Promenade

The extended green area of the City Park

If you set off from Heroes’ Square along Dózsa György Road on the City Park side, you can walk along a green promenade all the way to Ajtósi Dürer Street. This atmospheric walkway functions as a green extension of the City Park and was developed on the site of a basalt cube-paved area that had been used as a huge car park for decades but now has over ten thousand square metres of new green area. The Promenade will first take you past the Műcsarnok, then by the spectacular new building of the Museum of Ethnography with its two intertwined hillsides. A special feature of this building is its façade decoration of nearly half a million pixels arranged into contemporary patterns designed from twenty Hungarian and twenty international ethnographic motifs. Its other striking feature is its roof garden with an area of more than 7,000 square metres, offering a beautiful panorama of both the city and the City Park from its highest point.

Musical Fountain

After leaving the Museum of Ethnography, you can relax by the Musical Fountain, located at ground level above the Museum Underground Parking. The fountain, which is illuminated in the evenings, shoots out jets of water between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. every morning (weather permitting), refreshing the air around it, while in the afternoons, from 1 p.m., the following pieces are played every hour:

There is just so much music in the City Park. Further along the Promenade you will come across a smart bench that brings together music and state-of-the-art technology: it plays the works of Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt. You can use its interactive display to play your favourite song from the masterpieces of the two composers at any time. Moreover, the bench provides information about Hungarian-Polish friendship and artists. Mobile phones and tablets can be wirelessly charged on the seat. The smart bench was initiated and commissioned by the Polish Institute in Budapest to celebrate Polish-Hungarian friendship and cultural cooperation. While sitting on the bench you can listen to the following pieces: Franz Liszt: Ave Maria in E Major (The Bells of Rome) S. 182 F. Chopin: Ballade No.1 in G Minor, Op. 23 F. Chopin: Fantaisie Impromptu Op. 66 Franz Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 F. Chopin: Mazurka No.3 in C Sharp Minor Op. 50

The Promenade walk comes to an end at Ajtósi Dürer Street, from where you can turn left and reach the City Park Sports Centre and the Main Playground, and, behind them, you will see the magical flora of the Mihály Mőcsényi Botanical Garden.

A green promenade replacing a car park

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A few years ago, the site of today’s Promenade, the Museum Underground Parking and the Museum of Ethnography was occupied by the largest free cobblestoned car park in Budapest. Every day, up to 1,500 cars would be parked in the heart of the city, separating the green area of the City Park from the centre of Budapest. The first step to eradicate parking next to the City Park was the development of the Museum Underground Parking with the green Promenade above it, and the roof garden of the Museum of Ethnography covered with green plants.
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Walking along the Promenade you will surely notice that you are surrounded by the most amazing plants at every step, bringing to life every shade of the colour range. This is an integral part of the design as during the construction of the Promenade over 130 leafy trees and almost 60 thousand perennials, flower bulbs and shrubs were planted. They are regularly taken care of to ensure that they are always at their best to delight visitors.
Did you know?
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