Zeidler Miklós: Sporting Spaces - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2000)

A renewed People’s Stadium and the Budapest Sports Hall that has been burnt down since the picture was made

the heroic battles in which the Hungarian runner Kovács, nicknamed “Bütyök”, or Shortie, defeated his fearsome opponents Kuc and Zátopek in 1953 and 1954. Those cheering them on at the time still cherish the memory of how the great generation of Hungary’s middle-distance runners lead by Iharos and Rózsavölgyi set world records, and how the Hungarian side won the European basketball championship held in June 1955. There were European championships in athletics (in 1966 and in 1998), countless double football games fought by top-notch teams, fun games played by the country’s team of journalists against the actors’ side, numerous concerts, election meetings and dog shows. And each year as the snow and ice begin to thaw, gymnasts and footballers appear in the park of sculptures, and the six-hundred metre track is occupied by professional athletes and amateur runners. There can be hardly any native citizen of Budapest who has never been in the People’s Stadium-if for no other reason to attend a community run or a children’s day show.

The People’s Stadium became a virtual sports complex as early as 1953 when the Millenary and the

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