You're standing on Kós Károly sétány, a walking path through City Park, Budapest, named for the architect Károly Kós.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026 · A two-minute read · 1811–now
The short answer
Kós Károly sétány is a walkway through City Park in Budapest, Hungary, named in 1983 for the architect Károly Kós, who had died six years earlier. Closed to car traffic in July 2020, it carries pedestrians and cyclists past Széchenyi thermal bath, Vajdahunyad Castle and the Budapest Zoo.
1983 to now
A path was named for an architect, then closed to cars
You're standing on Kós Károly sétány, a path cut through City Park, Budapest. It carries the name of Károly Kós, a Hungarian architect and writer who died in 1977. The city named the path after him in 1983, six years after his death.
A year later, in 1984, people put up a memorial to him right here. It was built from carved wooden grave posts, called fejfák, a traditional Hungarian grave marker usually carved from oak. Kós had used folk building styles like these in his own architecture, so the memorial echoed his life's work.
The path stayed open to cars for decades after that. Then, in July 2020, the Hungarian government ordered it closed to traffic. A notice published in the official government gazette declared that City Park would belong to walkers and cyclists, not drivers. Two years later, in 2022, city planners were still drawing up a tender to redesign the path into a proper pedestrian promenade.
1896 to 1973
An elevated metro station served this stretch until 1973
A few steps from the path, City Park's first bathhouse opened in 1896 as the Artézi fürdő, built over a hot artesian well. That same year, the first metro line in continental Europe opened its terminus right beside it, the Széchenyi fürdő metro station station. For decades it was the end of the line, linked to Hősök tere by a route that ran through the park and past a stop called Állatkert, which closed for good in 1973.
In 1973, the city dug a new tunnel under the park and rebuilt the station underground. It reopened with the name it carries today, Széchenyi fürdő metro station, after the grand bathhouse that had grown up next to it.
1896 and after
A thermal bath and a fantasy castle rose nearby
The bath itself, Széchenyi thermal bath, grew from that same artesian well into one of Europe's largest bathing complexes, standing about 550 feet from where you are. City Park filled in around the same years with landmarks that still define it. These include Vajdahunyad Castle, a fantastical building put up for Hungary's 1896 millennial celebrations, and the Statue of Anonymous, raised in 1903 to a medieval chronicler whose name nobody actually knows.
2020 to now
Tanks lined the path and the holiday closed it again
In the summer of 2026, the Hungarian Defence Forces lined Kós Károly sétány with tanks, howitzers, and infantry vehicles for a public exhibition, letting visitors try laser target shooting and virtual reality simulators. Later that year, on October 23rd, the path closed again, this time for a few hours, as Hungary marked its national holiday with speeches at nearby Heroes' Square.
The path you're standing on carries pedestrians and cyclists past the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, City Park's library housed in part of Vajdahunyad Castle since 1896, and toward the Budapest Zoo, which first opened its gates in 1866.
You can walk the promenade in either direction, toward the thermal bath and its old metro station or toward the castle and the zoo.
Read the ground you are standing on
Every person, building and event in this story opens into its own dig in the app — and Strata will dig the ground under your feet instead, wherever that is, in about a minute, with every source shown.
Sourced records, high and medium confidence. Era background is marked as such.
Modern
Hungarian Wikipedia describes Kós Károly sétány as, in effect, the very first stretch of the M3 motorway, a road that cuts straight through the middle of City Park.
The Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden, one of the oldest zoos in the world, opened in 1866 and was substantially rebuilt in the Transylvanian-folk style between 1909 and 1912.
Built from 1896 and completed in 1906, the Millennium Monument at Heroes' Square celebrates one thousand years since the Magyar tribes settled the Carpathian Basin.
Vajdahunyad Castle, a short walk away, was built for the 1896 Millennium celebrations as a fantasy composite of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings from across Hungary's history.
Állatkert station, an above-ground stop on Continental Europe's first underground railway, served this stretch of the park from 1896 until it was demolished in 1973.
Széchenyi fürdő station, on the yellow M1 Millennium Underground line, sits almost on top of the walkway, formerly known under a different name before the bath line was extended.
Between 1909 and 1912, Károly Kós and Dezső Zrumeczky designed many of the Budapest Zoo's buildings nearby, drawing on Transylvanian and Székely folk architecture.
The Panorama Wheel stood near the park from 1974 until it was demolished in 2014, and Vidám Park, Budapest's amusement park, operated from 1950 until it closed in 2013.
In July 2020 a government order published in the Magyar Közlöny shut Kós Károly sétány to car traffic, with plans to hand the whole park back to pedestrians and cyclists.
The Hungarian Defence Forces lined Kós Károly sétány with tanks, howitzers and infantry fighting vehicles for a public exhibition on August 20–21, 2026.
The path is named after Károly Kós, a Hungarian architect and writer who died in 1977. The city named it for him in 1983, and a memorial of carved wooden grave posts was erected there in 1984.
What happened at Kós Károly sétány in 2020?
In July 2020 a government order published in the official gazette, the Magyar Közlöny, closed the path to car traffic, with City Park intended to belong to pedestrians and cyclists rather than drivers.
What was here before the path became pedestrian-only?
The path carried cars for decades after being named in 1983. It remained open to traffic until the government order of July 2020 shut it to vehicles.
Is there a metro station near Kós Károly sétány?
Yes. Széchenyi fürdő metro station sits close by, on the site of the park's first bathhouse, the Artézi fürdő, which opened in 1896 alongside continental Europe's first metro line.
What military display took place on Kós Károly sétány?
In August 2026 the Hungarian Defence Forces lined the path with tanks, howitzers and infantry fighting vehicles for a public exhibition, with visitors able to try laser target shooting and virtual reality simulators.
What landmarks does the path lead towards?
The path passes the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, housed in part of Vajdahunyad Castle since 1896, and leads toward Budapest Zoo, which first opened in 1866.
Where this came from
1
PestBuda — The path you're on was named for architect Károly Kós in 1983