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HOME  ABOUT HUNGARY WHAT YOU HAVE TO SEE IN BUDAPEST
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| The Parliament 
The Parliament, standing on the banks of the Danube in Kossuth Square, is the pride of Budapest and one of Europe's finest parliamentary buildings. The public competition to find an architect for the building was won in 1882 by Imre Steindl (1839-1902), a teacher at the University of Fine Arts.
The building, with its eclectic, historicising style was started in October 1885, and took 1000 workers seventeen years to complete. To build the huge structure -268 metres long 123 wide and 96 high- 176,000 cubicmetres of earth were moved and 40 million bricks were used.
Outside there 90 statues, and city and country crests; inside there are 152 statues and the walls of the building are decorated with series of Hungarian flower motives.
The main facade overlooks the Danube, but the main entrance with its lion gate opens out onto Kossuth Square. Here stands the statue of Ferenc Rakoczi. The ornamental staircase leads to the vaulted hall, one of the finest examples of Imre Steindl's architectural genious. The ceiling of the ornamental staircase is supported by eight dark red, granit columns, a gift of the King of Sweden. There are four such other columns in the world, all of the min the Houses of Parliament in London. The ceiling is decorated with frescoes by Károly Lotz. The vaulted hall was ready for the parliamentary session of 1896, which celebrated the Millennium of the Hungarian nation. Around the hall can be seen 16 statues and shields of Hungarian leaders and the centrepiece is the Holy Crown and the crown jewels.
Two separate chambers were built for the two Houses of the Parliament, and today the chamber of the former Upper House is frequently used for international meetings.
Parliamentary sessions are held in the Chamber of Representatives. On the walls on either side of the Speaker's dais are watercolours depicting the birth of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the coronation of Franz Joseph and the opening of the first sessionof the people's Parliament on 5th Jul, 1848.
The Munkácsy room features the 'Honfoglalas' (Hungarian Settlement) by Hungary's best known artist, Mihály Munkácsy (1844-1900),which was originally painted in the parliamentary chamber. additional photos » » »
programs to here | Buda Castle 
The first palace was built in the first half of the 14th century by Károly Róbert's younger son, István, Duke of Anjou and it consisted of the old tower and the palace wing on the southernmost slopes of Castle Hill. Lajos the Great began the construction of a new royal residence here. King Zsigmond's huge, L-shaped building was constructed in Gothic style and the ceremonial hall inside measured 17 by 70 meters. King Mátyás enlarged the palace in Renaissance style, although it was later plundered by the Turks. During the Turkish occupation from 1541 to 1686 the palace was not used as a residence by the Buda Pasa, but served as a barracks, and gunpowders and weapons store. During the siege before the liberation of Buda in 1686 the palace was almost completely destroyed by the fighting and various explosions. In 1719 during the reign of Károly III and Mária Terézia the southern wing, still standing today, was built, and between 1741 and 1748 two palatial wings here constructed northwards from the original building following plans by Jan Nicolas űjadot and Franz Anton Hillerbrandt. The Empress only stayed in the huge Baroque building once during her 40-year reign. In 1772 a part of the palace was used to accomodate young english governesses and in 1777 the Nagyszombat University moved here. From the end of eighteenth century the palace became the residence of the Habsburg Palattinates, and a part of the Palatine residence was burnt during the siege in the Freedom war of 1848-49.
In 1874 Miklós Ybl was commisioned to enlarged the palace. First Ybl, and then Alajos Hauszmann who completed the work, extended the palace northwards, following the style of the original ground-plan. The two wing were joined by a colonnade surmounted by a dome. The was almost completely burnt out during the Second War War. After the war the building was renovated in keeping with its original Barouque style, and in 1958 it was decided to convert it into a cultural centre with a thoroughly modernised interior. In the wings of the palace are housed the Hungarian National Gallery, the Budapest History Museum, the National Széchenyi Library, the Ludwig collection and the Museum of Contemporary History.
In the square in front of the main facade stands the mounted statue by József Róna of Count Jenő Savoyai, the leader of the Christian armies which recaptured the city from the Turks. | Heroes Square 
The largest square in the capital, which contains a fine group of statues, is the continuation os Andrássy Street. The square was built between 1896 and 1929 and was designed by Albert Schickedanz and Fülöp Herczog. The main statue was sclupted by György Zala.
The Millennium column is in Corinthian style and 36 meters high. Surmounting the column is the 5 metre high figure of the Archangel Gabriel holding the Holy Crown in his right hand and the doble cross in his left. Whit this work György Zala won the main prize at the Paris Exhibition of 1900 and the statue was set up in 1901. On the plinth are the statues of the mounted tribal chieftains of the period of the Hungarian settlement, led by Árpád.
Árpád's statue was placed here in 1912, while the chieftains arrived in 1928. In 1921 a memorial stone ti the Hungarian dead in the First World War was set up here. The current National Heroes Memorial Stone was set up here in the summer of 1956. The square took its name in 1932 from its function as a memorial and the presence of the memorial stone. The other part of the Millennium Memorial is the semi-circular line of colums which show seven kings and seven figures from history who fought for Hungarian independence. The square is closed on both sides by the buildings of the Hall of Arts.
programs to here (additional photos) | További oldalak:
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