Molnár József - Szilas Péter: Night Lights - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)

the city’s vicinity. The inflated monster, which resembled a kind of small whale, was carried by two men on their shoulders.

The famous 19th-century writer, Mór Jókai, recorded the following anecdote.

Once it so happened that a particular playwright wrote an incredibly long tragedy for the stage. This long-winded historical play would take until 11 o’clock to perform. On one occasion, the terrified owner of theatre, a Mr Komlósy, rushed behind the scenery to say, “My good gentlemen, please do finish the play in a hurry, because there is no more than half an inch of gas left in the container, and in a minute both the stage and the auditorium will be pitch-dark.” Well, the good actor Szentpétery, who was waiting in the wings for his appearance as the severe father, knew immediately what to do. Leaving his noble indignation behind the scenes, he dashed to the stage to immediately marry the young lovers. “All is forgiven, now live happily ever after,” says he, letting the curtain drop on the scene.

The one most surprised at all this was the author himself, who had not the slightest idea how his tragedy had been turned into a comedy, when mass murder and collective suicide ought to have concluded his play.

There was competition between gas and oil lighting with regards to costs. Although the introduction of the former was often raised, the city councillors deemed it premature. There were some older burghers who even found the costs of oil lighting too high.

There were several entrants in the competition for the commission to install gas lighting. Pest’s city council stipulated that the company to be commissioned should guarantee that gas lamps would be three times brighter than the lights used so far. It was also decided that there were to be two categories of lamp according to the length of time they were to be lit: there would be “half-night” burners and others that would be on till morning. Furthermore, the council decreed that on festive occasions the gas company was to provide luxurious lighting and that Rókus Hospital was to be lit free of charge. For the 25 year period of the commission prices were not to be raised, but any new invention which could help reduce costs was to be implemented and the rates cut accordingly by the company.

Eventually it was foreign contractors who built the gas works in 1856. The gas made in the works was first used to light, as early as the Christmas Eve of the same year, Kerepesi út and then the streets of the Inner City.

12