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Oktogon is one of Pest's major intersections, located at the junction of the Grand Boulevard () and
Andrássy Avenue Small arms of the Andrássy family The House of Andrássy is the name of a Hungarian noble family of very ancient lineage that was prominent in Hungarian history. The full family name is ''Andrássy de Csíkszentkirály et Krasznahorka''. Csí ...
() in
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
,
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. This junction, one of the city's most important, is named for its
octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...
al shape. Oktogon is also a station on the yellow M1 (Millennium Underground) line of the
Budapest Metro The Budapest Metro (, ) is the rapid transit system in the Hungary, Hungarian capital Budapest. Opened in 1896, it is the world's second oldest electrified underground railway after the City and South London Railway of 1890, now part of the Lon ...
, which runs underneath Andrássy Avenue to Heroes' Square ().


History

Prior to the construction of
Andrássy Avenue Small arms of the Andrássy family The House of Andrássy is the name of a Hungarian noble family of very ancient lineage that was prominent in Hungarian history. The full family name is ''Andrássy de Csíkszentkirály et Krasznahorka''. Csí ...
in 1871, there was a large hole at the site, which was then filled in. The next two years saw the construction of the four large eclectic buildings surrounding the intersection, built according to plans of architect
Antal Szkalnitzky Antal Szkalnitzky (6 May 1836 – 9 June 1878) was a Hungarian architect.Szkalnitzky Antal
The intersection was again under significant construction in 1894–1896 as part of the Millennium Underground construction project, built under Andrássy Avenue using the
cut-and-cover A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two Portal (architecture), portals common at each end, though ther ...
method. Oktogon has had numerous names: from 1936 to 1945, it was renamed
Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his overthrow in 194 ...
Square, then between 1945 and 1990 it was known as November 7 Square. Since then it has regained its original name. Oktogon and its famous cafés play a central role in
Vilmos Kondor Vilmos Kondor (born 1954) is the name (possibly pseudonym) of a successful Hungarian author. He's been dubbed as "the creator of Hungarian crime fiction". His seven crime novels, known as the "Sinful Budapest" or "Budapest Noir" Cycle, depict t ...
's 2012 novel Budapest Noir.


References


External links


Map and Satellite images of the Oktogon Junction
Squares in Budapest {{Budapest-geo-stub