Sgraffito House

The word „sgraffito” has Italian origins and means „to scrape”. It refers to the Italian decorating technique used on its facade. This decoration is produced by applying layers of plaster in different colours on top of each other and then scraping them to form the desired pattern.

Besides the sgraffito on the facade, a quote can also be found. It is an extract from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans in Latin: „Non est volentis, neque currentis sed miserentis dei” („So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy”).

The building is mentioned in Géza Ottlik’s book, School at the Frontier.

Nowadays on its groundfloor, Garabonciás Pizza House is operating and on the first floor there is a library and an UNESCO Research Center, where international students can carry out their scientific work.