• Iain ColvilleBudapestTraveler
    Mary Magdalen Church
    Bronze relief of the Hungarian coronation robeSándor Palace, office and residence of the President of HungaryView from the Castle terraceThis is our Danube tour boat - the Gróf SzéchenyiAnother guerilla sculpture by Mihály KolodkoPuskás Aréna, national football stadiumTurul statue, a mythical bird of prey symbolising the nation of HungaryChain Bridge, the first permanent crossing over the DanubeThe different coloured paving denotes the outline of the mediaeval castle buildings14th century silk textile with the Angevin coat of arms, found in a well in the castle groundsReplica of the Angevin arms textileThis model shows what remains of the medieval castle, beneath the later palaceMedieval cellarGothic hall, part of medieval castle palaceLower Royal Chapel, part of medieval castle palaceBalcony remains, part of medieval castle palace

    A bit more Buda Castle

    May 1 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    We had plenty of time today before our flight home this evening and so we set off back to Castle Hill in Buda in order to see what we’d missed the other day.

    We walked the length of the plateau across the top of Castle Hill, and found the ruins of Mária Magdolna Torony (Church of Saint Mary Magdalene). Only the tower still stands more than a couple of feet high, after the rest of the church’s destruction by the Communist government in the 1950s (following significant damage by Allied Volvo in 1944/5). The ruins hold a bronze relief of the Hungarian coronation robe used from medieval times onwards.

    Today’s been a bank holiday (Labour Day) and Castle Hill seemed much busier this morning, compared to Tuesday afternoon. We followed the crowds past the Matthias Church and on towards the former Royal Palace and Castle complex at the southern end of the hill.

    Just in front of the main palace buildings on Szent György tér (St George’s square) is the Hungarian President's office and official residence in the Sándor Palace (Sándor-palota).

    The Buda Castle/Palace complex has evolved over the centuries, starting with the medieval castle built by Bela IV in the 13th century, which was mostly demolished in the Ottoman invasion in the 16th century and anything left above the level of the plateau was cleared before the Baroque palace was built in the mid 18th century. This palace was severely damaged in turn during the Siege of Budapest in 1944/5. The Communist government then rebuilt part of the Baroque palace in a much simpler style.

    After various rebuilding and excavation research projects, the Hungarian government is presently engaged in a huge project to restore and rebuild the full splendour of the Baroque palace, which started in 2016 and is due to finish in 2030.

    We visited the Vármúzeum (Castle Museum, part of the Budapest History Museum) one of 3 major institutions currently housed in the main palace buildings. The others are the Hungarian National Gallery and the National Széchényi Library.

    The Castle Museum is huge, and we explored a couple of fascinating galleries covering Budapest from the Stone Age until the Magyar tribes arrived in 896, and then a 1000 Years of the Capital, tracing the turbulent history of Óbuda, Buda and Pest, which became Pest-Buda and finally Budapest.    Read more