Józsefváros

8th District of Budapest Budapest VIII. kerülete Józsefváros
District
District VIII
Flag Coat of arms
Location of District VIII in Budapest (shown in grey)
Coordinates: 47°29′22″N 19°4′14″E / 47.48944°N 19.07056°E / 47.48944; 19.07056
Country	Hungary
Region	Central Hungary
City	Budapest
Established	17 November 1873
Quarters[1]	List Corvin negyed Csarnok negyed Ganz negyed Kerepesdűlő Losonci negyed Magdolna negyed Népszínház negyed Orczy negyed Palotanegyed Százados negyed Tisztviselőtelep
Government
•  UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	1081 ... 1089
Website	jozsefvaros.hu/english/

Józsefváros (

.

Location

The main streets in Józsefváros are Baross utca, Rákóczi út and Üllői út;

.

Name

The 18th century suburb was first called Alsó-Külváros (literally "Lower Suburb"). It was named after the heir of the Hungarian throne, Emperor Joseph II in 1777.

Description

Józsefváros mostly consists of old, often neglected residential buildings with nice interiors. It can be divided into three parts, the borders being Grand Boulevard (Nagykörút) and the roads Fiumei út and Orczy út.

The innermost, central part includes several remarkable spots, such as the National Museum, and the central buildings of the

, hosting the Metropolitan Library, and Pálffy Palace with the Classical Music Collection of the above. This neighborhood underwent major renovations between 1996 and 2002 and it has become a happy, swarming place with scores of students and several cafés and pizzerias.

The second part, beyond Nagykörút (about 0.8 kilometres or 1⁄2 mile farther) has a worse reputation, due to the prostitution that was rampant in the 1990s (and earlier), which has been mostly eliminated through cameras throughout the district. In this part one can find the Centre for Foreign Languages (the oldest and "authentic" language examination place in Hungary), Erkel Theatre (a department of the Hungarian State Opera House), the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Corvin Budapest Film Palace (a multiplex cinema), one of Budapest's biggest gardens (Orczy-kert), and a large complex of cliniques.

Its traditional craftsmen neighbourhood, which became a slum in the previous decades, is currently under re-development. The dilapidated 19th century housing stock is cleared to make way for large office blocks and housing developments. Corvin-Szigony Project is the biggest urban renewal project in Central-Europe.^[3] The effects and methods of the project were criticized, mainly for the destruction of the architectural heritage of the area.

The residential parts occupy less area in the third part, which is noted for

, one of the most famous cemeteries in Hungary, with mausoleums for the most reputable historical personalities.

Neighborhoods and metro

The district is administratively divided into 11 neighborhoods: Palotanegyed Népszínház Csarnok Magdolna Corvin (neighborhood) [hu; fr] Losonci Orczy Kerepesdűlő Százados Ganz Tisztviselőtelep

The following Budapest Metro stations are located in the area: Astoria Blaha Lujza tér Keleti pályaudvar Puskás Ferenc Stadion Népliget Nagyvárad tér Semmelweis Klinikák Corvin-negyed Kálvin tér Rákóczi tér II. János Pál pápa tér

Demographics

According to 2011 census, the population of the district was 76,250. It is relatively homogeneous with the

Politics

The current mayor of VIII. District of Budapest is András Pikó (member of c8 - NGO in VIII district - supported by Momentum).

The District Assembly, elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made up of 18 members (1 Mayor, 12 Individual constituencies MEPs and 5 Compensation List MEPs) divided into this political parties and alliances:^[5]

Party		Seats	Current District Assembly
	Opposition coalition[a]	12	M
	Fidesz-KDNP	6

List of mayors

Member		Party	Date
	Zoltán Koppány	SZDSZ	1990–1992[b]
	Béla Csécsei	SZDSZ	1993–2009[b]
	Máté Kocsis	Fidesz	2009–2018[b]
	Botond Sára	Fidesz	2018–2019
	András Pikó	Momentum	2019–

Related novels and movies

Ferenc Molnár's youth novel, The Paul Street Boys (A Pál utcai fiúk, 1907), which was made into film several times (see the Imdb entry of the most famous version), originally takes place at real venues of this district: Pál utca, Mária utca and Füvészkert (botanical garden).

In 2004, a caricaturistic animated movie

was made about an infamous part of this district which has been screened in several European countries and won numerous awards on the international scene.

The starting and closing scenes of

's Nobel Prize–winning novel, were screened in this district, namely at Lőrinc pap tér.

The second season of Baptiste, a British TV Drama, takes place around Jozsefvaros, and hate crimes against the immigrant population that lives there.

Twin towns

Józsefváros is twinned with:

• Pescina, Italy
• District VIII of Vienna, Austria
• Iosefin of Timișoara, Romania
• Küçükçekmece of Istanbul, Turkey
• Aalborg, Denmark
• Ibbenbüren, Germany

See also

• Auróra, community centre in the district
• Palotanegyed
  , a neighborhood in the district.
• List of districts in Budapest

Gallery

• 
  Astoria
• 
  Corvin alley
• 
  Ludovika square
• 
  Rezső square
• 
  Práter utca
• 
  Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum

Notes and references

1. ^ "94/2012. (XII. 27.) Főv. Kgy. rendelet - a közterület- és városrésznevek megállapításáról, azok jelöléséről, valamint a házszám-megállapítás szabályairól" (in Hungarian).
2. ^ ^{a b} "A fővárosi kerületek, a megyei jogú városok, a városok területe, lakónépessége és a lakások száma" [The area of districts of the capital, of the towns with county's rights, resident population and number of dwellings]. Magyarország közigazgatási helynévkönyve 2016. január 1 [Gazetteer of Hungary 1st January, 2016] (PDF). Hungarian Central Statistical Office. 2016. p. 21.
3. ^ http://www.corvinsetany.hu/koncepcio.php?lang=en^{[permanent dead link]}
4. ^ "Központi Statisztikai Hivatal". www.ksh.hu. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
5. ^ "Városi közgyűlés tagjai 2019-2024 - Budapest VIII. kerület". valasztas.hu. Retrieved 1 November 2019.

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Józsefváros.

• Budapest Sun article
• Aerial photographs of Józsefváros