Exploring the Vibrant Street Art Scene in Budapest

Buzzing, bohemian Budapest brims with splendid street art. As you take a stroll through the Hungarian capital, you will find colorful creations that use various surfaces as canvases, from sticker art on lampposts to mural-clad firewalls.

The city’s many romantically dilapidated buildings form a core part of Budapest’s charm. Even as many of these structures have been demolished, the blank walls exposed by the absence of one building offer artists the opportunity to inject some color back into the city on the side of a building that still stands.

Although some of Budapest’s street art is not legal and might even disappear—like the famous Banksy-style stencil art depicting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán atop Thomas the Tank Engine—most mural work is legal and a long-term fixture.

You can find street art, both legal and less so, across the city; however, the most concentrated and spectacular examples are found around the Jewish Quarter in Budapest’s District VII.

A Short History of Street Art in Budapest

The Jewish Quarter (District VII) is the center of Budapest’s street art scene, where many of the city’s best murals are within walking distance of one another. This concentration did not occur by chance.

Now one of Budapest’s coolest neighborhoods, District VII has transformed notably from a painful past. Once a walled-in ghetto, the district is home to buildings that were damaged during WWII and left in ruins for decades. As part of a conscious movement to revitalize this central area, Budapest commissioned artists from around the globe to adorn run-down buildings with contemporary wall art, consequently filling the district with new life and creative flair.

Urban groups like Neopaint and Színes Város (Colorful City Group) bring talented artists from across the nation and the world to add color to empty walls. Today, a stroll through the streets of District VII feels like a visit to an energized urban art show. The locations of Budapest’s best street art can be found in various maps, highlighting must-visit pieces in the area.

Rubik’s Cube, Rumbach Sebestyén utca 5

Did you know the Rubik’s Cube was invented in Budapest? Keep walking past the parking lot and look at the next firewall to your left to find a huge painting by urban art collective Neopaint that pays tribute to an iconic Hungarian invention that keeps the world puzzling to this day.

The mural was painted in 2014 to celebrate not only the 40th anniversary of the invention of the Rubik’s Cube but also the 70th birthday of its inventor, Ernő Rubik. Small, colorful circles in a posterized style create the image—a sort of visual puzzle itself, echoing Ernő Rubik’s motto: “There is always a solution – and not just one.” These words are inscribed on the mural in Hungarian in the bottom left corner.

Sissy, Rumbach Sebestyén utca 11–13

The best place to start is at Deák Ferenc tér, where Metro lines 1, 2, and 3 converge. Walk through the big arch at Madács Imre tér and continue straight on until you reach Rumbach Sebestyén utca. Turn right and keep walking until you see the ornate Moroccan-style synagogue on your left. In front of you is your first mural stop.

District VII is called the Jewish Quarter, but the official name for this area is Erzsébetváros (Elizabeth Town). The name comes from Hungary’s favorite queen, the Habsburg royal Empress Elisabeth (Sisi or Sissy), who inspired this mural by Neopaint. Upon first glance, it may appear to be a simple homage to the Austro-Hungarian empress; however, upon closer inspection, you’ll see it’s really a love letter to the district. Sissy represents Erzsétváros, the neighborhood named after her, and if you examine closely, the mural features a roll call of significant street names in the district, with Rumbach Sebestyén utca, the street this mural occupies, highlighted in yellow.

Angel of Budapest, Dob utca 4

From Rumbach Sebestyén utca, turn right onto Dob utca, and walk back toward your starting point at Deák Ferenc tér. Here, Spanish artist Okuda San Miguel used a cavalcade of colors to commemorate the “Angel of Budapest,” the Spanish diplomat Ángel Sanz Briz, who rescued about 5,000 Hungarian Jews from deportation to Auschwitz. The Jewish Quarter became a walled ghetto in 1944, confining Jewish people before deportation to camps. This mural, located near the Great Synagogue and within the perimeter of the former ghetto, serves as a moving and colorful tribute to a man who saved many members of the Jewish community.

6:3 Match of the Century, Rumbach Sebestyén utca 6–10

Continue straight past the Sissy mural, and you will reach a parking lot to your right. Once you arrive here, turn back and look at the firewall for the next mural. This large 1,000 sq. m mural, also by Neopaint as part of its firewall rehabilitation project in the district, commemorates one of the most significant events in Hungary’s soccer history, when the nation’s Golden Team with Ferenc Puskás triumphed over England with a score of 6–3 at Wembley Stadium in London.

Neopaint created this grand mural in 2013 to celebrate the match’s 60th anniversary under the patronage of Gyula Grocics, the goalkeeper for the 1953 Golden Team. The mural illustrates the iconic moment of Hungary’s epic triumph, along with an entry ticket to the match and the front page of the next day’s newspaper reporting the legendary game.

Love Thy Neighbour, Dob utca 40

From Angel of Budapest, turn around and walk back until you reach number 40, where British artist Luke Embden painted a significant red heart as part of the Colorful City Festival in 2016. Following the onset of the 2022 war in Ukraine nearby, the heart has since been repainted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, lending the mural’s title Love Thy Neighbour an even more poignant and relevant significance.

Greengrocer, Dob utca 48

Continue along Dob utca, passing the square to your right, and observe a vibrant street scene: an apartment block with a shop, numerous windows, and balconies where people are seen sitting outside and tending to plants. Upon closer examination, however, you will realize it’s merely a mural.

Neopaint created this trompe l’oeil work in 2013 as one of its earliest murals for the Firewall Rehab project. Of all the group’s works, this mural has the strongest connection to the neighborhood as it depicts local residents—including “Aunt Zsuzsa,” who was known for operating Lumen Grocery, a shop that stood opposite this building when the mural was painted but regrettably no longer exists. When a leak damaged the building in 2016, the collective promptly repainted this beloved mural.

Alice, Kertész utca 27

Walk past Greengrocer on Dob utca and turn right onto Kertész utca. Keep walking until you reach a parking lot to your left at no 27, where you will find a mural by Spaniard Dan Ferrer, whose work graces the streets of New York, Rome, Milan, and London. He painted this piece in 2017 as part of the Colorful City Festival.

Ferrer indicated that the message of this piece is that children are the future, filled with potential and hope, and need to be nurtured and motivated. Drawing inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, Dan depicted a distressed child with scarred skin and a tired gaze, trapped in a house that she has outgrown. Elements from the original Alice in Wonderland story appear in this surreal mural, such as the “eat me” cookies in the bottom left corner and the tiny door on the right.

Man of the Year, Wesselényi utca 40

Continue on Kertész utca past Alice to Wesselényi, then turn right and keep walking. Just before you cross Akácfa utca, turn around, and you will see this painted firewall at no 40 on your left. It depicts a 1957 Time magazine cover featuring the Hungarian Freedom Fighter as the “Man of the Year.”

The local council commissioned this piece from Neopaint to commemorate the 60th anniversary of this magazine issue. During Hungary’s 1956 uprising against Soviet oppression, the “Boys of Pest” were predominantly young people—often adolescents—who fought for their freedom and beliefs, standing resolutely against Soviet tanks. There’s a specific reason why this location was chosen for the mural; scrutinize the image closely, and you will find that the background mirrors the surrounding street. This very intersection is where freedom fighters József Jambrik and Sándor Merő lost their lives.

This article was first published on October 16, 2019, and updated on July 22, 2022.