Földes Mária: Ornamentation - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)

Postal Savings Bank, mosaic and ceramic ornaments

We end our walk with the building of the former Postal Savings Bank, which is now part of the National Bank. A corridor therefore connects the two. Not only is it a seminal creation of the architect Ödön Lechner, but also a milestone in the history of Hungary’s national art and architecture. Lechner was given the commission after two rounds of competition in 1899. The building at the corner of Perczel utca and Hold utca behind the CIS Embassy has recently been restored. It was completed in the very short time of two years. Those who saw the building in its earlier condition, would not even recognize the brightly glittering facade with the soot and grime of decades removed. After the first brief encounter, when we have glanced over the seemingly unadorned building, we might wonder why art history and its literature regard it as so very important. To answer that question, we might catalogue its

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