The City Park (, ; ) is a public park close to the centre of
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, Hungary. It is a rectangle, with an area of , located in
District XIV of Budapest, between ''
Hungária körút'', ''
Ajtósi Dürer sor'', ''Vágány utca'' and ''Dózsa György út''. Its main entrance is at
Heroes' Square (''Hősök tere''), one of
Hungary's World Heritage sites.
Map
Updated Map 2022
Name
The area was formerly called ''Ökör-dűlő'', meaning "Oxmeadow". The first mention of the name comes from 1241 in the archaic form, Ukurföld. In the 18th century, the area was called ''Ochsenried'' in German. Around 1800 the official name was changed to ''Batthyány-erdő'' (Batthyány Forest) after its tenants, the
Batthyány
The House of Batthyány () is an ancient and distinguished Hungarian noble magnate family. The Head of the family bears the title Prince (Fürst) of Batthyány-Strattmann, while other members of this family bear the title Count/Countess ( Graf ...
family. The first trees and planned walkways were established in 1751 and after the public park was created in the first decades of the 19th century the present-day name, ''Városliget'' (and its German version, ''Stadtwäldchen'', lit.: "little city forest") was accepted and it became one of the first public parks in the world.
History
The City Park was the main venue of the 1896
millennium
A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...
celebrations of Hungary, by which time
Andrássy Avenue Small arms of the Andrássy family
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''. Csí ...
,
Millennium Underground and the
Grand Boulevard had been built. Városliget (Budapest City Park) museum additions and renewa
Liget Project
Sports
The park hosted motorsport events in the 1950s.
Main sights
City Park includes the following sights:
*
Vajdahunyad Castle
Vajdahunyad Castle ( Hungarian: ''Vajdahunyad vára'') is a castle in the City Park of Budapest, Hungary. It is an eclectic collage of multiple landmark buildings from different parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, especially the Hunyad Castle in Hu ...
, opened in 1896
*
Széchenyi thermal bath
*
Budapest Zoo
The Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden () is the oldest zoo in Hungary and one of the oldest in the world.
It has 1,072 animal species and is located within the City Park of Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cit ...
, including the Elephant House
*
Municipal Circus, opened in 1891
*
Gundel Restaurant, opened in 1894
*
Budapest Circus Building
House of Music, Hungaryopened January 2022
Museum of Ethnography opened 23 May 2022
See also
*
People's Park (''Népliget'')
*
Margaret Island
Margaret Island ( ; ) is a long island, wide, ( in area) in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, Hungary. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks, and is a popular recreational area. Its medieval ruins are reminders of its impo ...
(''Margitsziget'')
References
External links
{{Budapest
Zugló
Parks in Budapest