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All Hungary Budapest Air Defense Early Warning Listening Ears
Air Defense Early Warning Listening Ears is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.
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Air Defense Early Warning Listening Ears

A relic of World War I that now exist as a piece of public art.

Budapest, Hungary

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Nick
Air Defense Early Warning Listening Ears   nicholasabateman / Atlas Obscura User
Air Defense Early Warning Listening Ears   nicholasabateman / Atlas Obscura User
Air Defense Early Warning Listening Ears   nicholasabateman / Atlas Obscura User
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Sitting on the banks of the Danube is a wartime listening device that wouldn't look out of place in a steampunk arsenal or a fantastical Studio Ghibli animation.

The listening device, labeled "Air Defence Early Warning Listening Ears - 1917" on its short plinth, faces the Pest side of the river from its home at the foot of the Buda castle gardens. The device was used to amplify and monitor the sound of aircraft approaching the city during World War I.

Visitors can still don the headphones attached to the four giant listening cones and spin the steering wheels that originally helped fine-tune the direction the cones are pointing. Unfortunately, they won't hear much these days.

The instrument is on wheels so it could be used around the city. 

Related Tags

Engineering History & Culture World War I

Know Before You Go

You can find the listening ears by taking the 19 or 41 trams along the Buda riverside. The nearest stop is Várkert Bazár, which is also the best place to enjoy a walk up to the palace through the newly restored castle gardens.

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nicholasabateman

Published

August 15, 2022

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