Signs

We have taken photos in several places of the shutter labels left here from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which have several unnoticeable little signs scattered around of a once lively and extensive network the cities of Eastern Europe. We have noticed the products of the locksmith’s workshops of Prague, Vienna and Budapest even in Czernowitz, Lwów and Żółkiew.

Oddly enough, it was in Budapest, in the city most visited by me, where I have not really noticed them. Until today, when we strolled past the shutter of the “Lumen” Café, its shutter conveniently pulled down just to eye level.

Sándor Árkai (1841-1910) must have had a thriving company once. His workshop produced the door and window screens for Szeged Town Hall, renovated in Neo-Baroque style in 1883, as well as the metalwork and furniture locks for the St. Stephen’s Room in the Buda Castle, finished in 1900.

Árkai Sándor, Budapest, Csengeri utza 42

Design for a casting
Sándor Árkai master locksmith, by Royal and Imperial Appointment, Budapest.
Kecskemét, June 16, 1897