Art district planned for Budapest's Bartók Béla út

The local government of Újbuda, District XI, wants to transform the area of Szent Gellért tér and Móricz Zsigmond körtér into an art district filled with cafés, restaurants, galleries and antique shops. Once Metro 4 is completed, they would also restrict motorized traffic in the area, reports stop.hu.

The heart of the new district would be the Hadik barracks and the statue of author Gárdonyi Géza. Gárdonyi tér, currently a car park barely worthy of the name "square," will be covered with ornamental stone, while the Bartók 32 gallery will be turned into a community centre and the Csonka museum will be opened for "public functions." The local government plans to let out all its buildings for cultural rather than commercial purposes in an attempt to reclaim the local community from mega malls and supermarkets.

The four lanes of traffic will be halved as soon as Metro 4 opens in 2011, but the tram, the traditional transportation means of South Buda, will stay. Several side streets will become pedestrian streets, and parking spaces will be replaced by underground garages.

The aim is to create a coherent landscape with a style that matches the historical legacy of the area. Several renowned Hungarian writers and artists lived in the district, including such writers as Dezső Kosztolányi, Frigyes Karinthy, Zsigmond Móricz or Géza Ottlik. Painter Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka also lived here and musician and actor Tamás Cseh is still living in the area.

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