Coloured roofs
Glazed tiles.
Szilas — CC BY 4.0 · Szilas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Brunner Attila — CC BY 3.0 · Tobias1984 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Szilas — CC BY 4.0
Kecskemét City Hall stands on Kossuth Square in the centre of Kecskemét in Bács-Kiskun County, Hungary, about 82 km in a straight line from Budapest. It is one of the finest examples of Hungarian Art Nouveau. It was built between 1893 and 1897 to a design by Ödön Lechner and Gyula Pártos, who won a competition in 1890. Lechner aimed to create a «Hungarian architectural language», so he set an early Renaissance structure under a facade decorated with ceramics inspired by Hungarian folk art motifs. It was restored under Lechner after an earthquake in 1911, and it housed the city library from 1897 to 1996. The pale pink facade has small pointed turrets, roofs of glazed coloured tiles patterned in blue, green and yellow, and arched windows framed by white flower and leaf ornaments. A clock sits at its centre, with a broad square of trees and a fountain in front. The facade can be seen from the square at any time. The clock's bells play tunes at set times of day.
Glazed tiles.
Flowers and leaves.
Trees and a fountain.
Kossuth Square, Kecskemét, Hungary
Ödön Lechner and Gyula Pártos.
The halls charge a fee.