Located where Teréz körút meets Andrássy út, Oktogon is one of the busiest junctions in Budapest. The centre of Terézváros was named after its shape, fashioned by four corner buildings, a plan conceived by Antal Szkalnitzky in the 1870s to provide a suitable architectural backdrop to an empty crossroads. Twenty years later, Oktogon also became a stop on the newly built Millennium Underground, now yellow metro line 1. Later renamed after Benito Mussolini until 1945, then the iconic date in the Communist calendar, November 7, Oktogon sported some of the city’s most iconic neon signs both before and after the war. Today the political affinities and much of the neon have gone, and Oktogon is lined with banks and international chain eateries – but remains one of Budapest’s busiest urban interchanges.
