A street near Deák Ferenc tér
József Attila utca in Budapest takes its current name from the poet Attila József, adopted in 1957, after earlier being known as Fürdő utca and later Gróf Tisza István utca. It stands about 450 feet from the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út station, opened in 1896 as the first stop on continental Europe's earliest underground railway, part of the Millennium Underground line later named a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Europe's first mainland subway opens a few steps away
On József Attila utca, near Deák Ferenc tér, you're close to one of Europe's oldest subway lines. About 450 feet away sits the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út station, opened on May 2, 1896. It was the first stop on the Millennium Underground, the first metro system built on the European mainland. The line ran from Vörösmarty tér to Széchenyi fürdő, carrying Budapest's crowds beneath Andrássy Avenue. In 2002, UNESCO folded the line into the World Heritage listing for Andrássy Avenue and the Danube banks.
The station took its name from Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky, a politician and resistance leader executed near the end of World War Two. Its two platforms still sit on opposite sides of the street, each with its own stairway up to daylight.
The siege of Budapest destroys most of this district
During the Siege of Budapest, Soviet forces pushed German and Hungarian troops back against the Danube. About 80 percent of the buildings in central Budapest were damaged or destroyed. Lipótváros took heavy bombing and artillery fire along with the rest of the inner city. Some houses too damaged to repair were torn down afterward, though most of the district's old buildings survived.
A bus station stood for fifty years at Erzsébet Square
About 1.3 miles from here, at Erzsébet Square, a bus station once stood. It opened in 1949 and ran for over fifty years before the city tore it down in 2001.
The street is renamed for the poet Attila József
The street you're standing on was renamed József Attila utca, after the poet Attila József, who died in 1937. Before that it carried other names, including Fürdő utca, meaning Bath Street.
A newer metro line opens a hundred yards away
A hundred yards north, a memorial marks a newer line. In 1970, the city opened the first stretch of the Kelet-Nyugati metro, running from Deák tér to Fehér út. A plaque placed in 2020 marks its fiftieth anniversary, set into the pavement where thousands now pass every day without looking down.
A bus fire spreads flames to a nearby building
At the corner of József Attila utca and Nádor utca, a bus caught fire. The flames reached the front of a six-story building nearby. Firefighters ran two hoses and cleared the building before putting it out.
You're standing on a street named for a poet, over a subway line that changed how Europe moved underground.
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