"We are living in a historic situation, never before in circus arts has such a situation arisen, which we are now gathered to analyze," emphasized the State Secretary of Culture.Continue reading
After a long planning process, in January 2021 it was established that the National Center for Circus Arts will be located next to the Nyugati Railway Station, which will include a new circus building and an institute for the training of artists.
The planned school building at the foot of Ferdinand Bridge will be built by converting and extending an existing hall, cutting across part of the Nyugati railway station development plans, 24.hu reports.
A mock-up of the planned cross-section of the new circus. Photo via Ádám Urbán/Budapest Grand Circus
A long-distance image and cross-section of the sixty-meter diameter “Wonder Globe” have been produced. They also want to use one of the old railway buildings to create a new artists’ school called CIRCUSCHOOL.
Photo via Ádám Urbán/Budapest Grand Circus
The future school will be located next to Ferdinand Bridge between the transformer station of MÁV (Hungarian State Railways) and the bridge railing. This implies that it will also be necessary to redesign its immediate surroundings. This will mean opening a driveway and a pedestrian entrance so that the buildings bearing the name on the main facade facing Podmaniczky Street will be accessible.
Layout of the Circuschool, which will be created with the redevelopment of the hall, unveiled in January 2021. Photo via Ádám Urbán/Budapest Grand Circus
According to 24.hu, the feasibility of the plans presented by Balázs Fürjes, State Secretary for the Development of Budapest and the Metropolitan Agglomeration, less than a week before the election for the complete revitalization of the Nyugati railway station and its surroundings, has become doubtful.
Photo via Ádám Urbán/Budapest Grand Circus
The drawings showing a green strip in place of the long-vacant railway buildings on Podmaniczky Street and three buildings, probably intended for office space, as presented at the end of March, cannot be carried out. In particular, the hall now to be converted into an artists’ training center was then to be used for cultural purposes, and three buildings along the road were envisaged as likely to be filled with offices – two of them entirely and one at least partly on the site of the current CIRCUSCHOOL project.
Featured image: The layout of the future circus as presented in early 2021. Photo by Ádám Urbán/Budapest Grand Circus