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Budapest, Castle District

© Haragos Pal

The nicest part of Hungarian capital, Budapest is the wall surrounded Castle District. This was the former town, Buda residence of medieval Hungarian Kings since the 13th century. The panorama of the Danube bank with the Castle of Buda is the member of UNESCO's World Heritage programme.

The Castle District lies on Castle Hill which rises about 50-60 meters above the level of the river Danube and is about one and a half km long. The strategic position Castle Hill has been inhabited for a long time. The first royal fort was built in the 13th century on the northern end of the plateau. Contemporary Royal Palace was built on the southern part of the hill from the 14th to the 19th century. Ruins of gothic palace and rebuild rooms and sculptures from the 14th century may be visited in the underground rooms of the Castle Museum of the Budapest History Museum. Wars and sieges always changed the picture of Castle District.

Visitors can reach the Castle Hill only by cable car and bus or on foot along medieval walls because of cars are prohibited.

The former Royal Palace today is a cultural centre. Main building of the Royal Palace is home of Hungarian National Gallery and National Széchenyi Library. The Hungarian National Gallery is a museum of the history of Hungarian painting and sculpture. http://hungart.euroweb.hu/tours/11_16_c6...

The National Széchenyi Library is the Hungarian national library, collecting all printed material published in Hungary or of Hungarian relevance from the medieval manuscripts to new books and newspapers.

The so called civil town of Buda is the northern part of Castle Hill. There are narrow streets and old buildings from the Middle Ages which were rebuild after wars. This living 'museum' provides interesting sights (museums, galleries, and statues) for visitors. Lot of building kept a unique medieval sedilia in their entrance. Every house has its own history. If someone sit down on one of these stone seats, he (she) can imagine how people were waiting for permission to enter, and what could happened there several hundred years ago.

In the Castle District there was an other town above the street level. http://www.c3.hu/~kzoli/cave/ Natural and artificial caves and passages links every houses and make a continuos underground labyrinth. They were used to store goods in peace and save inhabitants' life during wars. (Budapest has more caves than any other capital in the world. There are lots limestone caves in Buda Hills too.) Nowadays, some of them may be visited with guide.