Hidden treasures in Budapest – 122-year-old pharmaceutical furniture saved

When you walk on the streets of Budapest, it is actually worth taking a better look at your surroundings. You may never know what you can find. It might just be an ordinary convenience store or some other type of small shop, but in Budapest, you can never know what any ordinary place could hide.

Although even the façades in Budapest are mesmerising and could take you hours just to fully appreciate every detail of a single one, let alone all of them, there are quite a lot of things to look out for in such a city bustling with artistic expression, historical objects and places. In one of our previous articles, we have explored the beautiful floors of Budapest’s buildings. Someone took the time and made beautiful details where only a few people look.

In this case, it was time that played a trick with this series of cabinets. According to 24, the story of the cabinet started in 1899 and even a bit before. There was a pharmacy founded by Ignác Tóth in 1795 called Saint István (Stephen) around today’s Margit körút. This very pharmacy moved in 1816 to a different place and then, in 1843, it moved back to Margit körút, and over the years, it changed its location a few times. The only thing that did not change was the name.

The cabinets in question were made and installed in the pharmacy in 1899. For more than three decades, it was untouched, but the then-owner, Pál Kerpel, sold it in 1932.

The person who purchased it was Blum Gyula, who decided to move the beautiful piece of furniture to the Pest side of the city.

The pharmacy that was reopened on István Street was first named Flóra, but years later, it was renamed King István (Stephen) to honour the Hungarian historical figure, but also because of the name of the street.