Kiss Katalin: Industrial Monuments - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)
slaughter-rooms, two rooms for washing entrails and refrigeration, and a covered courtyard for loading the lorries. In the test slaughter-house in the middle of the plant the health of the livestock was checked, by the slaughtering of a sample chosen from every incoming group. The entire abattoir worked under strict sanitary regulations, including the preliminary examination of the animals, the process of the slaughtering, the cleanliness of the slaughter and all other rooms, as well as the examination of the meat of the slaughtered livestock. The abattoir could accommodate six hundred cattle, but the neighbouring livestock market could hold further five thousand cattle and ten thousand small livestock. The building was ceremonially inaugurated on 27th June 1872. A 2,500 kilo Hungarian bull was slaughtered, and its finest parts were consumed by the distinguished guests during a festive dinner. In its first year 150,000 animals were slaughtered here, and the meat consumption tax provided a large source of income for the municipality. The symmetrical ground plan was changed in 1897, when the southern building was transformed into a double aisle, iron-structured hall. At the same time the transportation system was also modernized. The present-day Abattoir with its neglected surrounding and ugly reconstructions does not recall its former famous and spectacular grandeur. On the facades gaudy posters announce the large range of items on sale in the building. The statural group of boys taming two bulls is still guarding the today untidy and sad building. Begas Reinhold from Berlin carved them in stone, but in the course of their restoration in 1937, by Szilárd Sződy, they were cast in bronze. The Kőbánya Breweries X, Maglódi út 17 The motifs of the Eclectic style, which were taken over from various historic styles and spread worldwide in the period of industrialization, were primarily used on civic buildings. It would have been too expensive and difficult 42
