The Postapalota, built according to the plans of the famous Hungarian architect Gyula Sándy, reopened in the spring of 2022 after a complete reconstruction, the lamps were created by Patinas Lighting based on unique designs.

 

Few words about the Hungarian Money Museum and Visitor Center

The Postal Palace, also known as the Hungarian Money Museum and Visitor Center, owned by the Hungarian National Bank, originally operated as a post office, but nowadays it welcomes its visitors as a Monetary Museum.

Located in the XII. district, this uniquely beautiful building was erected in eclectic-art nouveau style between 1924-1926, based on the plans of architect Gyula Sándy. The building became the property of the Hungarian National Bank in the summer of 2018, and after its complete reconstruction it opened its doors on April 15, 2022 as the National Bank’s money and banking history museum, and has been welcoming its visitors ever since.

 

The reconstruction and renovation of the Postal Palace

The renovation of the eclectic-Art Nouveau building was carried out under the leadership of Tihamér Szalay, based on the plans of MD Studio, with whom our company, Patinas Lighting had previously worked during the renovation of a historically significant villa in Budapest. Patinas Lighting participated in this wonderful project through Solinfo Group/Lighting Embassy, which was entrusted with the lighting design.

 

Our project: the production of lamps for the public spaces and executive chamber

The luminaires were handmade of brass based on the designs of Mrs. Orsolya Székely a Ferenczy Noémi award-winning industrial artist.

The luminaires of the executive chamber

Based on the designs of Mrs. Székely we undertook the production of two chandeliers and six wall lamps as an unique project. The chandeliers are each 437 x 100 cm wide, with total drop of 2 meters, which  weigh 190 kg each!

We started the work based on the following plans.

Even before we started the scale model of the large chandeliers was made from paper and wood by the industrial artist Orsolya Székely (see photo below).

The inner structure of the luminaire is made of steel, but the cover was made of solid brass. Alabaster plates were used as diffusors on both chandeliers thus evenly spreading the installed led lights.  The typical décor of the building the circular snail was also placed on the side of the chandeliers. This element can also be seen on the paternoster and also the Zsolnay tiles in the entrance hall.

 

The Patinas Lamps of the public space, the covered courtyard of the Postal Palace

Additionally we have also fitted the public spaces of Postal palace with our standard art deco lighting. The customer has ordered 110 pieces of our very popular art deco wall sconce, the Petitot wall light II/3 albeit with customized led light source and glossy gold finish.

 

The production process of the lamps for Postal Palace

During the renovation of the building, 17 people from our company worked tirelessly on the production and installation of the  luminaires. For example it took six colleagues and 3 days to assemble and install the 2 huge chandeliers in the executive chamber. See images of the process below:

 

Mrs. Székely’s thoughts on the project and cooperation

„Thoughts on the executive chamber chandeliers. 
The difficulty of the implemenation lies in the fact that as much as the chandeliers are big and heavy they need to look as they were floating. After the paperwork was ready we needed we still needed a while to get started with the production.
The deadline was looming. In such cases one needs excellent cooperation between the designer and the production team.
The manufacture’s equipment and professional knowledge made it possible to solve all work processes, so with the shared love of work we have achieved an excellent result.”

Orsolya Székely
industrial artist

 

Further images of the project: