How Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's hometown became a symbol of excesses

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https://www.npr.org/2026/04/11/nx-s1-5773321/viktor-orban-hungary-hometown

How Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's hometown became a symbol of excesses
April 11, 2026 5:04 PM ET
By Rob Schmitz, Michael Levitt, Máté Halmos, Sarah Robbins

To the outsider, the Pancho Arena, a massive soccer stadium built to seat 4,000 fans, seems out of place in the tiny Hungarian village of Felcsút.

The stadium in Felcsút, alongside an adjoining soccer academy, cost more than an estimated $200 million to build, and for political observers like Sándor Léderer, it is a prime example of that corruption.

A short walk from the stadium is a train station for a 3-mile narrow-gauge railway that connects Felcsút to a nearby village where Orbán has built his family's estate: Puskás Akadémia stop on the The Vál Valley Light Railway.

Some of those who were with [tour leader Ákos] Hadházy climbed up a ladder to see above the wall that encircles the Orbán family palace.

One by one, they peered into the landscaped and pool-filled grounds and beyond that — the Neoclassical mansion of their prime minister.

Júlia Molnár, 27 years old, stepped down from the ladder and shook her head. Her voice trembled with anger as she spoke about what she saw.

She lamented the opulence of her prime minister's residence when so many in her country are so poor.

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The Pancho Arena in Felcsut can seat the entire population of the village twice. Denes Erdosap


The palace of Hatvanpuszta, which is in Orban’s father’s name, has undergone a €30 million renovation. Hadhazy Akos/Facebook