The ruin pub is a scrappy, cultural space where they couldn’t afford furniture, the embodiment of freedom, the cause of terrible noise, a relic of the past… At the turn of the century, a culturally vibrant capital was razed to the ground by the war. The people who lived there had to start all over again. Perseverance and will brought the city back to life, only to fall back into decline. It is in this circularity that Budapest exists, and to it the ruin pub is linked, embodying the permanence built out of the ruins of Eastern Europe. The characters are the ruin tavern owners, young people, who have been, witnessing the ruin bar district’s change and how the project has become the prime destination for foreigners: the party district. In Ruins is a first-hand account of the ruin pub phenomenon in Budapest, and its story is its past, present and uncertain future, while the persistence of human destinies and shoulder-to-shoulder struggles are a bitter and triumphant history of Budapest.