Best of Budapest & Hungary

2025 is an important year in the history of Ferenc Liszt International Airport, which celebrated the 75th anniversary of its opening in May this year. To mark the occasion, Budapest Airport, part of the VINCI Airports network, was preparing a year-long celebration focusing on Ferenc Liszt’s legend and the 75-year-long history of the airport. The series of activities was crowned by the inauguration of a very special installation: a unique three-dimensional portrait of the eponymous composer by Czech artist Patrik Proško was inaugurated on 19 December at Terminal 2B.

    In the creative process, Proško used only period elements, which are characteristic of Ferenc Liszt. The final work was made up of thousands of instruments and parts, authentic artifacts and historical documents reflecting Liszt’s life, work and legacy. It was created using the so-called anamorphic technique, i.e. distorted perspective, which requires the active participation of the viewer: the installation aligns into a visually interpretable image only when the viewer finds the right vantage point. The installation can be viewed by clicking here.

    “This year’s anniversary is a meeting of past and future, which also paved the way for a long-term development phase,” said Máté Lóga, chairman of the Board of Directors of Budapest Airport, at the inauguration ceremony. He added: “The anniversary year has given us the opportunity to look back and celebrate our successes. At the same time, we also celebrated Hungarian culture, as the event was built around the life’s work of our namesake, Ferenc Liszt. The inaugurated installation is a fitting end to a great year. Major developments for the next decade are on the horizon, and behind the scenes we are preparing the airport of the future.”

    “I conceived the anamorphosis of Ferenc Liszt as a stage, presenting the entire process of how music comes into being. The piano placed inside the composer’s head represents his mind, in which the initial vision is transformed into a score of symphonic poems. In the installation, I used instruments over 100 years old, along with parts from the manufacturing process — making the stage itself a kind of musical workshop that portrays Liszt’s genius; showcasing the process of creating his works, from the first idea through notation to the performance,” summarized the artist.

    Czech artist and sculptor Patrik Proško has created over 100 art projects in 30 countries across three continents.

    Budapest Airport launched the anniversary year with an Annual Partners’ Meeting, and a celebration on Piano Day. In May, a Liszt concert was organized, where the company presented a pantomime performance in collaboration with the Hungarian State Opera House and a limited-edition LEGO set of Terminal 1 debuted. The Aviation Cultural Center produced a series of interviews with airport staff, which were published on social media and in the video appendix of a children’s book produced by two airport employees. The year ended with the inauguration of the Liszt installation and the first Aviation Ball of the Hungarian aviation community.

    In the coming months, the main focus will be on large-scale developments at Budapest Airport: preparations for the construction of the new terminal are already underway, while in the transition period, among other things, the capacities of the current terminal will be expanded – works related to security screening and passenger check-in have already started this year - the parking system will be renewed, and pier B will be expanded.