Budapest [antikvár]

would an architect see in a town like Budapest ? In all probability he would first of all conjure up an almost imaginary picture of Budapest with its network of streets and squares linking up the main avenues and bridges along the river, dotted with steeples and domes, and surrounded by factories and hills. This is really a picture that everyone should be able to envisage of the town. The architect's impression of Budapest, however, will differ in somé respects, because, after all, one could say that he had designed it. If not him, then it was a colleague or a predecessor or anyone who was involved in the construction of houses, streets and public buildings, in digging the cellars and planning the water system, paving the roads and erecting the steeples. So the architect knows all sorts of details pertaining to the town that other people have never seen and know nothing about. He can discern the date of each building, how it was constructed and the effbrt and cost that must have gone into its construction. He can see all this, or should be able to do so, in a much more profound and comprehensive way than others, because his duty is not only to design and build towns, butalsotoacquaint himself with their past, present and possible future and to appreciate their problems and hopes. This gives him the right to teli other people about towns, particularly about his own, where he was born and brought up and where he now works. And he should pass on his knowledge to all those who alsó regard the town as their own or who would like to become acquainted with it. Is it sufficient to introduce a town as big and unique as Budapest? Will somé photos of the houses and streets, boulevards and squares, and the bridges over the Danube give an adequate impression of the city ? After all, a short account of the special spots of beauty and interest is the way in which all towns are introduced in the many brochures and publications printed for tourists. But this is surely not enough, because not only does it fail to give a picture of the town as a whole, but it alsó excludes many of the sightseeing spots. The architect, and especially the city planner, does not concentrate on one part of the town, but sees it as a whole. He does not only consider shapes, like a child building a castle of coloured bricks, but alsó single buildings and groups of buildings as the products of past and present life, or as the models of the future. Furthermore he sees the building complex as a mass of open spaces, shapes and blocks pulsating with life. As Imre Madách, the great Hungárián playwright of the last century once said, ". . .only the architect can see the thing as a whole, even if he can't carve a piece of stone." Of course, Madách had the ideál architect in mind when he said this. This does not mean that other people are completely incapable of seeing the town as a whole. The task of planning and building the town, however, falls to the architect, who is responsible for solving today's architectural problems and for planning for the future. This is certainly a very difficult undertaking, and as in the search for perfection in any field, can easily lead to failure. The scope of our task is limited, to start with, by the fact that we are restricted to the attractions of the town, even if they do give the best impression of the city and its particular