140 years ago Szeged was almost destroyed by the Great Flood. March 12 th, 1879 brought Szeged's darkest hour. Only 265 of the 5723 houses remained and 165 people died. Emperor Franz Joseph visited the town and promised that "Szeged will be more beautiful than it used to be". He kept his promise. During the next years a new, modern city emerged from the ruins, with palaces and wide streets.

After the Great Flood during the reconstruction new elegant buildings were erected in the city and the City Hall did not match the grand style of the newly erected palaces in the vicinity. So in 1881 a tender was announced for the reconstruction and the modernisation of Szeged's City Hall. The winner tender was the work of architects Ödön Lechner and Gyula Pártos. Ödön Lechner was given the most significant recognition of the time, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph, for designing and buildign the City Hall of Szeged.
Ödön Lechner the Hunagarian Gaudi as they mentioned him was a Jewish Hungarian architect, one of the early representatives of the Hungarian Secession movement, which was related to Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe. He decorated his buildings with Zsolnay tile patterns inspired by old Magyar and Turkic folk art. Lechner aimed to form a national style, using motifs from Hungarian folk art in the decoration of his buildings as well as incorporating architectural elements from eastern cultures like Persia. Changing directions and curved shapes also distinguish this from the Vienna Secession style. A significant turning point in his career came with a connection to the Vilmos Zsolnay's company, and Lechner began to use terracotta tiling in his designs.
Lipót Baumhorn (1860-1932) was Ödön Lechner’s student who planned 24 beautiful Art Nouveau synagogues in the country, like the famous synagogue in Szeged (1903).