Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Museum of Electrotechnology
Magyar Elektrotechnikai Múzeum • Kazinczy utca 21• Tues-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 10am-4pm • 800Ft • 1 342
5750, elektromuzeum.hu
For something quite different from the rest of the sights in the Jewish quarter visit the Mu-
seum of Electrotechnology , set in a former electricity substation. Its devoted curators can
demonstrate the world's first dynamo (invented in 1859 by Áynos Jedlik, a Benedictine
monk), tie irons and a child-proof plug from 1902 in rooms devoted to such topics as the
history of light bulbs and the Hungarian section of the Iron Curtain , along the border with
Austria. Captions are in Hungarian only, but the beauty of early domestic electrical contrap-
tions comes across anyway.
Dohány utca
Dohány utca takes its name - Tobacco Street - from the tobacco factory that once stood
on the corner of Sip utca - close to the sadly neglected Art Deco Metro Klub that stands
there now. This narrow thoroughfare sweeps through the lower part of Erzsébetváros from
the Kiskörút and out across the Nagykörút towards the Garment District.
The Hungária Baths
Halfway between the two körúts you pass the magnificent Art Nouveau front of the ill-fated
Hungária Baths at no. 44 Dohány utca. When the complex opened in 1908, its main selling
point - its large number of private bathtubs - was its downfall, as the building of better-
equipped apartments reduced demand. The baths closed in 1929, and were used after the war
as a cinema and then as a theatre until 1965. By the 1980s the inside was crumbling fast and
the baths were close to complete ruin - the little that could be saved can be seen on the facade
and in the lobby of the Zara hotel that now stands in its place.
The New York Palace
At the junction of Dohány utca and the Nagykörút is a piece of old Budapest that for many
years lay derelict. Like the Gresham Palace on Széchenyi tér, the New York Palace on the
corner of the Nagykörút is a Budapest landmark also associated with an insurance company,
in this case the New York, which commissioned the building in 1895 and included in the
plans a magnificent coffee house, which became one of the great literary cafés of interwar
Budapest. Under Communism the edifice housed a publishers, and its Beaux-Arts facade -
with a small Statue of Liberty high up on the corner - survived being rammed by a tank in
1956. Now a luxury hotel, its gilded and frescoed restaurant-cum-coffee house is worth a
look, even if you don't want to fork out to eat there.
Miksa Róth Museum
Róth Miksa Múzeum • VII, Nefelejcs utca 26 • Tues-Sun 2-6pm • 800Ft • 1 341 6789, rothmuzeum.hu
Beyond the New York Palace , among the backstreets near Keleti Station, the Miksa Róth
Museum showcases the work of a leading figure in the Hungarian Art Nouveau movement.
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