
- Tabán former historic district, today park, memorial Hungarian Revolution of 1956
- Buda Castle
- from Somlói út - Mihály utca
- Sashegy The largest Natural Reserve Park of Budapest
[edit] History
[edit] Celtic traces
The celtic culture was preeminent in central Europe during the late Bronze Age, from ca. 1200 BC until 700 BC, itself following the Unetice and Tumulus cultures.
[edit] Árpád dinasty
The Arpads or Árpáds was a dynasty ruling in historic Hungary from the late 9th century to 1301.
[edit] 1848-49
The Citadel was built after the 1848-49 Hungarian uprising by the ruling Habsburg Austrians, as it was a prime, strategic site for shelling both Buda and Pest in the event of a future revolt.
[edit] 1945 The Swedish Embassy
Raoul Wallenberg was assigned as first secretary to the Swedish legation in Budapest, Hungary, on July 9, 1944. He used his diplomatic status to save many Hungarian Jews by issuing them Swedish "protective passports" (German: Schutz-Pass), which identified the bearers as Swedish subjects awaiting repatriation. Although not legally valid, these documents looked official and were generally accepted by German and Hungarian authorities, who sometimes were also bribed.
Wallenberg also rented many houses in Budapest for Jewish refugees with embassy funds and put up signs such as "The Swedish Library" and "The Swedish Research Institute" on their doors.
See also: memorial Shoes on the Danube Promenade.
[edit] World War II and 1956 Hungarian Revolution
It also saw action in the Second World War and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, when Soviet tanks stood up on the hill and fired down into the city. Indeed, battle scars still pockmark the building. There is a small military museum in the Citadel’s grounds. At the end of Citadella is the Freedom Statue (Szabadság Szobor in Hungarian), a large monument erected by the Soviet Red Army to commemorate their victory in World War II.
[edit] Today
Now an affluent residential area, a number of embassies and ambassadorial residences line the streets which wind up the hill. Since 1987, the area is listed as a world heritage site as a remarkable part of "the Banks of the Danube".
A large proportion of the hill consists of open-access parkland. Perhaps unusually for the centre of a large city, bats and hedgehogs are commonly observed on summer nights.
In January 2007 a new cave was discovered under Gellért Hill during a private construction. The cave is 60 m long and 18 m deep with 3 rooms. The interior is covered with dazzling white crystals composed of gypsum, calcite and aragonite. The cave was created 300-500'000 years ago by a now disappeared thermal spring. The crystal cave was immediately placed under legal protection.[1]
