THE CASTLE OF BUDA

   The Castle Hill is about 1.5 km long and it’s 50-60 m above the Danube and 167 m above the sea level. The widest point of the hill is 500 m.

   The component of the hill is called marl of Buda, and on the top of the hill lays a 10-12 m thick limestone layer. In this limestone runs a 5 km long cave-system. During the Middle Ages this cave system was used as a corridor system and a basement of the houses in the Castle District. In many cellars of them were even wells dug.

   This area was inhabited before the Mongol Invasion in the 13th century. After the Mongol Invasion Béla the 4th moved his seat here from Esztergom, and he had a fortress built, because the Mongols weren’t able to occupy the stone fortresses. Buda became the capital of the country in the following centuries. Only Robert Károly was the exception, because he moved his seat to Visegrád. During the reign of his son, Louis the Great, made progress the building of the Royal Castle and the civilian town.

The real development of the Castle started in the 15th century, during the reign of Sigismund and Matthias. In their time was formed the bigger and more magnificent Royal Palace and the civilian town. In Sigismund’s time were the Gothic units added to the Castle. At this time was the Gothic palace, the „Friss Palota” constructed. Its large hall was 70 m long and 20 m wide. Sigismund had the strong, defending Castle Walls built up, too.

Matthias had most of the Gothic buildings rebuilt in the style of the Italian Renaissance. At that time Buda was not only the political center of the country, but the economic and cultural center as well. The heyday of this area ended with Matthias’s death.

In 1541 the country and Buda was occupied by the Turks and it belonged to the Turkish Empire for 145 years. The Turks enlarged only the line of fortifications.

The beautiful Gothic-Renaissance Palace and the houses were destroyed and damaged during the reoccupation of the city in 1686, when the country got under the Habsburg’s control. The palace and the houses were rebuilt in Baroque style in the 18th century.

In 1703 Buda became a free royal city again, but it lost its political importance. The seat of the Habsburgs became Vienna and the parliaments were held in Pozsony.

Mária Terézia, one of the Habsburg rulers, had enlarged the Castle with many rooms in Baroque style. From 1890 to 1903 the Danube wing of the Palace was extended by Miklós Ybl and later Alajos Hauszmann to double its original length. It became 304 m long by the end. And now this Castle has the longest facade in Europe.

The progress of the city began again in 1873, when the 3 Danube-side town (Pest, Buda, Old Buda) were unifyed. The Castle was reconstructed as well as the Matthias Church and the government offices, which were moved here in the 18th century. The Fishermen’s Bastion were built up between 1895 and 1902 in neo-Gothic style by Frigyes Schulek. They had never been used for defence. The Bastion was named after the fishermen’s corporation, whose task were to defend this part of the Castle Wall.

During the 2nd World War the Castle District was seriously damaged.

The rebuilding of this area lasted for over 30 years.

   In 1975 opened here a lot of museums. You can find here for example the National Gallery, the Historical Museum of Budapest, the Széchényi National Library, etc.

   Today all the houses here are protected. The Castle District stands under the protection of monuments, and in 1986 it became one of the World Heritages.