The birth of the main street400 years ago if you had stood in the middle of Vörösmarty Square you would have stood in the middle of nothing; endless plains surrounding you on one side, and an unregulated Danube flowing in front of the Buda hills on the other. In 1686 Buda and Pest were liberated from the Ottoman Turks and it was time for the Habsburg to leave their mark on the two cities.
First, they apportioned the area behind the Downtown Abbey (V., Március 15. Square) and the remains of the scrappy Ottoman street to the left, then joined it together to create the main street and sold the land to mostly imperial Germans, Greeks, Serbs and some Hebrews. That is why although a national pride now, the street itself has never been typical Hungarian. Most of the trade signs up till the late 18th c. were in German.
Gate nameThe street was finally named after the gate that once stood between Váci Street no. 2 and no. 3. (Notice the plaque on the wall next to Hard Rock Café.) The gate was then demolished in 1789 to lengthen the street and add Vörösmarty Square. Another example which demonstrates that the mayors of the city were desperate to keep the Váci Street connected to main routes is that it was only decades (in 1911) after the demolishment of the Piarist School that the Piarists were granted a piece of land for the schools reconstruction (no.27) but only with the condition that an alleyway must be built for the pedestrian traffic coming from the Elisabeth Bridge to be able to pass through.
Look up!Now that you know that there is more to this street than souvenirs, next time you walk down it, leave the window shopping to the masses and look up instead. Did you spot the Pesti Theater (no. 9.)? Or the Lord watching over the by-passers from his cubicle (no.13.)? Or the Hungarian Crown (no.14.)? Or the gate carved from wood (no. 15)? Or the Pegasus cut in half (no.20.)? Or the Harris Bazaar (no. 34.)?
When you reach the subway, don’t forget that the other side of the Váci utca awaits you with among many other beautiful buildings the Officers’ Casino (no.38.), the plaque of the Swedish king’s visit (no.43.) and the Serbian House (no.66.). Keep walking and try to guess which houses were bombed during wars and had to be resurrected thereafter!
To answer our own question: the Váci Street has history that makes it more than just a row of shops but it is exactly the evergreen commercial and catering trade that won’t allow it to slip down the drain of history. So the city may grow and transform, tourists and locals may come and go but the Váci Street will conquer all.
