In the past, powerhouses used to be more than just utilitarian structures.
At the dawn of the electrical age, those buildings were soaring temples which should change the world forever.
While functionality is more important than design in modern power stations, it seems like architecture had a special meaning back then.
But more and more of those historical sites disappear.
As fans of the aesthetics of industrialism, we simply had to explore two plants on our Hungary adventure which seemed to be the last of their kind.
The first place is a time capsule that already existed like that 100 years ago.
The second one impresses thanks to its sheer size and a post-apocalyptic look.
Join us on two exciting infiltrations of some of the most powerful witnesses of the past you can imagine.
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Bygone splendor and pomp were the topics of our recent two episodes.
As a prelude to our new road trip series we devoted ourselves to neglected but grand architecture.
For that, next to a historical cinema, we were also exploring abandoned stately buildings in and around Hungary.
It was an immersive travel back to the past.
Next to the beauty of decay, we were also searching for the reasons why those places could have been buried in oblivion in the first place.
But on our five-day adventure we also wanted to awake other old ruins from their deep slumber.
We have started with the easy ones as a warm-up.
In this episode, however, we focus on two tough nuts.
The night before we checked in at an odd Airbnb.
Usually, we sleep outdoors during our journeys.
But the next location was in the middle of a metropolitan area.
Instead of pitching our tent in some park or under a bridge again, we were looking for the cheapest shelter we could find.
So, actually, we should have expected to end up in some sketchy dump.
It was covered in more kitsch than most of the abandoned hoarder homes we have explored before.
Is it morning or evening? With the BWT crew, you're always wondering.
And now the next question: Is it morning or evening?
Actually, the clock doesn't work. We're starting now.
After only a few hours of sleep, we were already starting the day.
Tetris.
We have heard of tough security at the first power station we wanted to infiltrate that day.
To increase our mission’s chance of success, we wanted to be on site as early as possible.
Our friend and guide Tobi was telling us the exact plan one more time.
Okay, show us where we can find that ladder. – I would say it’s here.
Tobi managed to get inside the plant only a short time ago.
So, he knew all the weak spots of the premises.
But due to the high risk, he didn’t want to join us today.
So, we were on our own and absorbed every single detail Tobi shared with us.
And then climb up the ladder for like five meters and crawl through the sub-ceiling.
Always straight forward. Also cross the traverse.
Then you have reached the control room.
Sounds feasible.
Half an hour later.
At this time, we had overcome the first obstacles.
No, it wasn't even the trespassing.
Already earlier, there were some other problems.
Please understand, that we can't show you the entrance in detail.
We reserve to change the chronology of our exploration, to make it harder for imitators.
The only purpose of that is to protect the location.
I think, this was the wrong way...
Yeah, yeah, we have discussed the plan like a hundred times.
But in the heat of the moment, with all the excitement, it's hard to keep a cool head.
But actually, this was mandatory for a success of the mission.
We think that we were lucky with the weather.
Because of the rain there were only a few pedestrians who could have spotted us.
And we just hoped that security didn't feel like patrolling.
In order to stay away from CCTV, we had to move fast and look for cover in the overgrown parts of the site.
After a couple of minutes, we reached the building with the access point.
An open window served as an entrance.
In complete darkness, we now started searching for the ladder Tobi mentioned earlier.
We had to look around for some minutes but here's the ladder. It's going up all the way.
Is this the traverse Tobi mentioned?
If we go down and to the right we will get to the area with the transistors.
And the control room?
I think it was the other way.
So, let's keep straight on.
We were far behind schedule but this is it.
Right above our heads is the reason why we were willing to take the great risk.
Believe us when we say that it was totally worth it!
Did you ever see something as crazy as this?!
Let's not lose any time. Get out the cams. - Let's go.
This control room in Art Deco style is a real monument to industrial art.
The oval, decorative glass ceiling with the endless displays, switches and buttons right beneath it
are showing the duality between the ornate style of the turn of the century and functional, mechanical modernity.
To us, this room had the strange sci-fi movie-like atmosphere of an alien spaceship's command center.
The control room is just a small part of this defunct and retired powerhouse.
But it is for sure the most impressive one!
After a construction period of two years, it started to produce electricity here in 1914.
Back then, this used to be the very first boiler house and power supply of the city.
The building was even that modern, that it was Europe's first electricity exchange.
The control room, as it outlasted till today, wasn't constructed before 1927.
After World War Two, the power plant was converted to produce district heating.
The massive building complex was extended and modernized several times to meet the growing requirements of power generation.
In the course of the years, it became the biggest power station of the country and the most modern one in all of Central Europe.
As recently as in 2005, large parts of the facility were deactivated and stripped down.
The control room, however, remained as it always used to be.
All the control panels rest untouched and are theoretically still operational.
Maybe you're wondering what this oddly placed bunker here is all about.
Well, it's said that the control room was an easy target for bombings in World War Two because of the noticeable glass ceiling.
The small shelter should protect the personnel in case of air raids.
But luckily, the power station came through the war unscathed.
After losing track of time completely in this impressive control room, we eventually moved on.
Some other parts of the power station should still be accessible.
We have found the turbine hall.
Although you can see the partial demolition quite well here, we didn't dare to go inside.
As you might notice, this area is still active to this day.
At the moment, the powerhouse is in private hands and still produces energy.
It's responsible for about 4% of Hungary's electricity supply.
Nowadays, however, most of the country's energy comes from facilities in Russia and Ukraine.
This plant couldn't compete and needed to shut down as a consequence.
While some parts of the power station fell victim to vandalism at some point in the past,
strangely enough, there are other parts which seem to be totally untouched.
The partial demolition of the plant was terminated one day.
Since the powerhouse is already over 100 years old, it counts as industrial heritage site and is under special protection.
It's not allowed to tear it down but due to strict and binding requirements, the building complex can't be restored as well.
Even basic maintenance can't be conducted and so, the condition of the historical place gets worse every day.
However, the motion picture industry is benefiting from that.
In the past, the power plant was a set for different kinds of films again and again.
Also international productions were shot here.
The post-apocalyptic vibe is a dream for many filmmakers.
For us, however, this wasn’t fiction but a real adventure.
The grand powerhouse offers a brief glimpse into a forgotten era, preserved with all its glory intact.
On our way to the car we were accompanied by a feeling of elation.
Not having been stopped by security, we experienced a unique site, only a small amount of people will ever be able to explore.
And if you now think that this infiltration was tough, you should stay tuned.
As mentioned in the beginning, there was a second power station on our bucket list.
But that next exploration will be even more challenging.
Yes, no kidding.
Okay, here we go.
We were at the outskirts of some other Hungarian town and tried to find a way on the property of the next historical power plant.
It already was the second infiltration without Tobi.
Like before, he was sharing everything he knew, so this dangerous mission could be another success.
But an uneasy feeling in our stomachs remained.
It's always a leap into the unknown.
We couldn't be 100% sure if Tobi's info was still up-to-date.
After all, at this point his exploration was already some months ago.
But hey, adventure without risk is Disneyland, right?
This is the beauty we were planning to explore.
A thermal power plant which ceased operation already 20 years ago.
We’ve been told that there were two options to get in.
Number one: Do you see that massive hole at ground-level?
We could simply walk in the boiler house, but from the guard post we could be easily spotted.
The second possibility is a sneaky one.
It's this large conveyor belt.
We could stay away from security and climb up all the way to the roof.
The downside of that: We would be partially 30 to 40 meters over ground-level.
Only the rotten wooden planks would be between us and a drop to death.
Since the power station wasn't maintained for years, the conveyor is in a terrible condition at the moment.
When we made it on the premises, we still weren't sure which one of the two options we should choose.
At the beginning of the conveyor, we can see its condition.
If there are rotten wooden planks I don't want to go up.
Rather getting caught than falling down from up there, right?
But if we don't take that way, we have to enter from below and that's risky as well.
I would check how busy the area is first. - Let's see if somebody is there.
The feeder band starts up there.
That's what Tobi was talking about.
The conveyor is right here. It's risky but safe from prying eyes.
But I would check out this building first.
From the upper windows we can see what's going on.
So, we decided to climb the small belt conveyer first, to get an overview of the site.
This is super weird. - Dude, what?
It's a strange feeling.
This was probably the first conveyor we were ever climbing up.
So, that feeling was totally new to us.
It made us really dizzy.
Getting up was feeling like we would go straight forward.
But the horizon was completely twisted.
We guessed it was rather not an option to climb up that huge, deadly conveyor with all the vertigo.
But unfortunately, there was an unexpected problem:
Workers.
At this point, they were dismantling the plant and blocked the simple way in.
We didn't think about that.
So, the single remaining option was the big feeder band.
And as it looked like, it started right beneath us.
Cornelius thinks that the big conveyor is leading into this building.
Maybe we can get to the basement where the feeder band starts.
Let's go down the ladder and see if we can find a way.
If it works, we don't have to go out and expose ourselves again.
We were lucky. The conveyor was actually starting right under this building.
We somehow need to get down there. Did you find a way?
I'll check over here.
But everything we found was...
Hungarian art.
After a quick look around we found a way onto the conveyer belt without exposing us too much.
That's the rotten wooden floor we have been warned about.
This one is supposed to carry us all the way to the top.
What do you think?
Is the whole floor made of wood? - Yeah.
And to the left and right?
Wood all the way.
That's a long way up.
It's really high.
Should we go a bit further?
We also have to keep in mind that they might hear us.
Really carefully we were moving upward.
We were about to sneak inside the plant right over the heads of the workers.
We really weren't sure if this was such a great idea.
Guys, consider this:
The illusion is that all of this is just a straight corridor.
But we know it better.
How many meters over the ground do you think this is up there? Like 30?
Yeah, right? After all, it's going all the way up to the roof.
To be honest: Would you do this?
Sorry, mum, if you see this.
Later, we have to go back all this way as well!
Maybe not all of us should stop at the same spot.
The steel construction bears our weight. But the wood is critical.
Should we go on?
Look what Cornelius is doing!
Dude, that's a dangerous experiment.
We might have accomplished a quarter of the whole way now.
To me, this makes the better impression.
It's double-layered and reinforced with steel girders.
Yes, there are steel girders but they're really thin. They're just braces.
Shall we continue? - On which way?
I’ll proceed as before.
Should we separate and go left and right?
I want to go here, so in case I drop I could hold to it.
I'm really dizzy here.
But now we have to follow through. We have already gotten so far.
Oh, right. So far... a whole quarter already.
Quiet now.
Never again!
Okay, one more time. Because we have to get down again.
The thing is, if we had dropped, not only would we have died...
But the workers would have also seen us dying.
Let's try to be low-key now and find out what's going on here.
What about our breathing masks?
Would be highly advisable.
We were really glad to finally have infiltrated the power station.
It was way more complicated that we thought it would be.
But when we saw those 60-meter-high cooling towers from the street,
we knew, we would try everything to explore this spectacular place.
This powerhouse is only half as old as the other one we were showing to you earlier in this episode.
Around 1950, the plant was built and provided especially the surrounding industry with electricity.
But the 50 years it was operating, the facility was raising problems again and again.
Already when the power station came on stream there were multiple malfunctions.
Reason for that were flaws with the system.
And yet, this was the country's biggest investment in new industry back then.
Due to the combustion of coal power was produced here.
Hence the conveyors which transported the coal inside the boiler house.
But the neighboring strip mine couldn't bring out enough coal for the huge powerhouse.
So, to some extent additional coal had to be transported here over long distances.
Another problem was the major environmental pollution.
Based on consequent strict environmental regulations the plant had to be partially reconstructed and stripped down around 1990.
After that, it went in private hands to be modernized later.
But the development project was starting too late because the facility wasn't needed anymore at that point.
At the turn of the millennium, it was providing only a tenth of its original capacity.
As a result, it was decommissioned and has been getting dismantled since then.
Large parts of the massive power station haven't been existent anymore for a long time already.
For example, those enormous chimneys or the turbines inside the halls of the plant.
At the moment, the main part of the premises gets stripped down.
So, we were sharing the building with the workers, which were dismantling the place only a few floors below us.
This meant, we still couldn't relax.
Several workers are down there in the hall.
Some construction vehicles as well. I've seen a forklift and a digger driving.
They make a lot of noise.
Also this power station offers impressive architecture which we wanted to see so badly.
But for that, we had to get in that hall where the construction work was going on.
And it didn't look like the builders were about to leave soon.
So, we weren't really sure what we should do now.
That's why we were here.
These are Tobi's photos.
Back then, he didn't have to deal with those workers, so he could move freely.
Pipes, stairs and ladders are creating a perfect symmetry.
Together with those tall windows impressive sceneries arise.
Also here, some filmmakers were delighted in the past.
This plant was used for shooting movies as well.
The most prominent example is Blade Runner 2049.
For the sequel of the cult film, this was the perfect post-apocalyptic set.
For more of Tobi's picture check out his Instagram.
We posted the link to that in the video description.
Unfortunately, those impressions were refused to us.
If we had tried to capture this, we would have revealed ourselves.
The problem is you have to stand at the railing if you want to take a good photo.
And from there you get spotted easily.
To prevent getting caught we decided to skip the exciting parts of the powerhouse.
Instead, we wanted to find out what else there is to be discovered.
Unfortunately, the demolition is already in an advanced state.
But we also didn't want to be too snoopy and didn't dare to go far.
We could have bumped into workers or security at any time.
So, instead it was time to end this mission.
Oh yeah, totally blocked that out.
It's gorgeous!
This is like some kind of waterslide.
A broken one. - One you wouldn't want to ride. - Because you will die.
Do you know what would work well? - What?
Sliding down the band with a sleigh.
In a video game this would be super easy now.
You would take your grappling hook and slide down.
But unfortunately, this wasn't a video game and that thin wooden flooring had to carry our weights one more time.
Crap.
That's it then.
We got caught. On the one side we made it to the end of the conveyor…
But as you can hear...
Security sheep.
They've caught us.
We had no clue where those sheep came from all at once.
But apparently, they were living in this ruin.
Right behind the exit, there's a security sheep.
Well, this would be an epic start for a video game.
We're just leaving the vault after a nuclear war.
And all that has survived... - Radioactive sheep!
Go, time to leave.
Since the Blade Runner sequel there's been a huge hype about this location.
Urbexers from all around the world try to visit this old powerhouse.
For a good reason, as you could see just now.
In the past, we were exploring over a dozen forgotten industrial facilities.
But the historical power plants in this episode are definitely among the best of them.
After you have seen that grand architecture, hopefully you can agree when we repeat our statement from the beginning
that those once were soaring temples.
We’re consistently saying that we like abandoned industry the most.
And because of places like these two it will always stay that way.
Here you can see some of the pictures we were taking during those two explorations.
Both full albums can be found on our Google Drive which we share with you when you support us on Patreon.
The number of patrons is growing fast!
Almost 100 people are supporting our project over there at the moment.
Thanks a ton!
Next time on Broken Window Theory:
After we have done two extremely hard explorations, we were sure that everything would be possible.
So, we tried our luck with possibly the most unique vehicle graveyards of Hungary.
On a field far away from civilization we discovered military equipment:
Around 30 jet fighters. Most of them MIGs.
It's really hard to exceed this find.
But after that, in some old hall we were discovering numerous decommissioned trains with stunning decay.
That day, rain was creating the perfect atmosphere to turn this exploration into an unforgettable memory.
This was another one of our episodes.
Sorry for the delay but we hope it was worth waiting for.
At this moment, we're taking part in a huge street art festival which takes place on an abandoned property.
We will release a video report about that soon.
Subscribe to this channel, so you don't miss it.
Keep exploring and see you next time!