City Park ("Városliget"), miscellaneous photos - Budapest, Hungary

Location:

GPS coordinates: Latitude 47°30'49", Longitude 19°5'6" (N47 30.82 - E19 5.1) Map

Bronz half-length statue of the Hungarian mining engineer Vilmos Zsigmondy

Created by Antal Szécsi in 1895, originally it stood in the yard of the Széchenyi Bath.

The first deep drillings of artesian wells in Hungary were done by the guidance of the Hungarian mining engineer Vilmos Zsigmondy (1921-1888) and his mechanical engineer nephew Béla Zsigmondy (1848-1916). The first attempts were happened in Budapest in 1830, but at that time these were ended in failure. The drilling of the deep artesian well of the City Park ("Városliget") was started in 1869, and the approximately 970 meter of depth could be reached after about 8 years.

Black colored dragon- or snake-like iron dolphin sculptures

The iron sculpture that represents two twisted iron dolphins (which look a little bit like serpentine Chinese dragons) and its pair were initially placed at the southern gate of the cargo port of the Danube Steamship Company ("Duna Gőzhajózási Társaság"), close to the Pest-side connection of the Chain Bridge ("Lánchíd"). Originally there were sixteen dolphins, that were eight pairs. The total of three iron dragons, one at the Kiscelli Museum and two in the Budapest Zoo were stood almost here, but at the northern gates, they were part of the same sculpture group together with the dolphins. The 185-centimeter-tall cast-iron dolphin sculptures were created by Frigyes Feszl in 1859, and they were placed here for the Budapest World Fair of 1896.

Large bronze statue of an "Archer" at the entrance of the City Park Ice Rink

The original of the "Archer" statue at the City Park Ice Rink ("Városligeti Jégpálya") was created by Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl in 1919, from 1925 for some years that stood on the Margaret Island, near the sports ground of the Hungarian Athletics Club ("Magyar Atlétikai Club" or MAC). This one is a re-casted replica and it was set here in 1929. The 250-centimeter-tall bronze statue has to other copies as well, one is in Stockholm, Sweden and another one in Santa Barbara, United States.

Clown Fountain, terracotta-(reddish-brown)-colored stone sculpture and fountain with mosaic inlay

Created by Arisztid Halász in 1983

It is funny that someone thinks that the Clown Fountain in the City Park ("Városliget") looks like a transvestite version of Lord Darth Vader, one of the evil characters from the Star Wars epic movie series. I apologize to the sculptor instead of him, but it is really hard to deny that at least their "helmets" are similar...

Time Wheel, a special hour glass in the City Park

Although the so-called Timewheel (in Hungarian "Időkerék") at the edge of the City Park ("Városliget") is one of the world's largest hourglasses, it doesn't contain sand but artificially produced and perfectly uniform spherical glass granules, because this can provide better accuracy. By the way, the around 4.5 cubic meters of this material flows down exactly in one year, which starts again after a turn over.

The 8-meter-high mill wheel or disc-shaped cylindrical structure weighs 60 tons, it is built of Indian red granite, bulletproof glass and stainless steel. The idea of the artwork was born in 1982 in the mind of János Herner literary historian. It was finally created by him and architect István Janáky jr. in 2004 for the EU accession of Hungary, from substantial state and private financial resources.

Bust statue of Adam Clark in front of the Transportation Museum

Created by Pál Borics in 1966

The Scottish engineer Adam Clark (1811-1866) was among others the leader of the construction of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge in Budapest (it was built between 1840-1849). At that time he was the deputy of his namesake who designed the Chain Bridge, the English engineer William Tierney Clark (1783-1852). But later the Buda Castle Tunnel (in Hungarian "Váralagút" or "Alagút") was completely designed by Adam Clark (and built between 1853-1856).