Hárshegy Training Park, Scout campsite in District II, Budapest, Hungary
Hárshegy Training Park is a scout campsite on Ferenc Hill in Budapest District II, with its headquarters at Hárshegy út 7. It served as the Hungarian Scout Association's central leader training park, the Hungarian Gilwell Park, from 1927 to 1948. The Council Rock from that period still stands on the grounds.
The site began operations in 1927 as the training center for the Hungarian Scout Association and served as a key gathering place. Scouting activities ceased in 1948 when communist authorities suppressed the organization and its operations.
The park's name lives on in scouting memory through the B-P's Footprint statue, made by Hungarian scouts after Baden-Powell left his footprint in the sand during his May 7, 1928 visit. The Council Rock also survives from the interwar camp, while the site itself was destroyed in 1948.
The park operates year-round and is accessible via Budapest's public transportation network for those visiting. The hilly terrain means visitors should prepare for uneven ground and changing weather conditions typical of the forested hills.
The park lies on Ferenc Hill, not on Nagy-Hárs-hegy: Bathory Cave, mined for iron ore in the Middle Ages and later the hermitage of Pauline monk László Báthory, is on the southeastern slope of Nagy-Hárs-hegy, outside the grounds. The park's address was Hárshegy út 7, and the Council Rock still stands there.
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