Guckler Károly-kilátópont

On the crown of Hármashatár-hegy in Hungary, the Guckler Károly-kilátópont lifts an octagonal deck four metres above the ground. Reinforced concrete carries that platform, layered pine beams brace it, and steel bolts hold the frame together. Beneath your feet once stood a Second World War anti-aircraft battery, and its scars marked the hillside for decades.

Architect József Koller, winner of the Ybl Prize, designed the tower that went up in 2016. The lookout bears the name of Károly Guckler, city forester and later head of the forestry authority. Decades of woodcutting had left these hills nearly treeless by the late nineteenth century, and Guckler led their replanting. Following methods from Vienna, he planted hardy black pines to anchor the soil. Those plantings opened the way for the varied native woodland covering these slopes, and the forest keeps renewing itself.

From the upper deck, the panorama sweeps a full 360 degrees. Northward, your gaze crosses the Vác valley and reaches the Pilis and Visegrád hills. South and east, the city's eastern side spreads across ancient floodplains toward the Gödöllő hills. On the clearest days the ridges of the Mátra and the High Tatras stand out on the horizon.