Pongrácz Erzsébet: The Cinemas of Budapest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1998)

The Décsis supervised their own cinema until 1941, from which date to 1944 the establishment operated under a new management and a new name, Deák, which was used by nobody. After nationalisation in 1948 and another new name, Fáklya (Torch), the house briefly functioned as a newsreel and documentary cinema, though it was granted the right to screen feature films again in 1950, which went with receiving yet another name, Művész (Artist). This name, notwithstanding some minor alterations - the cinema's full name was Művész-Új Tükör Klub Mozi (Művész-New Mirror Club Cinema) for a while - has proved to be permanent. When the ART Cinema Chain was set up, three auditoria were arranged on the cinema’s premises: the Chaplain Chamber, the Huszárik Room and the Body Chamber enabled audiences of 330, 70 and 55 respectively to enjoy three different films at any one time. All three can project both 35 and 16 millimetre films, as well as video recordings. This arrangement, especially now with the recent addition of two more rooms (the Tarkovsky and the Bunuel), allows for programming policies offering entertainment to all regardless of taste, age or particular interests at all times of the day. Temporary exhibitions are held in the foyer, and the book stall there sells a range of titles about the art of film-making. The cinema itself has a buffet, while the Underground below serves tea, coffee and light snacks, and is the scene of a weekly DJ show after the last screening.

Európa (1910-20)

82 Rákóczi út, district VII

This cinema opened in 1904 under the name Amor. The small, dark cinema catered for a “special” public; five minutes before each show was over, a bell rang to remind the audience to... organise their coats! For twenty-five years it was popular among those living in the neighbourhood, but in the meantime the building had fallen into such a bad state of repair that it had to be demolished. It soon reopened nearby under the name Roxy. In the war years it was renamed Attila Cinema, then upon being nationalised, it became the Honvéd (Defender) Cinema, which became a household name among the people of Pest in the following decades. Today the name is Európa. It is a doublechamber cinema (one larger and one smaller auditorium)

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