Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
City Park Calvinist Church
Martin Child / GETTY IMAGES ©
The Art Nouveau European Route (
www.artnouveau.eu
) website is among the most com-
prehensive on the Art Nouveau heritage of Europe.
ÖDÖN LECHNER
Ödön Lechner (1845-1914) has been nicknamed 'the Hungarian Gaudí' because, like
the Catalan master, he took an existing style and put his own spin on it, creating
something new and unique for his time and place. Hungary has now submitted five of
his masterpieces, including three in Budapest (the Museum of Applied Arts, the Royal
Postal Savings Bank and the Institute of Geology), for inclusion in Unesco's World
Heritage list.
Lechner studied architecture at Budapest's József Trade School, the precursor to
the University of Technology and Economics (BME) in Buda, and later at the Schinkel
Academy of Architecture in Berlin. At the start of his career, Lechner worked in the
prevailing styles and there were few indications that he would leave such an indelible
mark on his city and his era. The firm he formed in 1869 received a steady flow of
commissions in Pest during the boom years of the 1870s, but, like everyone else, he
worked in the popular and all-too-common historicist and neoclassical styles.
Between 1875 and 1878 Lechner worked in France under architect Clément Parent
on the renovation and redesign of chateaux. At this time he was also influenced by the
emerging style of Art Nouveau.
After his return to Budapest Lechner began to move away from historicism to more
modern ideas and trends. A turning point in his career was his commission for Thonet
House on Váci utca, his innovative steel structure that he covered with glazed ceram-
ics from the Zsolnay factory in Pécs. ('Birds have eyes too', he explained when asked
about the expense.) More ambitious commissions followed, including the Museum of
Applied Arts and the Institute of Geology. But not all was right in the world of Hungari-
an Art Nouveau. Lechner's Royal Postal Savings Bank building, now often seen as the
architect'stour de force,was not well received when it was completed in 1901 and
Lechner never really worked independently on a commission of that magnitude again.
Budapest Makes Its Mark
The first Hungarian architect to look to Art Nouveau for inspiration was Frigyes Spiegel,
who covered traditional facades with exotic and allegorical figures and scenes. At the north-
