Four capital cities stand on the banks of the Danube, but only one has the river at its heart. Before Budapest’s official unification on 17 November 1873, the royal city of Buda looked out from its castle-topped hill across the river towards popular Pest on the plain. The opening of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge in 1849 had laid the ground-work, permanently linking both halves of the Hungarian capital. This stone-and-iron landmark has been closed for two years for renovation: its expected autumn reopening will be the most fitting present the city could gift itself on its 150th birthday. What’s more, visiting well-wishers will find some exciting new hotels to stay in.
Exploring Johannesburg: the graffiti capital of Africa
21.07.2023 - 08:20 / roughguides.com / Rebecca Hallett / Africa / Art
Johannesburg is a much-misunderstood city but despite misconceptions it’s one well worth visiting too, with a wealth of museums and galleries, world-class jazz and – as it turns out – a thriving street art scene. With Past Experiences guide and founder Jo Buitendach, Rebecca Hallett takes a walking tour of Maboneng Precinct to discover a lesser-known side to the city.
She continues. “Of course people are drawn to the big stuff, but the tags are where it all begins. You get someone starting with a small tag like this, then they get involved in the local graffiti scene, meet established artists, play around and learn how to express themselves in a larger, more creative way. Without these little tags, which most people overlook, you’d never get the huge, colourful pieces we’ll see later.”
Street art by Nelson Makamo — copyright Rebecca Hallett
The city’s image is still defined by its troubled history, but the vibrant street-art scene actually emerged from the city’s degeneration.
She points to some spiky letters spelling out “Bias”, telling us “this guy’s a friend, and works as a guide for us – you’ll see more of his stuff later”. As she helps us to tease out the words from what at first looked like impenetrable scrawls, slowly the tags start to make sense. It feels exciting, getting a glimpse into a community we aren’t part of.
If you’re a first-time visitor to Johannesburg, you may be surprised by Jo’s description of the city as “the graffiti capital of Africa” – I certainly was. The city’s image is still defined by its troubled history, but the vibrant street-art scene actually emerged from the city’s degeneration in the eighties and nineties. Faced with soaring unemployment (it’s still around 25 per cent) and a dearth of opportunities, many young Joburgers used the landscape of crumbling, abandoned buildings around them to express their frustrations and pass the time. Scrubbing out street art was hardly a priority, so the scene was mostly left alone, maturing over the years.
By now there are even government-commissioned murals, like the one we move onto next. Just down the road from our introductory tags, Jo points to two giant figures embracing on the side of a building, rendered in simple black, white and red. “This piece is by a French artist, Kazyusclef. It was actually commissioned by Maboneng Precinct – you can tell it was commissioned because of the scale, you couldn’t do that on the fly.”
Street art by Kazyusclef — copyright by Rebecca Hallett
Not all the bigger pieces are government-commissioned, though. We pass some vibrant pink-and-orange gates painted by Johannesburg artist Ryza – he’s even done the padlock to match. Jo explains that local businesses and residents who need a wall smartened up
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