Tanulmányok Budapest Múltjából 28. (1999) – Urbanizáció a dualizmus korában: konferencia Budapest egyesítésének 125. évfordulója tiszteletére a Budapesti Történeti Múzeumban

A VÁROSI ÁTALAKULÁS KÉRDÉSEI ÉS SZÍNTEREI - Varga Judit: Budapest élelmiszer-ellátása – vásárcsarnokok a századfordulón 87-101

JUDIT VARGA THE PRODUCE SUPPLY OF BUDAPEST - MARKET HALLS AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY SUMMARY Five market halls opened in the capital on February 16,1897: No.l-Central Market Hall (9th district, Vámház Boulevard 1-3.), No. 2-Rákóczi Square (8th district, Rákóczi Square 7.), No.3-Klauzál Square (7th district, Klauzál Square 11.), No. 4-Hunyadi Square (6th district, Hunyadi Square 4.) and No. 5-Hold Street Market (5th district, Hold Street 13.). The city management established these market halls, so that, beyond the permanent supervision of the market and the continuous public health checks of the produce, the food supply of Budapest would be secure and modernized. Last among all the European capitals cities such as Paris, London, Vienna and Berlin, the town councillors decided to announce an international contest for the construction of a central market hall. The various plans, official measures and proposals which were made to solve the problem of public supply had already been waiting on Mayor Károly Kamermayer's desk since the 1870's. The modernization of the food supply of the capital, however, only began when the economic and public catering department was set up, and construction started according to an award-winning architectural proposal of Samu Pecz, a professor at the Technical University. Budapest established its indoor market halls, which provided residents with modern ways of urban food-shopping, along with their fixed prices and opening hours, and which were also remarkable from an architectural viewpoint. With their appearance, the previous routines of everyday shopping were to change. Municipal orders made it necessary for stall-keepers to learn new, more cultured manners of salesmanship, instead of the previous noisy, harsh and sometimes even harrassing attitude of street vendors. The transfer of trade from under the open-air into shimmering halls signaled the beginning of a new era in the day-to-day life of Budapest residents. The market hall institution, which consisted of one central distribution hall and four detail-halls, was under the supervision of the Market Hall Committee set up by the Municipal Council. This committee tried to include farmers from the country (close and far) into the produce supply of the capital by applying what was called the system of official distribution. The attraction of the unified produce market of the capital expanded, thus speeding up the use of the various infrastructural elements which were created by the bourgeois development. In parallel with the advancement of the modern ways of small-trade, growing demands aimed at the expansion of markets, the lowering of permanently high food prices, the lowering the high stand fees and the improvement of insufficient operations, also emerged. Finally, the regulation which allowed for the former open-air markets to reopen signified the fall of this institution. 101