Szablyár Péter: Step by step - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)

The Rebirth of styles - the stairs of Historicism

■ The main stairway of Budapest's Opera House

Two of the several staircases in the Opera House are outstanding masterpieces of the architectural art. The visitor is overawed by the dazzling sight of the central staircase, which functions as an atmospheric transition from the noisy turmoil of the traffic outside to the temple of music. Illuminated by the even light radiating from the chandelier and the torch-like lamps in brackets, the walls of the staircase, a hall with a unique spatial effect of its own, has Trieste marble facing. The ornamental, single flight stairway called "king's steps” leads to the royal salon. The red marble pillars of the staircase, the yellow marble facing, the elegant bronze chandeliers and the brown handrails on the banister combine to create a truly royal effect. The recently launched young peoples' programmes called Dingdong Matinee and Instrumental Magic are designed, among other things, to introduce those sections of the building which are rarely seen by visitors. It is by way of the king's steps that children attending these events are taken to the gallery and from there to the splendid Bertalan Székely Hall, where the rich collection of the Opera House is on display.

Steps to solid wealth and reliability

A bank building is always expected to project reliability and with it inspire instant trust. That was the principle guiding Ignác Alpár when he designed the palatial home for the Budapest branch of the Austrian-Hungarian Bank (today’s Hungarian Natio33