Grand Boulevard (Budapest)
Encyclopedia
Boulevard
A Boulevard is type of road, usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery...
(sometimes Great Boulevard, lit. "Big Ring Road
Ring road
A ring road, orbital motorway, beltway, circumferential highway, or loop highway is a road that encircles a town or city...
") is one of the most central and busiest parts of Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, a major thoroughfare built by 1896, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
's Millennium
Millennium
A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....
. It forms a semicircle connecting two bridges of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
, Margaret Bridge
Margaret Bridge
Margit híd or Margaret Bridge is a bridge in Budapest, Hungary, connecting Buda and Pest across the Danube. It is the second northernmost and second oldest public bridge in Budapest....
on the north and Petőfi Bridge
Petofi Bridge
Petőfi híd or Petőfi Bridge is a bridge in Budapest, connecting Pest and Buda across the Danube...
on the south. Usually the part inside and around this semicircle is counted as the city centre of Budapest (see Belváros).
Meaning
Nagykörút is actually a colloquial name of its five parts which connect to each other: (from north to south) Szent István körút, Teréz körút, Erzsébet körút, József körút and Ferenc körút; these are the names the traveller will find on the map and the buildings. Nagykörút is usually meant to include its Pest part (i.e., the east side of the Danube), but it might be applied to its extension on the Buda side as well (in this latter sense, Margit körút will be its sixth part).Location
Western Railway Station (Budapest)
Budapest Nyugati pályaudvar is a railway station in the northern part of the Budapest City. It is one of the three main railway stations of Budapest and can be found in the 6th district.The station was planned by August de Serres and was built by the Eiffel Company...
, Oktogon
Oktogon
Oktogon is one of Pest's major intersections, located at the junction of the Grand Boulevard and Andrássy Avenue in Budapest, Hungary...
and Blaha Lujza tér, basic points of reference for the locals. The four major roads which cross it are Váci út
Váci út
Váci út is one of the widest and busiest avenues in Budapest, Hungary. It's about 12 km long and has 4-8 traffic lanes.- Location :...
(north), Andrássy Avenue
Andrássy Avenue
Andrássy Avenue is an iconic boulevard in Budapest, Hungary, dating back to 1872. It links Erzsébet Square with the Városliget. Lined with spectacular Neo-renaissance mansions and townhouses featuring fine facades and interiors, it was recognised as a World Heritage Site in 2002...
(northeast; part of the World Heritage), Rákóczi út (east) and Üllői út
Ülloi út
Üllői út is a major transport artery in Budapest, Hungary. Üllői út is the longest avenue in Budapest, it's 15.6 km long and absolutely straight....
(southeast).
Features, notable spots
On the Nagykörút one can find (from north to south) the Comedy Theatre (Vígszínház, 1896), Western Railway StationWestern Railway Station (Budapest)
Budapest Nyugati pályaudvar is a railway station in the northern part of the Budapest City. It is one of the three main railway stations of Budapest and can be found in the 6th district.The station was planned by August de Serres and was built by the Eiffel Company...
(Nyugati pályaudvar, 1877, built by Gustave Eiffel
Gustave Eiffel
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was a French structural engineer from the École Centrale Paris, an architect, an entrepreneur and a specialist of metallic structures...
's team), the New York Café (1894), and the Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
palace of the Museum of Applied Arts
Museum of Applied Arts (Budapest)
The Museum of Applied Arts is a museum in Budapest, Hungary. This Art Nouveau building was built between 1893 and 1896 to the plans of Ödön Lechner and Gyula Pártos...
(1896). Among the modern landmarks are the Skála Metró shopping centre (1984) and the WestEnd City Center
WestEnd City Center
The WestEnd City Center is a shopping centre located next to the Western Railway Station, in Budapest, Hungary. Opened on 12 November 1999, it is known for having been the largest mall in Central Europe until larger ones were inaugurated, including Arena Plaza, also in Pest.Other notable malls in...
, a shopping mall (1999). Beside them, there are lots of small and bigger shops, stores on its either side, and mostly turn-of-the-century residential buildings above them.
Metros
The three existing metro linesBudapest Metro
The Budapest Metro is the rapid transit system in the Hungarian capital Budapest. It is the second-oldest underground metro system in the world after the London Underground. Its iconic Line 1, dating from 1896, was declared a World Heritage Site in 2002.-Lines:The Metro consists of three lines,...
have four stations on Nagykörút, at the junctions of the above four roads: (from north to south) Nyugati pályaudvar (Budapest Metro)
Nyugati pályaudvar (Budapest Metro)
Nyugati pályaudvar is a station on the M3 line of the Budapest Metro. It is nominally located on the borders of District V, District VI and District XIII, the station itself is under Váci Road at between its intersections with Grand Boulevard and Katona József Street...
(M3
Line 3 (Budapest Metro)
The Metro 3 is the longest line of Budapest Metro. It connects the northern Újpest, and the southern Kőbánya-Kispest. Daily ridership: 626,179.-History:...
), Oktogon
Oktogon (Budapest Metro)
Oktogon is a station of the yellow M1 line of the Budapest Metro under Oktogon. The station is located at the junction of Budapest's Grand Boulevard and Andrássy Avenue ....
(M1
Line 1 (Budapest Metro)
The Metro 1 is the oldest line of the Budapest Metro system.Known in Budapest simply as "the underground" , it is the second oldest underground railway in the world , and the first on the European mainland. It was built from 1894 to 1896...
), Blaha Lujza tér (M2
Line 2 (Budapest Metro)
The Metro 2 is the second line of Budapest Metro. It connects the western Déli pályaudvar, and the eastern Örs vezér tere. Daily ridership: 451,627.-History:...
) and Ferenc körút
Ferenc körút
Corvin-negyed is a station on the M3 line of the Budapest Metro.There is an exchange opportunity there for the 4-6 tram line.-External links:*...
(M3 again). Metro line 4 is going to have a station on Nagykörút (at Rákóczi tér), too.
4 and 6 trams
A characteristic vehicle of the Grand Boulevard is the tram no. 4 and 6, reaching BudaBuda
For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...
both in north (Széll Kálmán tér) and south (Móricz Zsigmond körtér
Móricz Zsigmond körtér
Móricz Zsigmond körtér is a square in Budapest, Hungary.It is a center of south Buda and it is noted for the egg-looking heated stones erected in 2004....
). The line dates back to 1887 and it has since extended to 8.5 km in length and 21 stations to become the busiest tram line of Europe, carrying 200,000 travellers a day. (The routes of tram lines 4 and the 6 tram differ only in their last two stops in the south.)
Its trams (no. 4 and 6), a unique type in Budapest, have been replaced by low-floor Siemens
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
Combino Supra
Combino Supra
The Combino Supra , Combino MkII, or Combino Plus is a new Combino model made of stainless steel instead of light materials, and manufactured at a new assembly line in Vienna.-Design differences with original Combino:...
vehicles, the longest ones in Europe (54 m), after July 1, 2006. Tram stations were elevated and in places widened and modernized, ramps added, the electric cables renovated and some rail sections replaced during the reconstruction, which cost altogether 3.4 billion forints.
Further ring roads in Budapest
There are two further ring roads in Budapest:- the Small BoulevardSmall Boulevard (Budapest)Kiskörút or Small Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in Budapest. It forms an incomplete semicircle between Deák Square and Fővám Square. It is the border of the southern part of District 5 , the innermost district of Pest...
(Kiskörút), with the length of about 1.5 km, inside the semicircle of Nagykörút (including Károly körút, Múzeum körút and Vámház körút), - and an even bigger ring road outside Nagykörút, which is, however, not thought of as a single entity (it includes Róbert Károly körút, Hungária körút and Könyves Kálmán körút).
External links
- The Budapest Tourism Office on the Grand Boulevard (stored by the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
) - Szent István körút (a part of the Grand Boulevard)