The open-source photo archive of Fortepan started ten years ago, and now numbers some 110,000 images.
We’ve been eagerly looking at Fortepan’s ever-growing collection over the years, whether it’s old-time weddings, back-to-school days in September school or just the disappearing neighbourhoods of Tabán or Óbuda.
This year Budapest is European Sports Capital, and for the occasion, a modest themed selection has been curated for the Budapest Projekt Gallery – the bigger exhibition is at the National Gallery. The Hajrá Budapest! On the Ground, in the Water, in the Air exhibition concentrates on sport around the city. In addition to professional athletes and legendary events, school competitions and amateur enthusiasts are also illustrated. Pictures include the scoreboard at the Népstadion when Hungary beat England 7-1, children’s sports events at the Csepel factory works, Danube kayaks at a water show for the August 20th celebrations and the menfolk of District IX deeply immersed in chess.
It is exciting to see how sport has become part of Budapest's everyday life over the past 100 years, and which mass pastimes were popular in which era. From the turn of the century onwards, citizens had more and more freedom, and at that time a healthy, sporting lifestyle was fashionable. Ever wider social classes could go skiing or even cycling, which was previously considered a gentleman’s activity. Mass sports also appeared at this time, but the real golden age of football was after World War II. Exercising the body and organised sports clubs were also very important under Socialism.
