Megyeri csárda - Dunakeszi

The town of 44 000 inhabitants is the second most populous town in Pest County. It has protected areas for nature conservation and bird protection. It is also famous for its horse sport, which dates back to 1889. One of the most famous of its cultural buildings is the Church of St. Michael, which is a ’church in the church’. It was built by the former landowner of Dunakeszi, Count Antal Grassalkovich, royal chamberlain, and consecrated on 29 September 1756, St. Michael's Day. By the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the church building was too small for the Hungarian-speaking local Catholic community. As a result, in 1935, after nearly two centuries, the parish priest asked architect Gyula Oszvaldik to draw up plans for a new church. However, the "Old Church", which had been outgrown by local believers, was not demolished, but enlarged, retaining the original small church, which is now the left-side aisle of the present church. The new church was completed in 1936-1937 in neo-baroque style. The patron saint of the church is the archangel St. Michael, the angel of loyalty and protection of the faith, who led Lucifer to hell as punishment for his rebellion against the Lord.

Now a glider and sport airport, the runway has an adventurous past and has been captured on film. The area is an important nature reserve and home to the largest population of European ground squirrels in the country. Before the World War II, the present site of the airport was part of the horse racecourse, but in late 1944, some of the stables were demolished and the Germans settled in part of the airport. The Russian troops occupied the area following the Germans’ withdrawal. After the Russian military occupation of Dunakeszi at the end of 1944, the Soviet army developed and enlarged the airfield, from which planes were launched to bomb Budapest. Later, the pilots of Malév Hungarian Airlines were trained here, but in addition to flight training exercises, it also served as the venue for many cultural events in the 1950s and 1960s. After that, the airport included a flying school, a repair and maintenance workshop, and a production site for legendary gliders. From 1957, the director was Ernő Rubik, who was to become world famous for his magic cube; he developed and tested his Gébics model aircraft at the Dunakeszi airfield. After a few years, the machines were also used for agricultural purposes, and then gliding and sport flying took over.