Oktogon is one of Pest's major intersections, located at the junction of the Grand Boulevard () and

Andrássy Avenue The House of Andrássy is the name of a Hungarian noble family of very ancient lineage that was prominent in Hungarian history. The full family name is ''Andrássy de Csíkszentkirály et Krasznahorka''. ''Csíkszentkirály'' is a town in modern- ...

() in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. This junction, one of the city's most important, is named for its

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

al shape. Oktogon is also

a station , known professionally as , is a Japanese actor, creative director, and writer. He appeared in a number of Japanese TV dramas, including ''Mei-chan no Shitsuji'', ''Hanazakari no Kimitachi e'' and ''Zettai Kareshi''. Additionally, he was well kn ...

on the yellow M1 (Millennium Underground) line of the

Budapest Metro The Budapest Metro ( hu, Budapesti metró) is the rapid transit system in the Hungarian capital Budapest. It is the world's oldest electrified underground railway system, and the second oldest underground railway system with multiple stations, ...

, which runs underneath Andrássy Avenue to Heroes' Square ().

History

Budapest, Abbazia kávéház az Oktogonon 1900

Prior to the construction of

in 1871, there was a large hole at the site, which was then filled in. The next two years saw the construction of the four large eclectic buildings surrounding the intersection, built according to plans of architect

Antal Szkalnitzky Antal Szkalnitzky (6 May 1836 – 9 June 1878) was a Hungarian architect.Szkalnitzky Antal
Vasút oktogon 1896-17 Klösz György

The intersection was again under significant construction in 1894–1896 as part of the Millennium Underground construction project built from the surface using the

cut-and-cover A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...

method. Oktogon has had numerous names: from 1936 to 1945, it was renamed

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

Square, then between 1945 and 1990 it was known as November 7 Square. Since then it has regained its original name. Oktogon and its famous cafés play a central role in

Vilmos Kondor Vilmos Kondor (born 1954) is the name (possibly pseudonym) of a successful Hungarian author. His seven crime novels, known as the Sinful Budapest Cycle, depict the adventures of a journalist, Zsigmond Gordon, in Budapest from the 1930s to the 195 ...

's 2012 novel

Budapest Noir ''Budapest Noir'' is the first Hungarian noir written by Vilmos Kondor and published by HarperCollins in Hungary in February 2012. The novel is about a crime journalist Zsigmond Gordon, who wants to find the killer of a Jewish girl found dead in ...

References

External links

Map and Satellite images of the Oktogon Junction
Squares in Budapest {{Budapest-geo-stub