Budapest’s Városliget to be renewed – the Liget Budapest Project

After the Városliget Lake is revamped, it will serve as a decorative water surface embracing Széchenyi Island and the rebuilt Páva (Nádor) Island all year round.

The re-building of Páva Island with playgrounds and an events area will expand the number of facilities suitable for active leisure time. The already existing playgrounds of the Városliget will also be renewed and will await families with special, innovative equipment and accessible solutions.

The Rondo will retain its original function: it will be a place for walks and rest. The crescent paths surrounding islands of green vegetation will also be renewed, while the currently incomplete tree-lined alley will also be made complete once again.

The re-shaped slope will complement the nearby playground by accommodating games and children’s activities requiring more space, and in winters it can be used for sledging.

Expected to be the most colourful and fragrant part of the renewed Városliget, the Rose Garden will provide a place for recreation with its 5,000 rose-trees and many evergreens.

This green area will continue to attract all those who want to put down a blanket here and have a little picnic or simply lie down in the grass and enjoy the nature in the middle of a bustling city.

From the very beginning, Városliget has inspired and welcomed sports enthusiasts. The park’s southern and south-eastern part might well become the most frequented hub of sports activities in the future: it will contain several ball sports grounds available for all age groups along with public open-air workout machines.

Running is one of the most popular forms of recreational activities: hundreds of thousands put on their running shoes every day in Budapest. The 2-kilometre-long Recortan track will specifically cater to their needs.

The extensive network of walkways in Városliget will also be renewed. The car park occupied by thousands of cars on Ötvenhatosok Square will be replaced by a delightful promenade with aquatic installations, which is anticipated to be a favourite meeting place for families.

In the revamped Városliget, cyclists will be able to use new changing facilities, storage areas and service points.

One of Budapest's most popular museums, the Transport Museum, will be fundamentally renewed. The original designs made in 1896 by Ferenc Pfaff have been revisited by Mérték Architectural Studio. The museum's iconic dome will be assigned a new function: it will offer an unprecedented panorama over the renewed Városliget as a viewing tower.

Three new pavilions will house a pleasant café and patisserie, an art gift shop, and a shop selling recreational equipment. The new facilities were built according to the original, Oriental designs made by Frigyes Feszl in 1860; the interiors were designed to meet the most modern requirements.

After being unused and in a bad state of repair for many years, the Neo-renaissance building in the heart of Városliget will be operated as a cultural venue and a restaurant.

The new museum building designed by Napur Architect has dynamic yet simple lines simultaneously harmonised with the park environment and communicating with the surrounding urban area. The Városliget is a familiar venue for the Museum of Ethnography: its collection debuted here at the 1896 Millennium Exhibition.

Functioning as a vibrant community space, with its musical education workshops, concerts and exhibitions the House of Hungarian Music is planned to be one of the prominent meeting places of the Hungarian music scene. The virtually transparent, environmentally-friendly building designed by Sou Fujimoto seeks to create a harmonious transition between the natural and built environment.

After more than 60 years there will again be a theatre in Városliget. The institution will be rebuilt based on the original designs of the old Secessionist building and will operate in a modern technical environment. It will await visitors with a wide range of children's and youth productions.

The reconstruction of the Museum of Fine Arts is simultaneously aimed at restoring the historic values of the building as well as the modernisation of its technological and operational systems to meet 21st-century requirements. In addition, the museum's permanent exhibition will also be radically changed as a result of the Hungarian artworks finally returning to the Museum of Fine Arts after more than four decades.

The New National Gallery will provide a new venue to exhibit the artworks of the period spanning from the 19th century to the present day. The world-class building is designed by the Japanese Pritzker Prize-holding SANAA; their Hungarian partner is the Bánáti and Hartvig Architects' Office.

The OMRRK complex will be built in the vicinity of Városliget, on the site of the former Szabolcs Street Hospital, according to the designs of Narmer Architectural Studio. This new institution will provide an outstanding professional and technological background for the preservation of the collections of the Museum of Ethnography, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Hungarian National Gallery.

The large-scale enlargement of the Budapest Zoo includes the building of a new garden section called Pannon Park, which will evoke the flora and fauna of the Carpathian Basin with a biodome serving as its central element. The biodome will resemble a grassy slope on the outside thanks to the green vegetation that will cover its exterior, while its interior will await visitors with lush flora and diverse fauna.

Many people call Heroes’ Square the gate into Városliget, the place where the city ends and the park and nature begins. Harmony can only exist between the park and its buildings if it is not disrupted by the heavy traffic of cars, which is a sad reality today. Kós Károly Promenade therefore will be closed from car traffic.