Page 61 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Budapest

BUD APEST A T A GLANCE  59

Gresham Palace and the Gellért Building, with its distinctive
Hotel and Baths Complex, geometrical ornamentation,
built in the Art Nouveau on Szervita tér. Also among
style, are among the many his buildings is the extra-
buildings in the city that are ordinary former Jewish Old
embellished by ornamental People’s Home, at Nos. 53–5
wrought-iron gates, gratings Amerikai út. With sophisticated
and banisters that incorporate ornamental details based on
Secession motifs. folk designs, Városliget
Calvinist Church was the
creation of Aladár Árkay.
Interior Decoration
Károly Kós was a highly
Among the interiors of the era, original member of this set.
those of the New York Palace Fascinated by the traditional
are a real jewel. Decked out in architecture of Transylvania,
the best materials, including he trawled the whole of that
bronze and marble, they retain region, making drawings of the
the splendour of their original, village churches and manor
Neo-Baroque form. houses he encountered. Motifs
Also worth visiting are the from these buildings were later
Hungarian National Bank and Window created by Miksa Róth, at the transferred to the aviary at
the Post Office Savings Bank, Hungarian National Bank Budapest’s Zoo and the
with their furnished secure houses of the Wekerle Estate.
rooms and ornate door and Exhibitions of attractive Secession
window frames. The interior of furniture are a fea ture of both
Philanthia Florist’s, is another the Museum of Applied Arts
wonderfully preserved example and also the Nagytétényi Palace.
of decor from the Secession.
Architecture
Frieze on the Rózsavölgyi Building
Hungarian architecture of the
fin de siècle is charac terized Where to Find
not only by decorative forms
using glazed ceramics, but, Secession Budapest
more fundamentally, by the Gellért Hotel and Baths
implementation of modern Complex pp94–5
technical solutions. Reinforced Gresham Palace p118
concrete, steel and glass were Hungarian National Bank, Liberty
used together, and large, Square p114
light-filled interiors were often Hungarian National Gallery
achieved. The central hall of pp78–81
the Museum of Applied Arts Institute of Geology p158
is a fine example of this. Liszt Academy of Music p133
Aside from Ödön Lechner, Museum of Applied Arts pp140–41
the most important of the Nagytétényi Palace p165
Hungarian Secession archi tects, New York Palace p133
others who contributed Philanthia Florist’s p57
significant buildings in the Post Office Savings Bank p115
prevailing style included Béla Turkish Bank p132
Lajta, Aladár Árkay, Károly Kós Városliget Calvinist Church p148
and István Medgyaszay. Béla Wekerle Estate p161
A Secession cabinet, displayed in the Lajta, a pupil of Lechner, Zoo p154
Museum of Applied Arts designed the Rózsavölgyi

Decorative Motifs Sunflower motif adorning the
Stylized folk motifs derived from Post Office Savings Bank
embroidery and also oriental
patterns were often employed
in Budapest’s decorative arts
during this period. Secession
motifs such as feline forms,
based on Viennese and Parisian Secession lettering on the sign of Colourful mosaic at No. 3
examples, also feature. Philanthia Florist’s Aulich utca

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