Off to the races

Technical progress and everyday life in Dualism-era in Hungary from 1867-1914

An era of prosperity

Hungary reacquired its partial independence only in 1867 after the defeat at the war for independence and revolution in 1848-49. According to the agreement with Austria a common monarch was established as the head of the two states. Foreign and military affairs as well as the finances linked to them were jointly handled.

Earlier before the abolition of the political barriers the conditions for starting the unfolding bourgeois transformation and technical modernisation were established. Agriculture and industry in Hungary began to grow. The achievements of national economy trebled during this period, while agricultural output doubled.

It is this era that is presented by our exhibition. Individual topics appear in a pavilion-like arrangement as it was usual in the 19th-century world exhibitions.

The peak of the era was in the 1896 Millenary Exhibition, which celebrated the 1000 anniversary of Árpád’s conquest of Hungary. It was then that the “small underground”, the continent’s first underground railway was completed, together with a number of other public buildings, among them the Transport Museum.

The era’s most important means of transport was the railway. The length of railway lines was approximated to 22 thousand kilometres in 1914. The first private railways were gradually bought by the state, and MÁV (Hungarian Railways) came into being. The Minister, Gábor Baross introduced the system of diminishing (zone) tariffs, which made travelling cheaper, and traffic was multiplied. The system of diminishing (zone) tariffs was taken over by a lot of railway companies. Hungarian manufacturing of railway engines started in 1873. The first electrified railway line was built, after Kálmán Kandó’s designs in Italy in 1902, where Hungarian made electric railway engines ran.

Among other things; owing to flood barrier construction and the spreading of modern machines Hungarian agricultural production increased considerably as well.

Pneumatic Post

You can send yourself a message with the Dispatch-Tube before entering the exhibition, which you can receive on the top floor.

Engine Shop

On the ground floor of our exhibition, in the engine-shop beside the locomobile, parts of the machine tools are shown, which were used by the plants in the era.

Military Train

In spite of their ignominious part (played unintentionally) railways became the emblematic means of transport of the century. Here you can see a life-size model of the military wagons taking the troops to the war front in World War I.

Immigrant ship

From the end of the 19th century onwards, many hundreds and thousands of people set off from the economic crisis and poverty to sail to the New World, America, on board of “cheap” ships for emigrants.

Exhibitions

The specialized and world exhibitions of the 19th century attracted millions of visitors. Hungarian industrial products and agricultural produce appeared at the exhibitions. Here we are presenting some objects that achieved outstanding success such as Herend porcelain. Its pattern was named after the English sovereign, as Queen Victoria also purchased some pieces of the table set.

Banks

In financing the industry of the era of dualism, banks have already played an important part. The activities of bankers were helped by a number of new technical tools, such as calculating machines and typewriters.

Transport

On the upper floor, first you arrive at the section of transport. The permanent exhibitions of the Transport Museum give a full picture of the era in Hungarian transport. Here we are giving only a selection of the dynamic development. The first model railway steam engine of the era can be found as well as the first engine-driven vehicle, designed by one of the carburetor’s inventors, János Csonka.

Photography

In a 19th-century photographer’s studio you can make your own photos with backgrounds from a bygone era.

The apartment

Housing conditions of the era are evoked by a worker’s flat and a bourgeois dining room. In the two rooms you can see the characteristic objects and furniture of the era.

The telephone newspaper

Take a seat in the upper-middle class dining room, lift the receiver of the telephotograph from the wall, and listen to the program! The telephotograph invented by Tivadar Puskás, broadcasted – as a predecessor of the radio – programs to the subscribers from 1893 on, using the telephone network.

Post office

After the telegraph the telephone appeared too. By putting into operation the telephone exchange you are linked to Tivadar Puskás’s name, a link up connections among people as well as the flow of information picked up speed to an incredible extent.

Agriculture

Hungary was typically an agricultural country in spite of industrial development. However, technical progress did not leave agriculture untouched either. New machines appeared, and productivity rose. The perfection of the food industry is shown by the fact that Budapest was the centre of Europe’s milling industry.

The Music Hall and Cinema

A new patch of colour in urban entertainment was the Music Hall. At the beginning Music Halls made a home for the cinema, a new art and entertainment of the 20th century.