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Budapest day 2
By nealejames | January 26, 2010
Historical day today. I’ve met several locals in this city (what’s the official term… are they Budists, or Pests?) who say that the low temps we’re experiencing are nothing compared to how it used to be. Minus five with a wind chill cooler still is child’s play compared with the sub zero’s of last century. I wrapped up in twice as many layers as yesterday and set out to find a church in a cave!
Didn’t take long on the Pest side of the Danube to find clues to it’s possible whereabouts, though I’m unsure whether this and other similar entrances actually link in to the Sziklakapolna (Chapel in the Rock). You don’t have to search hard to find signs and stories of oppression. Hungarian modern history is awash with erroneous factions and unwelcome regimes. In the early 20s an order of monks fashioned this cave into a copy of Lourdes. All was well, until the turn of the 50s when afraid of their own shadows, the Hungarian Secret Police broke into the place, arrested and executed the Superior, imprisoning everyone else for five to ten years each. They even blocked up the entrance with a two metre thick wall. Gradually it’s all being restored to the way it was prior to communism; fascinating place.
A brisk walk away, crossing the Danube into Buda, you find the Great Market Hall. Well, actually initially you find the university, which in facade terms from my memory, didn’t seem too dissimilar to the market building. Couple of seconds inside the wrong building and it was all quite obvious. Everyone looked studious and there wasn’t a carrot or hanging meat to be seen.
I’ll admit to being a little disappointed about the market as I was hoping to do a real spot of candid street togging. I’m several decades too late for that, since the market was modernised twenty odd years ago. The trader’s market has disappeared and in it’s place; dozens of small shops really, many of them selling the kind of ware only attractive to tourists, and ones that like dolls and tablecloths at that. I opted to study the small cafes on the first floor. Hungarian Langos (deep fried bread) with a coating of grated cheese and cold meats is far more interesting, if not a little excessive in callorific terms.
There are plenty of signs that this was once a communist enclave, the two stroke East German ‘Trabi’ being one…
I was a tad surprised to see so many, didn’t have to wait too long to photograph one. They may look a little out of place next to Budapest’s new fleet of motors, but in that the average waiting list was 15 years, and lifespan 28 years, they’re not an unusual sight. They were still making these things in 1991!
By all accounts I read Stalin’s Hungary was not a pleasant place to frequent, yet in the museum where photography was prohibited one of the guides positively insisted that I record his image for posterity. Many were socially purged during his communist reign, soft way of saying executed. I took the photo from the side. Didn’t really want to look into his eyes.
Today being an historical trail, it seemed fitting that I should visit the Great Synagogue and Holocaust Memorial Park. I’ve photographed in a handful of synagogues, but none quite so large and impressive as this. With room for 6,000 worshippers it has a potted history, serving adversely for and against those that worshipped here. During the war Jewish families were ‘cleared’ through this building by the Nazis before making a final journey not to France for work detail as promised, but to Auschwitz and the horrors that lay within. My guide pointed out that the authorities even made their ‘captives’ pay the train fare.
I sign off today’s post with a couple of exposures by night – and you’ll note not one tram themed image. I thought I’d rather overworked that theme yesterday.
Topics: Blog journal | 2 Comments »
January 27th, 2010 at 10:32 am
So enjoying following your adventure – learning a thing or two too
January 27th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Me too, and I thought I’d just be photographing people. It’s turned into an historical trail!