From Buda to Pest
It has become a bit of a tradition that I think back over the characteristics of different countries’ or cities’ museums after a holiday visit. I’ve written previously about the seemingly unashamed celebration of capitalist power in American museums, as well as the sensitive approach to difficult history in Berlin, and the difficulties of Georgian museums and heritage sites that made me glad to work in the British sector. It therefore seems necessary to attempt to distil my thoughts of the museums and sites visited in Budapest last month.
Budapest is an extraordinary city. Spreading each side of the Danube it is made up of what were three separate settlements – Obuda, Buda and Pest – which still retain distinctive characters. Between them these sites have seen more than their fair share of history: Budapest has been Roman, Magyar, Ottoman, Hapsburg, Nazi, Soviet and now Hungarian, to name only some of its incarnations. These are complex histories to distill for the tourist or museum visitor, and are reflected in manifold buildings and artefacts.
Some buildings have never been used for what they appear to be: the royal palace, for instance, has never had a monarch residing there; while others have changed use incredibly: the extravagant fin-de-siècle building that faces the Parliament was built to house the Supreme Court and now hosts an absorbing Ethnographic Museum showcasing traditional Hungarian life. Some sites attempt to capture a particular moment in Budapest’s history: the extraordinary Hospital in the Rock, commemorates a nuclear-proof hospital built out of the natural cave systems under Castle Hill, complete with original bandages and equipment as well as some rather creepy wax mannequins. Other elements of Budapest’s history have been, understandably, erased. One of our most compelling visits was to Memento Park on the outskirts of the city, a graveyard to toppled Communist sculpture.
Most interesting to me, in terms of telling and yet not-telling the many complexities of Hungarian history, is the beautifully-restored Parliament building on the bank of the Danube. Built at the same time as London’s Houses of Parliament, this neo-Gothic glowing white building speaks to the pride of restored Hungary. It again houses the Hungarian government, as well as a conference centre, and a very slick tourist tour. The restoration has been extensive and meticulous since the building’s part destruction during WW2 and alteration under Soviet rule. The building revolves around the restored crown of St Stephen, the symbol of Hungarian sovereignty, but the architecture is layered with the nation’s later history. A fascinating exhibition at the end of the tour discusses different ways that memorials, paintings and monuments have been altered, removed and restored as different regimes have operated out of the building.
What is striking in all of these places is what is left unsaid, or half so. Much, particularly recent history, seems to have happened to Hungary, without any sense of agency or taking of ownership on the half of its citizens. Budapest feels like a city still grappling with what it wants to say, and how to take hold of its past. It's interesting, as well as beautiful, to watch that taking shape.
