Buda Castle (Budai var) is the historic royal palace of the kings of Hungary, occupying the southern end of the long Castle Hill ridge that rises above the Buda bank of the Danube in central Budapest. The vast palace complex dominates the Buda skyline and is the centrepiece of the Buda Castle Quarter, which together with the banks of the Danube was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987. The palace today houses the Hungarian National Gallery, the Budapest History Museum and the National Szechenyi Library. The first royal castle on the hill was built in the thirteenth century by King Bela IV after the Mongol invasion of 1241-42, who fortified the easily defended limestone ridge as a new royal seat. The castle reached its first great peak under King Matthias Corvinus in the late fifteenth century, when the Renaissance court of Matthias made Buda one of the most brilliant cultural centres of Europe. This medieval and Renaissance palace was almost completely destroyed during the Ottoman occupation of Hungary and the bloody siege of 1686 that ended it, when the Christian armies of the Holy League recaptured the city. The palace was rebuilt on a monumental Baroque scale across the eighteenth century under the Habsburg empress Maria Theresa, and substantially enlarged again in the late nineteenth century, reaching its greatest extent just before the First World War. The palace was then almost totally destroyed a second time during the siege of Budapest in the winter of 1944-45, when the retreating German army made its final stand on Castle Hill. The post-war reconstruction recovered the external Baroque form of the palace while the interiors were rebuilt to house the major national cultural institutions. The palace and the surrounding Castle Quarter are reached from the river by the historic Castle Hill Funicular, by bus, or on foot up the medieval lanes. The complex offers some of the best panoramic views across the Danube to the Pest side of the city, and the surrounding quarter holds the Matthias Church, the Fishermen's Bastion and a network of medieval streets and Baroque houses. The museums are open Tuesday to Sunday, and the castle grounds and terraces are freely accessible at all hours.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Szent Gyorgy ter 2, Budapest, Hungary

Opening Date: 01/01/1265