Castle Hill
Castle Hill
It’s with good reason that many guidebooks on Budapest open with a chapter on the Castle District. The majority of Buda’s principal tourist sights – which include the Royal Palace, Fisherman’s Bastion and Matthias Church – are situated here. You can see here the Buda Royal Castle. This castle has a long history. The first castle was almost completely destroyed in 1686, in the war to recover the city of Buda from the Turks. In 1715 a modest Baroque palace was constructed to replace the Gothic one. The Castle was expanded in the following century, and in 1790 the Palace was almost completed—minor extensions were made later.
The Royal Palace has been burned, bombed, razed, rebuilt and redesigned at least half a dozen times over the past seven centuries. What you see today clinging to the southern end of Castle Hill is an 18th and early 20th century amalgam reconstructed after the last war. It houses, among other things, the impressive National Gallery (which has a huge section devoted to Hungarian art), the National Library and the Budapest History Museum. At the rear of the museum take a relaxing break in the palace gardens. Ferdinand Gate under the conical Mace Tower will bring you to a set of steps. These descend to a historic Turkish cemetery dating from the decisive Independence battle for Buda of 1686. To get to the Royal Palace, take the Sikló, a funicular built in 1870 from Clark Ádám, or for the more energetic, walk up the ‘Royal Steps’ or the wide staircase that goes to the southern end of the Royal Palace.
Built to defend against a return of the Mongol invaders, Castle Hill is now regularly overrun by hordes of foreign tourists. The Baroque residences here were built in the Middle Ages for the well-to-do; later, before WWII, this area housed government offices. The German occupiers used the hill as their last stand during the WWII siege of Budapest; for years afterward, the area was little more than rubble. But reconstruction has brought back Castle Hill`s charm. Significant sites include Matthias Church and the Royal Palace.
Almost every cobbled street leads on to a place of interest, whether it’s a landmark building, a row of baroque houses or a charming little café where locals chat, play chess, or read the early morning papers. Regarded as Budapest’s ‘trump card’ in attracting tourists, the beauty and historic importance of buildings here is reflected by the fact that the entire area has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
