“If the capital gets the baths back, the Rác will become a jewel among Budapest’s baths, next to the Gellért, Rudas and Széchenyi,” László Szőke of Budapest Gyógyfürdői és Hévizei told daily Magyar Idők.

Szőke noted that the Budapest Municipal Council had voted in February to acquire the Rác, one of Budapest’s historic Turkish baths that was renovated in 2010 with some 10 billion forints (EUR 31m) in state funding and loans.

An ownership dispute prevented its reopening.

The investor who carried out the renovation asked for a 75% stake in the baths, and got it from Budapest Gyógyfürdői és Hévizei with the support of the local council at the time, Szőke explained.

“Then the investor took out a loan, using the Rác baths themselves as collateral, and the local council, strangely enough, went along with this,” he added.

MTI Photo: Kovács Tamás