Main Street – Batthyány Square to Adam Clark Square

Now we arrived at Batthyány Square. This is an important junction of the public transport, here is the 1^st station in Buda of the metro line number 3 (called ‘Red line’ as well) which goes under the Danube.

On your right hand side you can see the Casanova House, once it was called White Cross Inn and in the late 18^th century was a popular and elegant place of entertainment where theatrical performances were given. And according to the legend Casanova once stayed here, hence the name of the present-day night club.

On our right further on is a huge market hall which is one of the six grand market halls opened in the capital in the year 1896. It was badly damaged in World War II, after a long reconstruction it was reopened in 1975.

The most important sight of the square is the Church of St Anne. There are opinions that this is the most beautiful Roman Catholic church in Budapest built in Baroque style. It was started to build in 1740 and was finished completely only in 1805 because of financial problems. The church is dedicated to Mary’s mother Anne.

On the opposite to the Church of St Anne on the other side of the street this building is the Ministry of Environmental Protection (?).

Very soon on the left we will see the neo-Gothic Calvinist Church, built in 1892-96 by Samu Petz. He used the style of the medieval Catholic church architecture. This was also built to celebrate the 1000 anniversary of the settlement of the Hungarians, in 1896.

At the corner of the church you can see a small drinking fountain with the statue of the architect.

If you look up to the hill after the right corner, you will see Matthias Church and the tower of the Fishermen’s Bastion, the reason why we came along this way.

The building on our right is the Budai Vigadó, the home of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble and folklore performances are often performed here.

There are some parts of the street where you can still see the original level of the medieval street, it was about 1.5 m lower than the level of the present one, like here on your left hand side you can see that. These houses called Fishermen’s Houses, because in the 18^th century in this part of the city lived and worked the fishermen. Now in these houses there are little restaurants where you can taste different kind of dishes especially made by fish. (és Ricu is itt zabálta degeszre magát halászlével Várady bácsival J)

A bit further on your left you will see a Post-Modern building which is the French Institute. As you maybe know in our capital there are a few institutes, for example the Italian and the Goethe (so the German) Institute. These institutes are for help people learn a lot about the languages and cultures of different nations.

The French Institute was opened in 1992, and as I mentioned this a main center of French culture – here regularly organized concerts, exhibitions, language classes, and there is also an excellent library, bookshop and a pleasant café here.

On your right the next sight is the former Capuchin Church and Monastery. The original medieval church was used as a Turkish mosque.

Next to it you can see the remains in front of a modern business center of a medieval house which was reconstructed in the 17^th century, but underneath there are some stones from the Via Romana, from the 3^rd century.

In a few minutes we reach Adam Clark Square, which is one of the most exciting squares in Budapest, because there is so much to see there.

On our left you will see the famous Chain Bridge, the first permanent bridge of the city built between 1839-49, designed by the Scottish engineer Adam Clark and constructed by the English William Clark. This is the oldest, the narrowest and the shortest bridge of Budapest now, but at that time with its 380 m length it was one of the largest suspension bridges in Europe.

On the other side you can see the Zero Kilometer Stone. It is considered as the center of the country.

Next to it is the entrance to the Buda Castle Funicular, opened originally in 1870, as the second funicular of the world. This was built to connect the Adam Clark Square with the Royal Palace above. It was damaged several times and lately reopened in 1986.

The building up there the Royal Palace, rules over the square. This is not used as a royal palace, but this is the largest museum of Hungarian art and it called Hungarian National Gallery.

Under the hill on your right you see the neo-Classical entrance of the Castle Hill Tunnel built by Adam Clark between 1853-1857.

Now we turn here to the right and start to climb up to the Castle Hill.