Gerle János: Palaces of Money - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1994)

economy, because banks with their high concentration of capital monopolise the credit market. The capital which produces compound interest without any personal involvement on the part of the account holder has itself become a commodity, which is why, in the opinion of certain economists, a world economy compelled to grow is threatened by disaster.

When a national chain of bank branches emerged in the second half of the 19th century accompanied by a rapid proliferation of local savings banks, the prototype of the modern bank building with its functional interior design also took shape-in the centre is a decorative cashier’s hall, where internal and external transactions come into contact through the exchange of a wide variety of legal tenders. There are few other architectonic tasks where it is as obvious as it is here that the resources of architecture are meant to be used as tools of direct persuasion. In the central cashier’s hall the customer is supposed to feel that he is in the right place, that the institution he is dealing with is reliable, i.e. sufficiently wealthy, and that it is going to use his money in accordance with his expectations. All this is conveyed through a system of signs-manifested in forms, materials and symbols-which follows from the peculiarities of the particular bank operating in a given era.

Of the widely used symbols the most important should be highlighted here-the figure of the ancient god Mercury. On facades his characteristic figure appears as a sculpture, while inside buildings it can mostly be seen in stained glass patterns. In either case we see him as a vigorous youth, whose scanty clothing consists of winged sandals and a similarly winged shepherd’s hat. He holds a messenger’s stick with two serpents coiling around it.

Mosaics in the foyer of the Pest Commercial Bank (the Ministry of the Interior)

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