Our regular contributor, Róbert Szabó, has developed detailed glossaries describing the history of stock exchange buildings.

The old stock exchange had three buildings throughout its history: unfortunately, two of the three are no longer standing.

The first was the Széchenyi Square, on the site of the present Sofitel (formerly the Atrium Hyatt) hotel. Lloyd-Palota which was the trading post between 1864 and 1870. The building was designed by József Hild and built in 1830. It was demolished after the Second World War.

The second, a few streets away, on the corner of the quay and Wekerle Sándor Street new Stock Exchange building which is now occupied by another hotel, the InterContinental (formerly Forum). The building, completed in 1870, was designed by Károly Benkó and Ferenc Kolbenheyer and was sold between 1870 and 1905. The building also fell victim to the Second World War.

The third building still standing today is the Liberty Square Exchange Palace was. It was built in 1905 according to Ignác Alpár's design and was used for trading until 1948, when the stock exchange closed. The subsequent history of the building was also colourful: it was initially the headquarters of the Lenin Institute, the House of Technology and later the Hungarian Television, and its interior was almost completely rebuilt, unfortunately without taking into account the preservation of historical monuments. The building was sold to a Canadian investor in 2006 and MTV moved out in 2009, since then it has been vacant and in a very poor state. It is currently used mainly as a set for film productions.