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    Nyugati Station (Budapest, Hungary)

    This is from where the first Hungarian steam train departed on 15 July 1846 to Vác, 35km up the Danube. Budapest Nyugati (Western) railway station was opened to the public in 1877. The architectural design is the work of Austrian architect August W. de Serres, while the structure of the hall was designed by Theofil Seyrig, working for Gustave Eiffel’s engineering firm, together with Hungarian engineer Viktor Bernárdt.

    photo of railway station
    Nyugati Station in Budpest (picture by Peter Zaray / Fortepan)

    Budapest Nyugati railway station is a key element of the eclectic fabric of Pest’s densely built-in inner city, and it has featured in various films. Among them is SUNSHINE (1999) by István Szabó, an epic romantic tale about one family’s secret passions, tragic betrayals and unbreakable bonds over three generations. The film won two European Film Awards – Actor for Ralph Fiennes and Screenwriter for István Szabó and Israel Horovitz.

    Also partly shot here were SPY GAME (2001) by Tony Scott starring Robert Redford, Brad Pitt and Catherine McCormack and Steven Spielberg’s MUNICH (2005) about the events after Black September’s assassination of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.

    The station can also be seen in TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (2011) by Tomas Alfredson with Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Tom Hardy which won two European Film Awards in 2012 (Production Designer and Composer).

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