Városliget, old Magyar for “City Park,” is the only remaining land connection between Pest’s north and west, and its east and south. Though it has domes, the narrow land bridge has become a major ground-level thoroughfare.
Before the White Lake, much of the area was a city park, with public baths, a castle, gardens, and statuary monuments. Though the original artesian wells had been long since exhausted, the artificially maintained baths and ponds provided a temporary water source after the One-Day War. Many who lost their homes but couldn’t escape the embargo squatted there. They cut down most of the trees in the winter to burn smoky weak fires while they starved but still haggled the prices of diamonds.
As the squatters either died, fled through the first smugglers tunnels, or found new lodging, the destroyed park became the first area to host new construction, the first szálbot-printed domes, after the White Lake formed.
Even after the development of the filament bridge system, having the only land connection between Pest’s north and west, and its east and south, made Városliget a major ground-level thoroughfare.