Földes Mária: Ornamentation - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)
The years around the turn of the century were here, as well as in other European capitals, a period bustling with joyous activity, a carefree, or seemingly carefree, period referred to as the “happy days of peace”. The reasons for such tranquillity are to be found in the historical and economic changes which had taken place in the second half of the 19th century. In the wake of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, a whole array of far-reaching evolutionary processes started to unfold. Economic developments opened up the possibility of social change and the emergence of the bourgeoisie. Moreover, the influx of capital necessitated the creation of an infrastructure without which it could not have operated, which is why massive investment and large-scale construction were implemented in the newly united capital city. (Buda, Pest and Óbuda were administratively united in 1873.) The life and appearance of the hitherto sleepy backwater had undergone radical changes, and it was then that the city’s still surviving basic structure was formed. Magnificent mansions and palatial villas were erected along the city’s new broad avenue (today’s Andrássy út). Alongside elegant apartment blocks, there were banks, savings and other financial institutes, and city centre buildings with shops to advertise the area’s newly assumed function. The craze to build reached its peak in 1896, the year of the Millennial Celebrations (a series of events and festivities marking the millennium of the Magyar conquest of the Carpathian Basin), but its impetus was still felt when World War I broke out. It is that period whose fascinating atmosphere we now try to evoke with the help of the arts. We invite the reader to join us for a pass around the turn-of-the- century Budapest. The buildings we shall walk by are all products of this inspired and inspiring age. While their functions may differ, they share at least one thing -their plastic ornamentation. There can be no sharp distinction made between sculptural decoration and architecture, and thus the two cannot be treated separately. The historical changes that architecture has undergone have been faithfully followed by changes in ornamentation. Initially, sculptural decoration had a precisely defined and essential structural role. In certain periods ornamentation played 7
