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

ners of the building, the originally submitted drafts would have had huge dragons sitting with wings outstretched, creatures that one could have believed to be monsters guarding gold and other treasures. In the actual forms the madly eddying convolution of the snakes may even be regarded as a symbol of perpetual motion and change; however, this message of Lech- ner’s would be worth further interpretation. On top of the tent-like, towering middle pinnacle, extraordinary in its shape with its inward leaning vault, there are two bull-heads flanking an extremely enlarged motif of Hungarian sheep-coat embroidery. The bull-head itself is a blown up detail from a drinking cup which was part of the golden archaeological find named Nagyszentmiklós treasure from its provenance, but commonly known as Attila’s treasure at the turn of the century. This motif, which here is clearly a symbol of ancient “national treasures”, had a spectacular career as a form symbolising, and supposedly vindicating, the continuity between the Huns and the Magyars. Lechner was the first to charge this motif with a symbolic message. Finally the bee-hive, this motif universally characteristic of savings banks, symbolising diligence and accumulation, can also be found on the moulding. The ceramic hives are placed on top of the engaged columns running all the way up the entire height of the facade to emphasise verticality. Along the axes of the columns there are long lines of bees marching toward the hives.

THE CAPITALS ARE MOTIFS OF FOLK ART ENLIVENED AND TURNED THREE DIMENSIONAL

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