Castle District

There is much, much more to the Castle District than just a royal palace or a castle. This is also where the historical old town district is situated, with countless venues from where the beautiful panorama of Budapest may be admired. The visitors get a distinct feeling that they have travelled back in time, to a different, totally tranquil world, where the doorways of the Baroque residential homes hide historical Roman stones and beautifully carved sediles from the times of knights.

The former Royal Palace and its supply buildings are an organic but separate part of the Castle District. Some of today's most important cultural institutions, such as the Budapest History Museum (Wing E, southern end of the building), as well as the Hungarian National Gallery (Wings A-B-C-D) and the Hungarian National Library, named after the founder Ferenc Széchenyi (Wing F) have moved to the Royal Palace. The formal residence of the Prime Minister, the Alexander Palace, is the President's Residence and home today.

The most visited site is Trinity Square, dominated by one of Budapest's most characteristic building, the Mathias Church, which is over 700 years old. The church itself is almost of the same age as the Royal Palace, and gave home to many coronation ceremonies. Many kings and emperors left their mark on the church, even before the Turkish occupation, when the church was converted into a mosque and its walls whitewashed. Inside lie in their sarcophaguses King Béla the 3rd and his Queen; many visitors also visit the church for its vast ecclesiastical collection. Today's version of the church was finalized at the turn of the 19th century, when several smaller buildings were annexed to it and it was renovated in the Neo-Gothic style. It gives home to a great many concerts, due to its excellent acoustic properties. The Gothic tower of the Mathias Church, with the Fishermen's Bastion in the background, is one of the most frequently photographed tourist sites in Hungary.

Trinity Square also boasts the Baroque-style former Town Hall (today it's the Collegium Budapest building, housing the Hungarian House of Wines among many things), the Neo-Gothic former Ministry of Finance, St. Stephen's statue and the Fishermen's Bastion. The latter was designed and built between 1895 and 1902, replacing the former castle wall, and it offers breathtaking views of Budapest.

Next to Trinity Square stands the Hotel Buda Hilton, the first post-war modern international luxury hotel in Budapest, combining old and new with some success. The courtyard of the hotel encompasses the ruins a 13th-century Dominican cloister, and on the inside are the ruins of a church, giving home to summer theatre performances.

The depths of Castle Hill hides the Buda Castle Labyrinth, while the on the surface centuries' worth of cultural heritage remains. The cave labyrinth's enormous size is best described by the fact that during WWII, 20,000 German soldiers fit in there. The Buda Castle Labyrinth can be very dangerous for those who don't know this underworld city, but is is safely explored with a proper local guide. Before the arrival of the Magyars (Hungarians) in the 9th century AD, Celts and Romans have inhabited the area. The royal residence was moved here by Béla the 4th from Esztergom, following the Tatar invasion in 1241-42, because it was more fortifiable.

The Castle and its beautiful buildings are in strong architectural unity with the rows of residential homes on the Danube embankment and with the medieval Rudas Baths, as well as with the rocks of the Gellert Hill and the bridges spanning accross the Danube.