Legends of the neighbourhood
One of our favourite legends is related to Baron Podmaniczky Frigyes—after whom the street is named—and contains real biographical elements. The baron, who was a popular writer and a scientist, was born in Budapest, lived in Terézváros and almost never left the city. He practically spent practically his entire life in the capital city, within the walls of its buildings, walking off its cobblestones. During his life, Baron Podmaniczky became known for frequently saying: “There is no reason to leave this city since this is the best place even for spending your holiday”
The memory of the Baron is kept alive by several relics, plaques, monuments, and since 1982, by the Podmaniczky Award. In Hungary this award is annually given to those individuals or communities who, regardless to their occupations and obligations, “excel in raising awareness of, popularising and conserving Hungary's built heritage”.
The second legend - based also on a true story but most probably has become an urban legend due to its popularity—is about the Western Square Flyover (Nyugati téri felüljáró), which is two minutes away from the apartment. And here goes the story of the never meeting pillars of the flyover. „A well- known Hungarian designer was asked to draft the plan. Surprisingly, when the flyover was completed, the two parts built from opposite directions did not meet in the air. Afterwards, the architect committed suicide.”
There are two interpretations of this failure among the urban legends. One says that the construction materials were stolen out by the contractors. According to another one, this was a textbook example of the inefficient Hungarian-Soviet cooperation. But the truth is even more interesting as it very well represents the construction projects of the er a. The flyover bridge at the square, then named after Marx, was designed by the Peter Wellner (the designer of plenty of other bridge s in Hungary) and his company in 1980. It was based on the so-called prefabrication technology which meant that the components were produced and, in order to test it, assembled in the factory. Then, after transporting the dissembled part to the construction site, the construction of the bridge was completed.
As the leadership of the city urged the inauguration of the bridge, there was not enough time left for the adhesive to harden. Thus the components became deformed, opened up and the two decks came apart. As a result, the developers had to dissemble and re-assemble the bridge, this time correctly. The incident was followed by lawsuit, which led to a huge media scandal. Finally, Peter Wellner and his assistant were penalized. After their appeal to a higher court it turned out the accident was caused by the urging and not keeping the bonding time of the adhesive. Though, it was not enough fascinating for the media, thus Wellner and his company went bankrupt. Fortunately, the rumours about the designer’s death are not true.