In the second part of the nineteenth century the pleasant environment of the City Park became a beloved place for relaxation, entertainment and freetime activities. On the City Park Lake boating and rowing were popular sports to practice and during the winter skaters also appeared on the frozen lake. In the end of 1869, with the guidance of
Géza Kresz the
Pesti Korcsolyázó Egylet (Skating Association of Pest) was founded, and they also obtained the permission of the city council to create an ice rink on a part of the City Park Lake. A wooden pavilion was built on the shore of the lake as well, where the visitors could warm up and change their skates. The official opening ceremony took place on 29 January 1870 in the presence of
Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, and skating got underway immediately, with the first ever race held on 2 February. This time the association had only 35 members, which increased to 432 by the end of the year. The outset of figure skating in Hungary can be dated from 6 January 1871, when
Jackson Haines, who is regarded as the father of figure skating, presented his show for the Hungarian audience. He repeated his visit in the next year, due to that figure skating gained ground quickly among Hungarian skaters. In 1874 the wooden cottage was burnt down, following that a new stable building was erected by the plans of Hungarian
secessionist architect
Ödön Lechner. On the ground floor was found the changing room and warming room, while on the upstairs was placed the main hall and the music room. Because of the World War I skating life experienced a setback, as skaters began to return to the City Park Ice Rink slowly at first, however, it speeded up after the artificial skate rink was handed over on 26 November 1926. The season grew for 105 days long, which offered more time for exercising and organizing competitions that gave a boost for the sport. in the background In 1929 Budapest hosted the
Figure Skating World Championship for ladies and pairs and in the 1930s Hungarian figure skaters won a number of European and World titles: the
Olga Orgonista–
Sándor Szalay pair won the European Championship, while the
Emilia Rotter–
László Szollás duo won four World Championships between 1931 and 1935. The latter ones also won bronze medal both at the 1932 and 1936 Winter Olympics. During the World War II, in the 1944 bombings the rink suffered serious damages. After the end of the war works began to reconstruct the skating rink and for the autumn of 1945 bigger part of it became serviceable again. as well as the
Bandy World Championship for women 2007. Most recently the Városligeti Műjégpálya was renovated and expanded from 2009 to 2011. The total cost of the amelioration process was 4.7 billion
Hungarian Forint (approximately €16 million), of which about 3 billion Ft came from the
European Regional Development Fund. After the redevelopment the skating area grew by 15 percent, and now it consist a 180×67 metres skating rink and an international standard ice hockey rink. and went through further expansions: a culture and tourism center, and an event hall was established inside the building, which make enable it to host conferences and to offer other activities (exhibitions, cultural programs) beside skating and boating. ==Events==