Sightseeing in Budapest


The Castle District

The Castle District in Buda is the ancient kernel of the capital's right-bank settlement. Everything that surrounds it was once only suburbs. From whatever direction you reach the Castle District, you cross the ramparts which completely encircle Castle Hill. The whole area within the ramparts is protected as an ancient monument: the lines of the streets and the foundations and architectural remains of the buildings retain the atmosphere and memories of the medieval and eighteenth and nineteenth-century capital.


The Fishermen's Bastion

The Fishermen's Bastion is one of the most popular spots of the Castle District with visitors, as it offers a grand panorama of almost the entire city. It is situated ac the eastern side of Castle Hill, and can be reached from the centre of the district, Szentháromság tér (Trinity Square). Its architecture is characteristic of the turn of the century; its flights of stairs, its projections, its turrets, and its ambulatory-like galleries make it a mixture of the neo-Gothic and neo-Roman- esque styles and of the romantic baronial castles. In 1901-3, the aim of its architect, Frigyes Schulek, was to provide a worthy setting for the Church of Our Lady (Matthias Church); when building it he also made use of the remaining stones of the old Castle wall.

Mathias Church

The Church of Our Lady is generally called the Matthias Church, because its southern tower bears the coat of arms with the raven (in Latin: Corvus) of Matthias (Corvinus) Hunyadi (1458-1490). In the thirteenth century Buda's first parish church stood here. In the fourteenth century it was rebuilt as a Gothic hall church, but its construction, just as that of so many Gothic churches in Europe, was never finished, and the northern tower was not built. From outside the most beautiful part of the church is the 80-meter (260 ft.) high stone-laced Gothic tower. The southern portal is decorated by a fourteenth- century relief depicting Virgin Mary's death. Inside, the plastered walls are painted with colored ornamental design. The frescoes depict the lives of Hungarian saints. In the northern part there is a series of chapels; in the one nearest to the chancel the sarcophagi of Béla III (1173-1196) and his wife Anne of Châtillon can be seen.
Up to the first third of the eighteenth century the left- bank settlement, the historic centre of the former town of Pest, consisted only of the district lying between today's Liberty Bridge, Chain Bridge, Múzeum körút and Károly körút, that is to say, it extended only as far as today's Kiskörút (Little Boulevard). The town was completely rebuilt and it grew gradually; today, of the original town of Pest, there only remain some parts of the fifteenth-century town walls, and from the eighteenth century, only the churches, as well as a few monasteries and public buildings. In contrast to the Castle District of Buda, which is by-passed by the main traffic of the city, the Inner City, with its shops, offices and important traffic arteries, is part of the city's everyday life.

The Royal Palace

Owing to the construction work still going on, the former Royal Palace, which houses valuable collections, is at present best reached either on foot from Szarvas tér near Elizabeth Bridge or from the southern end of the Castle District, from Dísz tér, or by car following the road leading south from the Buda end of the Chain Bridge.

The Parliament Building

This district, built at the end of the nineteenth century on the site of timber-depots, mills and barracks, is a few minutes' walk from the Chain Bridge (along the Danube embankment), from the Inner City (through the streets leading northwards), or from Margaret Bridge. The most beautiful eclectic and pseudo-hislorical public buildings were erected in this district. The high dome of the Parliament building guides pedestrians and motorists alike. Among city transport services there are tramways, trolleybuses and the Metro station at Kossuth Lajos tér, the 6,500 sq.m. (about 7,800 sq.yds.) square in front of the Parliament building.

The Heroes' Square

Approach: from Buda and the Inner City, buses 1 and 4; also by the old Underground line. Hösök tere lies at the end of the 2.5 km (1.4 m.) long Andrássy út, the avenue which starts at Bajcsy- Zsilinszky út. In the centre of the square stands the Millenary Monument, to the left is the Museum of Fine Arts and to the right the imposing building of the Art Gallery (Mücsarnok). In the centre we see the Memorial to Hungarian Heroes, a 47-ton monolith.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Facts about Hungary click here!

Hungarian history click here!

Geography click here!

For Budapest click here!

Hungarian cuisine click here!

English-Hungarian dictionary (on the Web!) click here!

Back to Hungary

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



AFS is a non-profit, volunteer organization
© Copyright - AFS Hungary Intercultural Programs Foundation 2002