On the evening of October 23, 1956, students in Budapest wanted one thing: their demands read out on the radio. By the next morning, a peaceful protest had become an armed uprising against the communist regime and the Soviet army. For a few days in late October it looked as if Hungary had won. Then, on November 4, the tanks came back. This walk follows those days in order through Pest, from the Radio building where the first shots were fired, past the passage where young fighters held off Soviet armor, along the route of the crowd that rode Soviet tanks to Parliament, to the statue of Imre Nagy, the prime minister who paid with his life. It is about five and a half kilometers, one of our self-guided walking tours built around a single story.

Before you set off

The walking takes about an hour and twenty minutes; with the stories, allow two and a half hours. Pest is flat, and the route follows the boulevards and big avenues. Astoria and Kálvin tér metro stations are each a few minutes from the start. The walk ends beside the Pest end of Margaret Bridge, where trams 2, 4 and 6 stop, and Kossuth Lajos tér metro is about 800 meters back. The old Radio building is partly a construction site, so check what you can see on the day. October 23, November 4 and June 16 are days of mourning and remembrance here, so expect ceremonies and crowds on those dates.

Corvin Passage & Kilián Barracks

Kálvin tér and the statue of John Calvin, Budapest Stand in front of the Corvin Cinema, set in its round courtyard. It was a cinema then and it is a cinema now. The bronze boy in front of it is the Pesti srác, the Pest kid, by Lajos Győrfi, put up in 1996. Across Üllői út is the large former Kilián Barracks.

The first Soviet armored units rolled into Budapest between three and four in the morning on October 24. That same day, a group of young insurgents formed here at the Corvin Cinema. The Corvin group fought the Soviet tanks at this junction. According to the National Heritage Institute, the Soviets lost about 120 soldiers and 20 to 25 armored vehicles here in the October fighting.

Across the road, the barracks were commanded by Colonel Pál Maléter. On October 25 he reached a ceasefire with the Corvin fighters. On October 28 the Soviets attacked the Corvin group at dawn and were driven back, and by the next day it had about 1,000 to 1,200 armed fighters. On October 31 Maléter became first deputy minister of defense.

On November 4, when the Soviet army returned in force, this junction and the barracks were among its main targets, and the Corvin group fought heavy battles along Üllői út and Práter utca. Look to the right of the cinema entrance for a plaque to Sándor Kopácsi. You will hear about him shortly.

Now back to the morning of October 25. Walk north-west up Üllői út to Kálvin tér, then along Múzeum körút past the National Museum to Astoria, about twenty minutes.

Hungarian Radio Building

You're on Bródy Sándor utca, behind the National Museum, in front of the old headquarters of Hungarian Radio. The courtyard wings behind are due to be demolished, but the street front is to stay. Find the two memorial plaques on the facade: one for the soldiers of an armored unit who died in the siege, one for everyone who died here among the protesters and fighters.

On October 22, students at the Technical University drew up their demands, the "16 points". The next afternoon, at three, they marched to the statue of General Bem in Buda. The rally had been banned at lunchtime, then allowed an hour and a half later. By about five that evening, a crowd had come here. They wanted the 16 points read on air. The Radio's leadership refused.

Inside were about 260 to 280 state security men and soldiers. In the evening, the security men opened fire into the crowd. The sources differ on the exact times, but the shooting began that evening, and one participant remembered the cry going up: "They've shot him dead!" Some soldiers sent in as reinforcements went over to the protesters. Fighters shot from the roofs and attics around this street, and the siege went on all night. The insurgents took the building on the morning of October 24, though by then the broadcasts were coming from Parliament instead.

That same night, at 9:37, another crowd pulled down the giant statue of Stalin, using cutting torches. And at about eleven, at the request of the party leader Ernő Gerő, the order went out for Soviet troops to occupy Budapest.

Follow your map south-east to the Grand Boulevard where it crosses Üllői út, about fifteen minutes.

Astoria

Stand on the corner by the Hotel Astoria, the hotel that gives this busy crossroads its name.

On the morning of October 25, Soviet tanks were here. And something extraordinary happened. Demonstrators climbed up onto them, and the crews let them. People believed that talks between the new government and the Soviets were going on in Parliament; the Soviet leaders Mikoyan and Suslov had been in Budapest since the day before.

So the crowd set off for Parliament, and three Soviet tanks went with them, carrying demonstrators and Hungarian flags. Picture it at this crossroads: a revolution and the army sent to crush it, heading the same way together.

From Astoria and from other directions, thousands of people poured toward Kossuth Square that morning. The chronology of the 1956 Institute puts eight to ten thousand on the square between ten and eleven.

You are going to follow them. Walk along Károly körút, the boulevard that was then called Tanács körút, to Deák Square, about seven minutes.