Postalmuseum Budapest [antikvár]

The building of the Museum of Postal History at Népköztársaság Street (former Sugár Street) No. 3 was erected by the design of architect Győző Cziegler in neoeclectic style between 188486. In 1957 the building was declared a historical monument. The orderer and proprietor of this three-storied palace was András Saxlehner who raised to upper middle class rank from an ordinary cloth-merchant after having discovered by chance mineral springs containing magnesia salts on the southern inclination of Sashegy (one of the hills at Buda) in 1862. Analysis has proved the health-giving quality of the water, therefore he bought up the whole ground and a bottle-filling factory was erected in a short time. The bitter water named Hunyadi János" became known all over the world an András Saxlehner turned into a very wealthy man.The family lived on the first floor of the palace in the wing facing Sugár Street, while the other side, looking onto Szerecsen Street (presently called Paulay Ede Street) was occupied by office-rooms. The upper floors involved flats for rent.The large room of the apartment were furnished luxuriously by the most outstanding industrial companies. The carved wainscot-ings, the English silk'wall-coverings, the windows of coloured lead-glass, the carved chimneys of marble from Carrara (with bult-in central heating), the glass chandeliers from Venice, the decorative ironwork on the doors and windows, the designed parquetry of the music hall, all of them can be seen in original splendour, radiating the milieu of the haute-bourgeoisie, living in Budapest at the turn of the century. Besides the only apartment which remained intact, the outstanding artis-tical values of the palace are the frescos painted by Károly Lötz, decorating the staircase and the ceiling of the rooms. Restoration of the latter is in course, and one part of them has already regainde its former lustre. The exhibitions of the Museum of Postal History were opened on the first floor in 1972.Han No. /Visitors of our permanent exhibition of postal history are received in the foreground by a large-size statue of Hermes. Són of Zeus and nymph Maia, Hermes was considered in the Greek mithology as the benefactor of travel-1lers and merchants, the quick messenger of the goods. (His equivalent in Roman mythology is Mercurius.) In the vitriné right from the entrance you can see the latest exhibits. On the upper frieze old stamp imprints are seen from that epoch when there was no postage stamp in use for prepayment. Next to them the sketch of fresco by Béla Komtuly is shown, made in the 1950's for the post office in Csepel (District of Budapest) but unfortunately not realized. The sketch records the development of the communication. On the right wall you can see postal signboards, indicating three separable periods of the history of postal service in Hungary. From left to right: the first one was used till the years of 1850, when the Austrian Postal Administration functioned in Hungary (1.). The second one was the sign of the postal offices from 1867, when the Hungarian post became independent according to the Compromise of 1867 (between Austria and Hungary ) and the new sign-boards with Hungarian arms and using Hungarian language represented the outward from of the independence (s. dust). The third one indicated offices with telephone, when the telephone exchanges