The former Stock Exchange Palace in 1906
Standing on the western side of Budapest’s Szabadság Square (Liberty Square), the imposing former Stock Exchange Palace has witnessed more than a century of Hungarian history. Once home to the Budapest Stock Exchange and Hungarian Television, the magnificent building has since found a new role as a filming location for major Hollywood blockbusters.
This massive palace was built on the site of an even larger structure, as the entire area of Szabadság Square was once occupied by the “New Building”—a gigantic barracks that the residents of Pest universally detested. One reason for this was that Prime Minister Lajos Batthyány was executed in one of its courtyards in 1849.
The former Stock Exchange Palace in 1905. Photo: Fortepan / Deutsche Fotothek / Brück und Sohn
The massive, universally despised building was demolished in 1897, and it was no coincidence that the park created in its place was named Szabadság Square. The plots along the edges of the square were sold for the construction of prestigious buildings, which is how the new building of the Pest Stock Exchange came to be built here. Of course, the Pest Stock Exchange was not originally located here; it had been founded earlier, in 1864 (though its roots dated back to 1853), and initially operated out of the Pester Lloyd headquarters before moving to what is now Apáczai Csere János Street in 1873.
The former Stock Exchange Palace in Budapest. Photo: Dezidor / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0.
Barely a decade and a half to two decades later, however, it became clear that this building, too, would be too small, so the Stock Exchange Council, which governed the exchange, initiated the construction of a new, large-scale, imposing building. To this end, they purchased a plot of land measuring more than 9,000 square meters from the site of the demolished New Building to construct the new stock exchange there.
Inside the building. Photo: Hungary Today
The plans were drawn up by Ignác Alpár. The building’s dimensions are impressive: it is 145 meters long and 60 meters wide. Completed in 1905, the palace housed both the securities exchange and the commodity exchange. The new headquarters was equipped with every modern convenience: its walls were decorated with ceramic tiles produced by the Zsolnay factory, the interior design was executed by the finest Hungarian craftsmen, and the building featured central heating and dozens of telephone lines. The total construction cost amounted to 6.6 million koronas.
Inside the building. Photo: Random photos 1989 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.
However, the stock exchange’s operations were incompatible with the communist economic system.
It was first shut down and the building confiscated during the Hungarian Soviet Republic—though only temporarily at that time, as the stock exchange was able to resume operations in the building starting in the fall of 1919. The new leadership that came to power after World War II dissolved the stock exchange on May 25, 1948, as it had largely lost its purpose following the nationalization of businesses.
The building has not been the Hungarian Television’s headquarters for more than 10 years now. Photo: Illustratedjc, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped from the original. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
The building was converted into the House of Technology, and from 1957 onward it housed the Federation of Technical and Natural Science Associations; later, following the launch of Hungarian television broadcasts, television studios and offices also moved there. In addition, other organizations also had offices in the building, such as the National Council of Trade Unions and certain ministries.
However, the palace was not suitable for the Hungarian TV broadaster either, as it had clearly been built for an entirely different purpose. Therefore, between 1970 and 1972, the interior was completely remodeled according to the plans of Csaba Virágh and Judit Hámori, while the exterior remained largely unchanged.
Hungarian Television used the building until 2009; the last piece of equipment was moved from there to the Hungarian Television’s new headquarters in Óbuda on July 24, 2009.
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However, the Budapest Stock Exchange did not move back into the Stock Exchange Palace at that time. The massive palace has stood empty for years—which made it a good location, for example, for filming the new installment of Blade Runner 2049, Black Widow, Red Sparrow. Most recently, the exterior of the building was featured in the BBC One Limited series A Tale of Two Cities starring Kit Harington, and it is used for another production at the writing, presumably the Portrait of a Lady, which has been filming for months in the Hungarian capital.
The building on October 12, 2026, partially covered for filming. Photo: Hungary Today.
The renovation of this unique building has been dragging on for a decade. According to recent reports, it is set to be converted into an office building.
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Via pestbuda.hu; Featured photo: Fortepan / Budapest Főváros Levéltára / Klösz György fényképei / Klösz György
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