Gál Éva: Margaret Island - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2000)

pleted by 1941, but the completion of the club centre, also designed by Hübner, was prevented by the world war. Aerial bombs and artillery shells seriously damaged the MAC facilities. Following post-war reconstruction, a Pioneers’ Stadium was opened in its place. It was here that some events of the 1999 World Pentathlon Championship were held.

Walking on along the roadway to the north, we soon glimpse the building possibly of the highest architectural value on the island, the National Sports Swimming

The Leopold Town Casino Sports House in 1938

Pool. Winner of a 1929 tender competition Alfréd Hajós, the architect who had won gold in several swimming events at the first modern Olympic Games (Athens, 1896), was commissioned to build the first competitive indoor swimming pool in Hungary. Completed by the end of 1930, the National Sports Swimming Pool— bearing the name of its designer since 1975—was the number one centre of competitive (and not only first division) swimming in Hungary for decades. Although many disputed whether it was a wise decision to put it on Margaret Island before its construction (among others, polo enthusiasts were jealous of their “turf’), when the pool was completed its aesthetic and technological

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