One of the signs of the end of the world is... the end of the old world signs. As you may know, I lived in Budapest for something like four years, and in that time, came to fall in love with the BUDAVOX sign (pictured above) which was on a building near the infamous Astoria hotel (where the Nazi HQ was during the occupation) where the British Council held many of their poetry events: so, Ken Smith, Douglas Dunn, Matthew Sweeney and others read there.The BUDAVOX sign came to represent, for me, the fading glamour of the period in Hungary between the 20s and 50s, when socialism and modern technology intersected in wonderful design achievements in architecture, many of which were in the process of being torn down in the late 90s, as capitalism rushed in. There were many beautiful signs with superb retro lettering, but none as big as BUDAVOX.
I had written the dubbing band for a documentary about Hungary's "Golden Team" - their legendary footballers, and had first glimpsed the giant sign for BUDAVOX in the background of a cheering crowd scene - all the men with their fedoras, their heads turned upwards to the tannoys broadcasting news of the fateful match. The BUDAVOX building was home of the BUDAVOX company, which was responsible for telecommunications technology. They'd pioneered a service where the phone would ring and when you answered, someone would read you the evening news.
When my first collection of poems was published, in 1999, I called it Budavox, to celebrate that sign, my interest in telecommunications (as a Canadian abroad this was doubly to be expected), and my general love of Budapest and Hungarian culture.
I was sad to receive an email today from a lawyer in Budapest, who informs me the sign is no more.
He writes: "Sadly the neon sign BUDAVOX has been replaced by the name of a new theatre. The huge former press house that stands beside the Corvin (in front of your former window) is being scrapped at the moment and shall be replaced by a new designed building hosting a hotel and shops. The so called Bazard (the small ugly shops on Karoly korut - Merlin theatre was behind) is also being scrapped."
I am sorry no one felt this sign deserved preserving. It was part of a great moment in national history - the Golden Team moment - and more importantly is an iconic image of the cool, retro Budapest of yesteryear. I shall miss BUDAVOX greatly.
Comments
I have been working at BUDAVOX as an engineer-economist for 36 years and every day we had a look on the big characters. It was a very good company and us - about 235 colleagues - were responsible to provide worldwide export orders to 5 big factories with 30 thousand employees. We enjoyed it. Since 1990. we used to meet to talk about the common past. Nowadays we gather in the last day of May and enjoy each other's company. Thank you Todd! George Mamusich
Its had ever been in Indonesia and took a part in Indonesia's telephone history
I was searching for the history of (my newly-acquired) Budavox phone and I found your blog. Thanks to you now I know that my phone is a long-lost treasure found!