Pestújhely is one of the northern suburbs of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. It belongs to District XV.

History

Until the second half of the 19th century this place belonged to the old village of Rákospalota and was uninhabited and marshy. In 1897 building plots were sold by auction and the new settlement became independent from Rákospalota in 1909. The inhabitants of Pestújhely were clerks, postmasters, railwaymen and other lower middle class people. The rapid development of the village continued until the second world war with the building of houses, churches and schools. In 1950 became part of Great-Budapest as well as Rákospalota. The small suburb today is a pleasant backwater with a quaint market-town atmosphere. You can find here some nice old villas and three small churches.

In 1969 North to the old Pestújhely, near the Szilas-patak (Szilas Brook) a new suburb was created that were named Újpalota (the English meaning of the name is New Palace). This was one of the biggest housing estate of Budapest with a population of 60.000. Today only 40.000 people are living here and there are serious social problems. The tall, prefabricated housing blocks are typical of socialist era but the rich vegetation made the district more friendly in the past decades. The biggest Chinese shopping plaza in Hungary, the huge Asia Center was built on the bank of the Szilas Brook in 2003.

See also

• Budapest