Aug 5, 2023

August 5, 2023 Tungsram beach, originally known as UTE Dunafürdő (“Tungi” in Újpest slang), opened on July 10, 1938 and officially closed on August 26, 2004. The opening of the beach is due to Lipót Aschner, director of the United Izzó, later Tungsram, who was also the head of the UTE at the time, and with this act saved the sports association from bankruptcy. The Age of Heroes The area of ​​the beach was 30,000 square meters, including a 50 x 20 meter competition pool, a 50 x 25 meter guest pool and a children’s pool. The capacity of the beach was well over ten thousand people, it was a simple place, but people liked it for that very reason. There was also a boathouse for 200 boats on the site, where boatmen’s cabins and office space were also found. The beach quickly became a favorite place for the people of Újpest, and there was a great deal of life here until the 1980s. The latest news of the economy and business life in the Napi.hu newsletter. I subscribe We have sent you an email! Open it and click the Subscribe link to confirm your subscription. You will then receive the Napi.hu Newsletters morning and evening. General Electric would have gotten rid of it After the regime change, the beach lost its popularity. The American company General Electric bought Tungsram in 1990 and for reasons of cost efficiency would have been released from the beach, as well as from buildings deemed unnecessary for him. There was only one serious interested party, a Dutch company, who wanted to create an aqua park on the site of the beach, but the soil tests prevented this. The beach was closed in 2006 and has not been used since then. The Csónakház located in the area currently operates under the professional care of the Újpest Kayak-Canoe Association, ensuring the education of young people in the sport (Újpest, Vasas). Filled with debris The beach was established on an artificial island on the inner side of the dam. The island was connected to the left bank of the Danube by a bridge. As a result of the construction of the dam, a natural recharge process started in the area closed by the dam, which has been gradually artificially recharged since the 1950s. The area was completely filled in 1974. Materials and wastes of industrial origin, from construction and demolition debris, were also used for the filling. Presumably, industrial and commercial enterprises near Váci út, as well as the population, participated in the filling. In the area of ​​the beach – as a result of a public initiative – the authority required soil and groundwater sampling for the owner (then still GE Hungary Kft.). Due to the involvement detected as a result of the sampling, the competent authority obliged GE to investigate the facts. As a conclusion of the fact-finding process, a final documentation for the area was submitted to the authority by 11/30/2018. The authority accepted the final fact-finding documentation and, based on the test results, declared the environmental remediation complete by establishing the individual contamination limit.