Nyugati Station, a Treasure of European Film Culture

The European Film Academy (EFA) has awarded the title of 'European Film Treasure' for 2022 to the Hungarian capital's Nyugati Railway Station, and a commemorative plaque was unveiled on Friday in the hall of the railway station in Budapest.

As the European Film Academy writes, this is the place from where the first Hungarian steam train departed on July 15, 1846 to Vác, 35 kms up the Danube. Budapest's 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 Gustav Eiffel’s engineering firm, together with Hungarian engineer Viktor Bernárdt.

The 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).