february 2015 / pécs city guide

Pécs City GuideFeb 2015 / Issue 01 / Free

Don’t be just a visitor, Pécs has more to offer.

INSIDEBIN-JIP, BRAINDOGS, SPRING HIGHLIGHTS, SURVEILLANCE,ZIERFANDLER,MAGASHÁZ

2 Pécs City Guide February 2015 pecscityguide.com

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February 2015 Pécs City Guide 3

4 In Brief More surveillance cameras, Shopping ban, Botanic garden gets facelift 6 Feature Event highlights this spring 8 Drink&Dine Disznótor, Zierfan-dler 12 To Do Bin-Jip, Donumenta, Braindogs, Wild 14 Essentials Still Standing: The Magasház

Contents&Co

HI, this is the first issue of Pécs City Guide maga-zine and I think, I should explain to

you, what this is all about. Long story short, I started the

PCG project in fall 2014 as a crowd-funding campaign on In-dieGoGo.com. My idea was to cre-ate and run a website about Pécs in English. About events, culture, food, new bars and news in gen-eral. A successful crowd-fund-ing campaign would have made it possible to have daily updates, weekly newsletters and all this without ads. Unfortunately, the campaign did not reach its goal, though it had some positive re-sults.

First, I started blogging about Pécs in English again. Sec-ond, the publishing house Me-diaworks Ltd, the biggest print publisher in the Hungarian news business, approached me with their idea to start Pécs City Guide as a print magazine.

We were in talks for several months and the outcome is now in your hands. I hope you’ll like what you read here.

Pécs City Guide will be a free, monthly magazine. You can grab upcoming issues from bars, cafés etc. Suggestions, where you would like to get them, are al-ways welcome.

You will find news on p4, fea-tures on p6-7. Bar and restau-rant reviews, recommendations on p8-10. P12 and p13 is about events. On p14 you will find sto-ries that are essential to under-stand Pécs.

I’m quite sure, the first issue isn’t flawless at all. I’m also quite sure, no issue will be flawless at all. But we will always work hard to make it better and better.

Every comment, recommenda-tion is highly appreciated. You can contact us at [email protected]. The next issue is coming in the first week of March.

Ervin Gűth, editor

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Pécs City GuideThe free, insert magazine of Dunántúli Napló in English. Editor-in-chief/Publisher: László PóréManaging editor: Ervin GűthPublished by Mediaworks Regionális Kiadó Kft. Baranya Megyei Irodája Sales manager: Gyöngyi Nagy Phone: +36 72 505 060, +36 30 9971 006 E-mail: [email protected] Printed by Print Média, Pécs ISSN 08659133


In Brief

Similar laws are not unknown around the world, but this one is quite unique. New government regulations require stores big-ger than 200 square metres to be closed on Sundays, on weekdays between 10pm–6am, and on pub-lic holidays. Shops will be allowed to open on five Sundays each year, for example during the Christ-mas shopping season. Pharmacies, farmers markets and family shops below 200 sq m are permitted to operate on Sundays. Bakeries can also open between 5 am and noon. Retail shops at airports, train sta-tions, gas stations and hospitals also are allowed to operate as late as 10 pm on Sundays.

There is still some controver-sy about this new law since small shops owned and run by families will be allowed to open on Sun-days. Opposition parties argue that the regulation is only a favour to CBA – which happens to be a big supporter of the government. They also say that the Hungari-an grocery franchise won’t be af-fected that much as multination-al grocery chains like Tesco, Aldi or Lidl.

According to market analysts 15,000-20,000 jobs could be lost. Tesco is already closing several stores, other chains are still mak-ing their calculations and try to reorganize.

Hungary’s governing parties decided last December that from March 15 2015 nearly all shops have to stay closed on Sundays. Government officials say that the ruling will help families spending more time together.

SUNDAY SHOPPING BANNED IN HUNGARY BY LAWMAKERS

BOTANIC GARDEN GETS FACELIFT

The 7 hectares big park at Ifjúság útja will be almost completely re-newed. New roads, walls and fenc-es are built, but visitors are still al-lowed.

The park used to be the garden of the Jesuit Pius Grammar School, its

The botanic garden of the University of Pécs is under renovation, but you can still visit it. The overhaul should be finished in spring.

DOES MORE SURVEILLANCE, MEAN MORE SECURITY?Right now 54 surveillance cam-eras are watching the streets of Pécs, every day and night, but soon there will be 63.

Security cameras are installed in streets with the goal of reducing crime and increasing public safety. The usage of these closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems may on the rise but there are several con-cerns, too.

An independent study has shown that surveillance systems were most effective in parking lots (51% decrease in crime rate) and on pub-lic transit systems (23% decrease), while only a 7% decrease could be achieved in city centers and in public housing communities. Oth-er studies suggest that strategi-cally placed cameras were not any different from randomly placed cameras at deterring crime within their viewsheds.

In Pécs monitors are watched by public safety official and the police has a connection, too. Information collected by CCTV is kept for 5 days only. After that the system deletes the videos automatically, except there is a reason to keep them.

development into a botanical garden was launched in 1952. Today, more than 8000 different species can be observed here, from trees and cacti to coffee plants and orchids.

The park can be visited from Mon-day to Saturday, until dusk.


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Stylish design welcomes you in Jókai Bisztró, and fortunately more and more people recognize that the downtown restaurant opens an eas-ily accessible new gate to the world of gastronomy.

The menu has from trendsetting new creations to traditional but re-

thought dishes and flavours pre-pared with the most modern tech-nology almost everything. Nothing is overcomplicated (or overpriced): they are simple and good. Seasonal-ity and freshness are key elements. That’s why it’s important to check out regular menu updates and dai-

ly offers.They also value and use a lot of local, high quality ingredients, some of them coming from the res-taurant’s own farm near Pécs.

Wine plays also a significant role in Jókai Bisztró’s life, but that be-comes quite obvious at first sight. Hungary’s well known wine regions and most popular wineries natural-ly share the space with rareties and exclusive items. High quality coffee drinks made with the greatest care-fullness, coctails, and unique soft drinks make Jókai Bisztró a good choice in any time of the day.

Jókai Bisztró got 11 points from Gault Millau’s most recent 2015 edition, and according to Made in Pécs magazine it was the best res-taurant of Pécs in 2013. Hungarian news channel Hír TV named the bis-tro also as number one in its annual test in 2014.

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10Feature

THE TOP EVENTS

IN SPRINGSpring is coming. Too early to talk about that? May-be, but we can’t help thinking of these events and festivals – a lot of them at open air venues already. Let’s see what Pécs has to offer in spring.Nom De Strip March 7 Amper Klub (Czinderi str) When Chris Elliot aka Nom De Strip started his solo career – after being successful with Stupid Fresh – he immediately gained the support of Swedish House Maffia, Tiesto, dead-mau5. His first tracks – with lots of vocals, a lot of bangs and drops – found their natural home on dead-mau5’s highly successful mau5trap label imprint. In 2013, he signed an exclusive deal with Chris Lake’s Ris-ing Music label. Hosts of the evening are the local heroes of Space In-halerz celebrating their 5th birthday.More: soundcloud.com/nomdestrip

23. Francophone WeekMarch 12-18 Several venuesIt used to be one of the biggest happenings of March in Pécs, but budget cuts affected the festi-val in recent years. Hopefully, it will be much the same again this year, and French culture, con-certs screenings, plays and exhi-bitions will attract a big audience again.More: af.org.hu

Portugieser du Monde April 11, Zsolnay Cultural QuarterThe organizers - and a lot of win-emakers believe the Portugieser grape variety deserves more atten-tion. This is the third time that an international competition and wine tasting is held and winemakers from all over Europe are expected to par-ticipate. The international jury gives prizes in the categories: young and vintage Portugiesers, and blends. And everybody is invited to join them and get to know the different faces of the variety at a public wine tasting.More: fb.com/PortugieserDuMonde

Tap Factory April 13 Kodály Centre Tap dance, urban percussion, acro-batics, hip hop and comedy collide in the rhythm based theatre show Tap Factory. The french troupe’s new pro-duction – in the genre of STOMP and Blue Man Group – incorporates differ-ent genres of dance against a contem-porary urban setting to create a whol-ly unique piece of performance.More: tapfactory.com

Oliver Huntemann April 18 Amper Klub (Czinderi str) The trained in electronic engi-neer, now successful producer and dj is leaving his hometown Ham-burg for a short trip to Pécs. Oliver Huntemann’s route to techno took a tour through electro and rave. Huntemann has remixed Under-world, The Chemical Brothers and Depeche Mode, and tours right now with his compilation Play! 05 from 2014.More: huntemann.tv

Pécs University Days April 30–May 2 Zsolnay Cultural QuarterLast year, Pécs University Days ac-companied with Zsolnay Festival (see later) was told to be a great success. This year (despite the fact that the festival will begin in less than 2 months) we hardly now an-ything about its headliners, off programs etc. But it’s quite sure that the festival is going to be a must, so there is no reason not to list it here.

Budapest Festival Or-chestraMay 3 Kodály CentreThe Budapest Festival Orchestra is considered to be one of the ten best orchestras in the world and with-out doubt the very best in Hunga-ry. They brought such world stars to the concert halls of Hungary as Yehudi Menuhin, Pinchas Zuker-man. The BFO is accompanied this evening with one of the greatest discoveries of recent years, the French David Fray. Program: the overture of Johan Wagenaar’s Cyra-no de Bergerac, Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major by Ludwig van Bee-thoven and Symphony No. 5 in D mi-nor from Dmitri Shostakovich.More: bfz.hu/en

Tap Factory


10IV. Spice FestivalMay 6-10, Széchenyi sqr,

Jókai sqrAs you can see, there will be no week with-out a festival in May. Wine, spices and grilled dishes are in the focus of this

event taking place in the city centre. With

concerts, planting herbs and spices and the annual

extreme grill competition.More: fb.com/pecsifesztival

III. Hungarian Craft Beer Festival May 14-24, Rózsakert (Janus Pan-nonius str)Beer brewing may have its roots in Pécs but this is something com-pletely different. The Hungarian Craft Beer Festival was introduced for the first time in Pécs in October 2013. Without doubt it was one of the best events that year, with more than 10000 attendants. The second could repeat the success flawlessly. We wouldn’t be suprised if the or-ganizers (the guys behind Művész

Presszó and Egylet) would try to top (or tap) that. Concerts and superb street food are just the plus.More: fb.com/MuveszPresszo

Zsolnay FestivalMay 29–31 Zsolnay Cultural QuarterThe Quarter has a festival almost every month, but these one is spe-cial. It’s a mixed arts festival that thrives to be’s the most prestigious of them all. Let the numbers speak: last year the nearly 100 events that

took place in only three days attract-ed more than 20000 visitors. This years events are still TBA, but clas-sical and pop concerts, dance, theat-er, indoor and outdoor exhibitions should be on the list. More: zsolnayfesztival.hu

For more information on events look for the following issues of Pécs City Guide and check out pecscityguide.com.

Zsolnay Festival


Drink&Dine

[THIS-NO-THOR]Disznótor is the feast meal after pig-slaughter. This may sound cruel but not only traditions and the necessity bind Hungarians to pig butchering, the love for foods eaten at these occa-sions is also important. The pig slaughtering season comes to its end soon, so this is your last chance to try several of these dishes on time.

Kolbász & HurkaKolbász is a sausage made of fatty parts and seasoned with paprika (hot and mild), black pepper, garlic and salt. Hurka - made with pig blood - is also known almost everywhere in the world may it called Blutwurst, black pudding etc. These are not the same, but if you like them the Hun-garian version is also worth a try. For kolbász Balkán Bisztró (Ferencesek str 32) has a very good one, it’s only a slightly thinner than authentic versions. To eat both, it’s recommended to go to Uránváros market (Ha-jnóczy str 1) and look for the food booths. Kolbász costs HUF320/10dkg, while hurka is only HUF200/10dkg. Bread (HUF30) is not included.

Kocsonya“Pork jelly”. It’s not eaten on the day of pig-slaughter but it’s made of leftover parts like legs, ears, tongue, bones and skin. Bones and skin are the most important since cooking them for hours makes the jelly. Restaurants have it on their menu from December till March, most of them have a take out op-tion, too. We tested several of them and there were serious qual-ity issues, but two were outstand-ing. You can (and should) try Bohe-mia Sörkonyha’s (Nagy Flórián str 11) for HUF640 and Mátyás Király Vendéglő’s (Ferencesek str 9) koc-sonya. At Mátyás K you have to preorder and pick up on Friday.

TöpörtyűOr tepertő. A by-product of cook-ing fat making, but very delicious. Almost every butcher has them, and you can buy them at local markets, too. Some salt, onions and white bread is all you need. It’s important to ask for fresh!

Take it allTourism has discovered the potential of organizing pig slaughter weekends, and there are sev-eral options in the region. Ho-tel Cabernet in Villánykövesd organizes pig killing parties like every weekend till the second week of March. You are greeted with pálinka in the morning (get-ting drunk is part of the tradition) and can see how proper butcher-ing is done. It’s not a cheap week-end but it’s all you can eat and drink. Two nights at Hotel Caber-net costs HUF42900, but there are several other options as well. More information at hotelcabernet.hu.

Pre-ordering at Kalamáris Res-taurant (Rákóczi str 32) is anoth-er great option to try as many disznótor foods as possible. They make a special menu for mini-mum 8 people until the end of February and it costs HUF3900 per person. This includes tepertő, pork soup, liver stew, hurka, kol-bász with braised cabbage. And an absolutely delicious dessert made with pork belly fat.

Photo: Joaquim Alves Gaspar


Where can wine lovers find your products in Pécs?

We recently opened our latest Borkatedrális Wine Shop in Pécs, and welcome our returning and new customers at Rákóczi str 6/1, too. Our wine shops have an ex-ceptionally wide range of prod-ucts, more than 50 different, self produced wines are available. These are mainly high quality bot-tled wines, that are grouped ac-cording to different topics into dif-ferent wine families. These are the Villány’s Wines Of Protected Origin or Traditional Varieties Of Pécs, and the Dessert Wines Of The Mediterra-nean. But we also do have wines in 2l plastic bottles.

WINE FOR EVERYONE (X)What are the wines of the medi-

terranean dessert family?We do not produce only red

wines but a wide range of white varieties, with a lot of very aromat-ic varieties. Wines made of Mus-cat Ottonel, Tramini and Hárslevelű are mainly consumed and be-loved by Hungarians as dessert wines. Our late semi sweet white wines were made also according to these characteristics, like our Mária Muskotály from 2013 and the Hárslevelű. Our sweet Mazsolabor, that has a Tramini base, is also a very exclusive product available in 0.5l bottles and it’s also a great gift idea. From our wines from Pécs I’d recommend to try our des-sert wine that is made of Cirfandli.

Rumour says that you have some-thing new for the lovers of wines from Villány, too?

We have a lot of new wines from 2014 that were bottled for St Mar-tin’s Day. From our local special-ities line I have to underline our ADÉL Rozé, made of Portugieser. From our international varieties I’d like to highlight our Chardonnay Barrique, that is a traditionally bar-rel-aged white wine, and maybe a red one, our Cabernet Franc.

But we are also determined to give more prominence to other wine-related products from the region. That’s why we do sell lo-cal sparkling water, cold pressed grapeseed oil or even grape and pomace pálinkás in our wine shops.

Are there wine tasting events in your winery, too?

We warmly welcome everybody interested in our cellar. You can find the Borkatedrális Winery next to the main road at Villánykövesd. Our wine tastings include a wide range of our awarded wines. We can seat 10-40 people, appoint-ment only. For more information send us an email to [email protected] or call +36 30 357 5471. See you there!

Borkatedrális Winery may have a long history, but it’s also a refreshing new spot on the map of the Villány wine region. After the latest renewal they are following their own path, without for-getting the lasting tradi-tions of the well-known Bat-thyány Winery. Executive manager Adrienn Czigler tells us about the winery’s everyday life.

BORKATEDRÁLIS WINE SHOPS IN PÉCS:Nagyvárad str 11 (Next to Magda con-fectionery)Rákóczi str 6/1. (Close to Kórház sqr)Rókus str 7/A. (University district, next to Rókus promenade)

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Drink&Dine

ZIERFANDLER MAKES YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH ZIERFANDLERWine production and trade used to have a much bigger role in the city’s economy than today. For decades, the most famous wine from Pécs was the Zierfandler (cirfandli in Hungarian), so it was a good idea to finally name a bar after the variety.

Zierfandler is located at Hunyadi János str, that means a little pow-er hiking from Széchenyi sqr. What we are willing to do glad-ly from now on. As we step in we get the feeling that this is just a simple, old style tavern, where we definitely do not want to be. But taking a quick look at the wine card makes us rethink our first impressions. The small but cosy Zierfandler, that can seat about a maximum of 14-16 peo-ple, is definitely the right place, where we do want to spend a cou-ple of hours.

The main attraction here are the wines, since the bar has only local wines, all made in the Pécs wine region. The wine region used to be huge (7000 hectares), today only 800 hectares are cul-tivated. This means, it is not a simple task to maintain and up-date a wine card that is always exciting to everyone. But Zier-fandler manages this easily.

Since the region is (or used to be) famous for white wines (HUF150-800/dl), you should not be surprised that you will find mainly white wines on the card. That’s also quite unique in Hungary, where red wines have

a much better reputation than whites. (Falsely.)

Of course, the cirfandli menu (Huf 2500) is absolutely a must. You can taste 8 different cirfand-lis (actually the bartender/own-er told us that soon there will be 10). From light and crisp to full bodied and sweet you get the whole spectrum. It’s quite sure, that this is the biggest range of cirfandlis at a single place in whole Hungary. It will not make you an expert on cirfandli but you can’t get a better introduc-tion elsewhere.

I don’t see any other reason for visiting Zierfandler than tasting wine, but don’t worry if you just have to accompany your wine fa-natic friend. They have bottled beers (Szalon HUF250, Paulan-er HUF600, Heineken 0,33l HUF380), a lots of spirits and the usual non-alcoholic beverages like juices, coffee and tea, too.

I don’t think it will be my fa-vourite place in Pécs, but I’m quite sure that from time to time we will have to go back and check their cirfandli menu updates.ZIERFANDLER Hunyadi János str 52; Open: Tue-Sat 4pm-10pm; Contact (mobile): +36 30 411 5581.

MCDONALD’S CLO-SED ON SZÉCHENYI SQUARE AND RELO-CATED AT ÁRKÁD

The main HQ of McDonald’s closed its door in January, since they didn’t want to sign a con-tract for another 20 years with the city. The unit will be missed by a lot of people, others are hap-py to see it go. Actually, the num-ber of McDonald’s units did not change, so there will be no less junk food in Pécs. As of January 17 they relocated in Árkád, accom-panying KFC and Burger King.

Unlike other locations in Király and Ferencesek str this will not be without a tenant: a group of investors already won the tender. Newspapers say, the new shop will have wine and coffe in focus.

The 5 Best* Espressos1. Balkán Bisztró

(Lucky Cap)

2. Cafe Frei (self branded)

3. CoffeeshopCompany (self branded)

4. Jókai Bisztró (Carraro)

5. Ciao Pizzeria (Perté)

*Editor’s opinion, based on price, quality, and reliability.

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To Do

Bin-Jip is the best example to demonstrate that trip-hop and nu-jazz are not only hyped and tem-porary genres of music from the past. On their second album Heavy, released December 2014, they ex-periment even more with electron-ic sounds.

Singer Veronika Harcsa, music producer/dj Andrew J and guitarist Bálint Gyémant worked almost se-cretly on their first, self-released

album titled Enter in 2010. This time, their approach to songwrit-ing was quite different: new pieces were tested right away on their au-dience while on tour and reconsid-ered based on the received feed-back.

Bin-Jip is a very democratic com-munity, where the musicians are almost peers in writing, arranging the songs and being producers of the project. Lyrics are usually pro-

vided by professional jazz singer Veronika Harcsa, getting her inspi-ration from dreams or little stories that happened to her. The mas-termind behind the production is Andrew J dedicating most time to tweaking sounds, while Bálint Gyémánt thrives as a guitarist. And the eclectic, modern and ex-perimental sounds just work. February 28, 9pm, Pécsi Est Café (Rákóczi str. 46) HUF1200/1500.

It started as a one-time gig. Hungarian musicians got togeth-er, for the first time in 2004, to celebrate their idol Tom Waits on his 55th birthday. More than a decade later, the tribute band The Braindogs is still active, with one or two performances every year in Pécs, too.

The bourbon soaked voice of the American singer-songwriter-ac-tor Tom Waits is so characteris-tic and bound to his songs that nobody else should be allowed to copy his art. Except someone who has the same ability of processing alcohol into great blues. And this

is the point where British singer and guitarist Ian Siegal steps into the game. Thanks to the blues art-ist – backed by Ripoff Raskolnikov (A) and famous Hungarian mu-sicians like Tibor Kiss and Livius Varga (Quimby), and Frenk – the concerts of The Braindogs aren’t imitations, but real performanc-es. „Funny thing is, at first people came to our concerts as fans of Tom Waits, but now they come as fans of The Braindogs” – said the several British Blues Awards win-ner Siegal in an interview. February 26, 8pm, E78 (Zsolnay Cultural Quarter) HUF1990/2390.

The best metaphor for crossbor-der cooperation in Europe is the Danube. This is what the found-ers of the donumenta recognized more than a decade ago. Between 2003 and 2011, donumenta has given a demonstration of the most current art of the countries along the river, following its geo-graphical flow.

The exhibition titled 14 x 14 – Survey of the Danube Region. Individual Views. displays pho-tography and sculpture of out-standing artists from the 14 countries of the region. 14 con-temporary, internationally re-nowned sculptors, painters, in-stallation and media artists as well as a photographer reflect the realities, experiences and utopi-as of their home countries in 26 snapshots.

In Pécs, a special honour is giv-en to István Csákány. In addition to his photographs, the inter-nationally known and success-ful Hungarian artist, living in Berlin, presents his installation Coat Stand.Jan 23–Feb 20, Pécsi Galéria (Széchenyi sqr) HUF250/500.

Donumenta

Bin-Jip

The Braindogs


To Do

WildMore than a decade after the

huge success of High Fidelity and About a Boy it’s still not a big sur-prise to see other novels by Nick Hornby get their movie versions. In 2014 a British black comedy ti-tled A Long Way Down rolled out, but Wild, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée starring Reese Wither-spoon and Laura Dern is some-thing completely different. This time the acclaimed author wrote

the script based on the biographic novel of Cheryl Strayed.

After two tragedies – her di-vorce and the loss of her moth-er – Cheryl (Reese Witherspoon) decides to hike more than 1100 miles as a therapy. The movie de-picts her inner and outer struggle while flashbacks give hints about her troubled past and the rela-tionship between Cheryl and her mother (Laura Dern).

The film is heavily marketed as Reese Witherspoon’s come-back. That could be a successful strategy, since not only the movie received good reviews but both – Witherspoon and Laura Dern – were nominated for the Oscar, in the categories Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. In English with Hungarian subtitles. Feb 19–Feb 25, Apolló Mozi (Perczel Miklós str 22) HUF1050/850.


EssentialsIt was neither the first nor

the last time that Pécs tried to dream big but failed desperately. The Magasház became a symbol of incompetence (on many lev-els) but it is also part of the city-scape and has admirers, too.

The 17-floor residential build-ing in Uránváros, the little sib-ling of Magasház (Tall House) also built in 1974, is still inhabit-ed. The problems with the taller, 25-storey brother began to show up only 9 years after construc-tion started – and only 6 years after the first tenants moved in. In 1983 officials realized that the glue filling the gaps between building ele-ments caused unforeseen problems. More precise-ly, the paste speeded up the corrosion of met-al structures that hold the building together. It took 5 more years to declare the high-rise building for dangerous and in December 1989, right before Christmas, it had to be evacuated. Since then, it’s the tall-est out-of-use building in Central Europe.

Although over the years officials came up with several plans that would make use of the 84 m high building again al-most nothing has happened. In 2003 its structure was so critical it had to be strengthened. It was much cheap-er than demolish-ing. In the follow-ing years every local government had plans for the Magasház. It was sold sever-

al times to private companies and bought back. Some wanted to renovate it and make a huge dormitory, some wanted to make an exclusive hotel and apart-ments. Others wanted to move local government bureaus here. Some involved businesses looked like real masters of property fraud. For several weeks the Ma-gasház was even the property of a 76-year-old retired women, her son “helped” her doing business. Anyway, fact is, that no local government could solve the Ma-gasház-problem.

City council wants now the ghost-tower just to disappear. Demolishing will take more than a year and cost more than 1 billion forints, provided by the Hungarian government. But there are still legal concerns that set back the procedure.

Ex-tenants say that living in the Magasház was great. With a population of 800 people, it used to be a little vertical village in the city. It had its own shop, club and even a gym – none of these were typical facilities of buildings erected in the 1970s in Hungary. The city council organ-ized a reunion for ex-tenants in October 2014, since these could

be the last days to see the building emerge from the

cityscape. But we have heard that several

times in the last 25 years...

STILL STANDING


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