Graffiti is cool. Street art even more so, but this is not a modern phenomenon. It existed before, just didn’t have a name. Or it was called differently. Earlier graffiti was considered hooliganism. Undoubtedly, these artworks were not detailed texts or drawings, they had little aesthetic value. But they had a unique style and most importantly a message and, moreover, they challenged the cityscape. Unless they had another outlet, country people expressed themselves through graffiti. Illustrated by communal archive Fortepan, let’s discover what was written on the walls in Communist Budapest.

Mind your language

Some pictures contain swear words and coarse language in Hungarian.

People have been scrawling messages in public places since Ancient Rome. Announcements and political statements as well as individual opinions were also written on the walls. Then, as the glory of the great empire ended, so did this tradition.

After that, scratching or drawing on the walls was punished and if it had a political message, the artist was even taken away for his troubles. It is still a crime today, but nowadays there are parts of the city where you can still paint the walls legally.


As graffiti has evolved and especially with the phenomenon of street art, the rules have been relaxed. Plus, let’s face it, colourful murals sometimes spice up the city.

In the past, the message surpassed aesthetics. Apart from simple messages of love, these were mostly obscenities and political protests, but in some cases these two were combined.


Then, by the ’80s, plain drawings became more common, the simple, concrete artworks of today’s graffiti appeared, and the subculture built around rap saw walls tagged with names.

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