Venue: Budapest – Rakoskereszturi New Public Cemetery: plots 297., 298., 300., 301.
Client: Budapesti Temetkezési Intézet Zrt.
Landscape architecture: Green Art co. – Balazs ALMASI, Csaba TOROK
Designer co-workers: StudioCAD Kft. – Szilvia TANCZOS, Rita VARGA
Date of planning: 2014
Implementation: 2014
Contractor: Deep Forest co., BTI Nemesko co.
Area: 26.750 m2
Cost: br. 1.000.000 EUR
Photos: Balazs ALMASI
New Public Cemetery (Hungarian: Új köztemető or Rákoskeresztúri sírkert) is the largest cemetery in Budapest and one of the largest in Europe with an area of about 2.07 km² and 3 million burials since its opening in 1886. It is adjacent to the Kozma Street Cemetery; the largest Jewish cemetery in Hungary. Its main building, which was constructed in 1903, has a 26-meter-high bell tower. In addition to its rich vegetation and wide avenues, the cemetery is famous for plot 301, where the martyrs of the 1956 revolution were buried.
Plot 297, 298, 300 and 301
The „cemetery memorial” to post-1945 Hungarian history, where the remains of politicians, soldiers, public figures, workers, students and farmers sentenced on false accusations in mock trials and executed after 1945 and 1956 are buried. Their graves are part of the National Graveyard. A symbolic place representing national belonging and opposition to the communist oppression. Prior to 1990, it hosted silent protests against the incumbent power evoking memories of 1956. Nowadays one of the most important sites for commemorating the 1956 revolution and freedom fight.