The thermal power plant of Inota was the largest industrial investment in Hungary in the 50s, and at its peak it could have supplied the whole of Budapest with electricity. Not only are its three huge, illustrious cooling towers familiar to anyone driving to Lake Balaton from the capital, but it is also worth knowing that their novel water-cooling technology was a revolutionary innovation at the time, winning engineers László Heller and László Forgó the Grand Prix at the 1958 Brussels World Exhibition. Thanks to Inota, these uniquely shaped cooling towers soon became widespread throughout the world.
The largest yard in the industrial area under the open sky without light pollution.
The sixty-metre high cooling towers, which dominate the landscape, used air condensation to cool the water in a closed system during their active life, and recirculated the cooled liquid back into the system.
Fifty years ago this 6,000-square-metre hall was powered by huge turbines.
Winding pipes and stairs are assembled into a mutant industrial organism.
A laid-back oasis under the sky that slowly turns into an open-air dance floor as the day fades.
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The power plant included a housing estate - Inota even had its own postcode - and a beach and a community centre were also built for the families of the workers. In the foyer of the latter, 1950s mosaics by Gyula Hincz and Géza Fónyi welcome visitors to the theatre with its brutalist ceiling, said to have been the most acoustically sophisticated theatre in Central Europe at the time.
The former restaurant of the community center, home to the beautiful 1957 relief Körtánc (‘Round Dance’) by ceramic artist Margit Kovács. This year, instead of music, the space will host installations.
POWERHOUSE OF
SOUND AND VISION
08. 28 - 08. 30. 2025