Andrassy Avenue

Andrássy Avenue or Andrássy út (lit. Andrássy Road) is the most representative road of Budapest, Hungary, connecting Erzsébet tér with City Park. It is mostly flanked by Eclectic-Neo-renaissance palaces with fine facades, staircases and interiors, and it is part of the World Heritage.

Andrássy Avenue decreed to be built in 1870, to discharge the parallel Király utca from heavy traffic and to connect the inner city parts (see Belváros) with Városliget through Terézváros. Its construction began in 1872 and the avenue was inaugurated on August 20 (a national holiday), 1867. It realization was a blend of the plans proposed by the top 3 competitors Lajos Lechner, Frigyes Feszl and Klein & Fraser. Its palaces were built by the most distinguished architects (led by Miklós Ybl) of the time, financed by Hungarian and other banking houses. These were mostly finished by 1884 and mostly aristocrats, bankers, landowners and historical families moved in. It was named in 1885 after the main supporter of the plan, Prime Minister Gyula Andrássy.

The construction of the first underground in Continental Europe was proposed in 1870, since the capital had always been against any surface transport on this road. Construction began in 1894 and was finished in 1896, so this new metro line could facilitate the transport to Városliget, the main venue of the millennium celebrations of Hungary.