Inside Hungary’s central bank: million-forint chairs, marble interiors and luxury facilities revealed

Independent MP Ákos Hadházy has published a new set of photos showing renovated areas inside Hungary’s National Bank, including what he claims is a luxury bathroom and shower connected to the office of former governor György Matolcsy.

The developments follow recent reports detailing the refurbishment of the central bank’s Szabadság Square headquarters in Budapest. Documents obtained through a freedom of information request and published by 444.hu suggest the project’s cost rose from an initially planned HUF 55 billion to over HUF 100 billion in just a few years.

The several-hundred-page cost breakdown lists purchases and construction work item by item, down to individual fittings. The spending has also been criticised by the State Audit Office, and a police investigation has been launched. The newly published photos offer a closer look at how some of these funds may have been used.

Luxury details from the executive bathroom

In his post, Hadházy highlighted several elements of the executive bathroom. According to him, the black-and-white mosaic flooring alone cost around HUF 9.5 million (EUR 24,500), while the Italian marble wall cladding added another HUF 11 million (EUR 28,300).

The bathroom is not accessed directly from the office itself, but through a separate dressing room.

Among the details, one item that drew particular attention was a gold-coloured toilet brush. Hadházy claims the central bank purchased 72 of them, each costing more than HUF 50,000 (EUR 130).

Cigar room with dedicated air filtration system

In another post, Hadházy shared images of a cigar room within the building. The gold-coloured structures visible in the corners, which may resemble cabinets at first glance, are in fact part of a specialised air filtration system.

According to the MP, the system was specifically designed to handle cigar smoke. It uses combined mechanical and chemical filtration alongside continuous air exchange, preventing smoke from spreading to neighbouring rooms.

Million-forint chairs and high-end meeting rooms

The images also suggest that the meeting rooms were fitted with high-end materials and furnishings. Hadházy claims that in some rooms, chairs cost more than HUF 1 million each, while custom flooring and finishes ran into tens of millions of forints.

Glass wall installations alone may have cost hundreds of millions, and several differently styled meeting rooms were created throughout the building.

“Overall, I can say that more meeting rooms were built in the National Bank than exist in Parliament,” Hadházy wrote.

Nursery and multi-million shower units

In another post, the MP also mentioned that a nursery had been created for employees within the building, where a toy kitchen reportedly cost around HUF 600,000.

Documents also suggest that significant sums were spent on sanitary facilities for adults. According to the data, partitions between urinals cost around HUF 500,000 each, while approximately thirteen shower units were installed at a price of HUF 3–4 million per unit.

These figures may far exceed what would typically be required for such renovations, even for the national bank.

Featured image: Hadházy Ákos / Facebook