What if hills had stories? This is Ferenc-halom. It is a 291-meter-high peak in Budapest. Ferenc-halom is part of the Buda Hills.
Ferenc-halom lies south-southeast of Kis-Hárs-hegy. It sits between Budakeszi Road and Kuruclesi Valley. The surface mainly consists of dolomite and Dachstein limestone.
The northern slope faces the Kuruclesi Valley. It is steep. The southern side slopes more gently towards Zugliget. Once there was a scout park. In 1965 a campsite was built there. It is wrongly called Hárshegyi.
For a long time Ferenc-halom was almost untouched. During the Second World War trenches were dug here. Some traces are still visible. In the 2000s a residential park and hotel were built nearby.
Old name of Ferenc-halom was Faulenzer according to Imre Palugyay. It got its current name from I. Ferenc Hungarian King. According to Jakab Rupp, Ignác Kalmárffy named it. He had the Ferenchalmi Virgin Mary Chapel built here.
In 2020 the pandemic drew attention to green spaces. Especially those easily accessible yet not crowded. Ferenc-halom is such a place. It is a peaceful small forest. Mostly locals visit it.
Some say it got its name from a Saint Ferenc statue. Others say its old name, Faulenzer, changed to Ferenc-halom. This was due to Ignác Kalmárffy. He paid tribute to King I. Ferenc. Since it is essentially an extension of Kis-Hárs-hegy, it may not have had a separate name before.
Ignác Kalmárffy, Buda’s hereditary judge, made Ferenc-halom known. He and his wife Katalin Reinprecht built a chapel. They did so on their own plot and at their own expense. If we look at the present-day area of our district, this is one of our oldest religious buildings that still stands. It was consecrated on October 6, 1822. It was dedicated to Virgin Mary and Saint John of Nepomuk. The small church was later recorded as the Saint László Chapel. This was on maps made of the surrounding area.
Kalmárffy had already built an inn a few years earlier. It was at the junction of today’s Kuruclesi and Budakeszi Roads. The fire department building stands there today. As Pest and Buda grew, so did traffic. This was on the road used since the Middle Ages. Merchants from the surrounding villages, mainly Budakeszi, came and went to the city markets here. The inn was doing well. The chapel also became an important destination. Especially after Queen Elizabeth and her two children spent time at the Kochmeister villa next to Budakeszi Road in 1866. The imperial children and their mother attended mass in the chapel. They often walked on the surrounding hills.
As a memento of their visit, the Queen gifted a valuable Maria Theresa-era chasuble to the parish. Following in their footsteps, this area became fashionable. It was mostly populated with vacationers. There were few permanent residents at that time.
Half a century later, another famous person left his mark on the side of Ferenc-halom. This was Baden Powell, the founder of Scouting. In 1928, he visited the scout park. It was developed on the southern slopes of Ferenc-halom. The park was called Hárs-hegy. This 25-acre enclosed camp trained scout leaders from 1927 onwards. The area at the beginning of Hárshegyi Road is now a hotel’s park. It is well-kept and has sports fields. The scout park was known worldwide. Émigrés used it as a model to create a similar Hungarian scout area in New York State in 1965. Baden Powell’s footprint was cast in bronze. For some time, it functioned as a pilgrimage site and birdbath.
Between the beautiful villas and residential buildings along Budakeszi Road, the buildings of the abandoned Béke Children’s Home also appear. Mixed forest covers us. There are surprisingly many paths. Still, there is not much traffic. Here and there, we can find an exposed rock, a smaller meadow, or a forest motocross track. The small chapel near the peak stood abandoned for a long time. Since 2011, it has been in good hands. The Hungarian Maltese Charity Service manages it. Walking among the trees, we can see World War trenches. Fierce battles raged here back then. Today, this small green area is peaceful. It is suitable for a short walk in the fresh air.