The City Park Ice Skating Rink in Budapest with the majestic Vajdahunyad Castle as a fairytale backdrop sits behind Heroes’ Square. In the second part of the 19th century, the pleasant surroundings of City Park became a beloved place for relaxation, entertainment, and free-time activities. During the summer, boating and rowing were popular sports to practice at Lake City Park, and during the winter, skaters also appeared on the frozen lake. The city’s first ice rink was opened on the lake in 1870, just after the founding of the Pest Skating Association. Initially there was only a small wooden pavilion next to the rink, where visitors could warm up and put on their skates.
The ice rink was a great success, residents of all ages and social backgrounds flocked to the city park to glide around with rosy cheeks kissed by the wind and warm up in the cozy building designed by Ödön Lechner in 1876. This New wooden frame had two separate dressing room wings for men and women and a common seating area. The City Park ice rink quickly became a massive stage for flirting: the escorts didn’t bother with the skates, so they couldn’t keep an eye on the girls, and the trips and falls resulted in 40-50 weddings. by season. Due to the popularity of the ice rink, this new pavilion also turned out to be too small, so Imre Francsek rebuilt a much larger hall and redesigned it in neo-baroque style in 1895. The bombing of 1944 destroyed much of the area. structure, so it had to be closed for a while. After World War II, Ferenc Paulheim’s design was implemented to rebuild the damaged sports arena and in the fall of 1945 it was reopened.
After the complete renovation of the place from 2008 to 2011, now everything is back on the agenda. City Park Ice Rink, Europe’s largest man-made ice rink and one of its oldest outdoor ice rinks, has returned to our lives with additional ice surface, proper benches and lockers inside the magnificent neo-baroque clubhouse fully renovated offering skate rental and a cafe next to the rink. where you can stay out of the cold and warm up with a hot chocolate or have a hot mulled wine.
I’m sure City Park Ice Rink is the place where most of us learned to skate, where no matter how clumsy you are, there is always someone trying to pick you up off the ice and pick up your pieces and help you stay on your feet. There is no doubt that it has always been the perfect place for the first and last dates as they glide across the ice approaching each other with an excuse to touch, speeding up to listen to their favorite songs and slowing down and holding the hand of your appointment during the event. the Romantics. It was the place where you could experience one of the greatest sensations in history: when you took off your skates, you put your boots on, you got up and it felt like you were floating in the air.