“Delicacy” and “Sample Shop” – Neon Rescue in Budapest
Hungary was once a “neo-great power”, but today only a few dozen battered inscriptions and company names remain news. Fortunately, there is someone to save them.
Like the other countries of the Eastern Bloc, Budapest was brought to light by a central order: in 1969 the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party the decision on neonization was made at the Congress. The goal was to catch up with Europe, at least on the outside, and to advertise with a mass of illuminated signs: Budapest is a glittering and rich city.
By the beginning of the 1970s, about nineteen thousand neons were lit all over the country, and the center of Budapest shone with an inscription in almost every building. The neons reached their peak in the seventies and eighties, and the Capital Neon Equipment Manufacturing Company only poured out newer and newer, more varied versions of the words Shoes, Ibus, Fashion Goods and Sample Shop. In addition to the inscriptions, logos that have become classic now appear, such as the owl marked the antique shop, the white swan of Patyolat, which suggests purity, or the delicacy basket. The word neon advertising, by the way, is misleading, as the inscriptions had little advertising value in the scarcity economy of socialism. In addition to the aesthetic role, the vast, illuminating texts often served an ideological function. Behavior patterns to be followed by the population were presented. Such typical admonitions were ‘Don’t litter!’, ‘Worth saving!’, Collect iron and metal, give it to the bee! ” or calling for safe traffic “Caution, patience, courtesy!”.
The lights go out
After a controlled upswing, the neon world soon began to decline. In the eighties, only two thousand light inscriptions disappeared from them in Budapest, and after the change of regime, the gorgeous neons disappeared from them. Many of the businesses advertised with these have ceased to exist, and state-owned companies have gone into private hands, and the new owners no longer needed the old ones. Undoubtedly, the neons who had an imposing cityscape had many drawbacks anyway. Residents of buildings often complain that they are disturbed because they rattle and light up the apartment. Because of the outdoor placement, they were also exposed to the weather and broke easily, and instead of costly renovating or replacing, it was more convenient to leave it to be simply mild. Today, there are only a hundred neons left in Budapest, and only a fraction of them are lit. The remaining works of applied art are types and important historical relics, so it would be worth preserving them for posterity. Some enthusiastic fans have already started working on this in recent years.
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