Some fall in love with Budapest at first sight, others will only become devotees after a longer stay, but no-one denies that it is one of the most beautifully situated cities in the world. The wide stream of the Danube divides the metropolis of some two million inhabitants into two, the hilly Buda and the flat Pest. The panorama over the Danube and the radial avenue of Andrássy út are on the UNESCO world heritage list. Once you have seen them flood-lit, you will appreciate why.
he story starts on the Buda side when Celts settled on Gellért Hill well before the birth of Christ. This territory was later occupied by the Romans in the 1st century A.D. in their effort to expand the empire's frontiers north to the river Danube. The Roman settlement – Aquincum - grew into a town of 30,000 inhabitants and became the main city of Pannonia province. The Romans constructed paved roads, amphitheatres, bastions and fortified strongholds here, the ruins of which now increase Óbuda district's reputation.
The destruction of the Second World War could only be compared to the devastation wrought by the Turkish occupiers. After the war and until May 1990, when the first democratically elected government took power, the country was a victim of communist imperialism. The achievements of the political changes and the past decade, like democracy and a market economy, help to efface the dictatorship of the not so distant past.
The centre of the monument is a 36-metre (160 ft.) high column with a winged genius on top and the statues of the conquering Magyar chief Árpád and of the chiefs of the other six tribes on the pedestal. Behind these there is a semicircular colonnade with the statues of the most outstanding Hungarian kings, princes and commanders between the columns. From left to right: St. Stephen, the founder of the State, Ladislas I, Coloman, Andrew II and Béla IV, kings of the House of Árpád; Charles Robert and Louis I known as the Great of the Angevin dynasty; János Hunyadi, the hero of the wars against the Turks, and King Matthias; then Gábor Bethlen, István Bocskai, Imre Thököly and Ferenc Rákóczi II, princes of Transylvania, and finally Lajos Kossuth, the leader of the 1848-49 War of Independence. Below the bronze statues relieves commemorate historic events. On top of the semicircle there are four symbolic statues: Work and Wealth on the left, two chariots, depicting War and Peace, in the centre, and Honour and Glory on the right.
This district, built at the end of the nineteenth century on the site of timber-depots, mills and barracks, is a few minutes' walk from the Chain Bridge (along the Danube embankment), from the Inner City (through the streets leading northwards), or from Margaret Bridge. The most beautiful eclectic and pseudo-hislorical public buildings were erected in this district. The high dome of the Parliament building guides pedestrians and motorists alike. Among city transport services there are tramways, trolleybuses and the Metro station at Kossuth Lajos tér, the 6,500 sq.m. (about 7,800 sq.yds.) square in front of the Parliament building. The Parliament building, which has become the symbol of the capital, was built between 1880 and 1902 to the designs of Imre Steindl. The alluvial soil of the Danube bank had to be reinforced by a two- metre (7 ft.) deep concrete foundation so that it support the colossal building, which is 268 metres (300 yds.) long and 123 metres (140 yds.) at its greatest width has ten courts, 27 gates, and 29 staircases. The exterior of the building is adorned with lace-like Gothic pinnacles and 88 statues representing Hungarian rulers princes and military commanders. On the Danube side an unbroken line of arcades dominates the building, with neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance motifs. In the centre of the building, in Kossuth Lajos tér, is the main entrance, flanked by bronze lions, behind which the ornamental staircase leads to the hall under the dome.
Guided tours are organised to see the interior. The 27-metre (82 ft.) high hall beneath the dome - which in 1896 saw session of Parliament in honour of the millennium of the Conquest of the country and where today state awards are presented - is decorated all Ground with the coats of arms of the former Hungarian counties. On the heads of the sixteen clustered pillars the statues of Hungarian rulers can be seen. The interior of the building has been symmetrically arranged, because the Hungarian parliament was originally composed of two houses: the rooms were built around the assembly halls of the Upper and Lower Houses- now the Congress Hall and the Assembly Hall respectively - with the Delegation Hall in the centre. Some interesting ornaments of the lobbies are the painted pyroganite statues. The frescoes, paintings and tapestries- The Works of Mihaly Munkácsi, Károly Lotz and Gyula Rudnay, among others - depict scenes from Hungarian history and legends. The office of the Ministers and the Prime Minister, as well as the Parliament Library, are also to be found in the parliament building. In the hall under the dome a Christmas tree is set up every year for schoolchildren.
In 1398 Gergely Babocsai, King Zsigmond's chaplain, became the parson of the church and procedured the reconstruction. The enlargement was accomplished after French design sin Ghotic style. The edifice was enriched during the reign of King Mátyás: an oratory was built ont he right side, and two renaissance chancels – one of red marble, the other of white limestone – were chiselled ont he donations of bishop András Nagyrévi (1500) and the city of Pest. Among the significant treasures of the church there are some remains of frescos found int he sediles, now exhibited int he baptistery chapel. The church suffered great damages during the Turkish occupation (1541-1686), when it was used as a mosque. A „mihrab" , a prayer niche still can be seen on the south-west wall of the sanctuary.
During the siege and the recapture of Buda (1684,1686) the church was heavily damaged.
The edifice got its present exterior during the Baroque reconstruction which was supported by György Széchenyi, the archbishop of Esztergom at the time. The work started with the building up to the southern tower in 1726, and ended with the erection of the northern tower in 1740. Thechurch was restored in neoclassic style by Joseph Hild between 1805 and 1808. A few decades later Gothic elements were added by Imre Steindl. During WWII the building was heavily damaged. The reconstruction started in 1948 so as the church could glorify God and serve the people again.
Many historical events took place in the church. Bishop St. Gellért, the first martyr of the country, was laid out and buried here in 1046, after being thrown down the hill ont he opposite bank of the Danube by the rebellious pagans. Eight years later his body was taken to Marosvár, his episcopal see. (Centuries later it ws fled to safeguard to Velence from the Turks.)
According to tradition the engagement of St.Erzsébet the Arpad dinasty,daughter of the Hungarian king, Endre II, to the son of the count of Thuring was celebrated here.
Many of our kings and rulers visited the place, and according to records the day before King Matthias was elected king a holy mass was celebrated for the next sovereign.
In 1872 (February 4) Ferenc Liszt conducted his mass, the Missa Choralis here. He also gave many organ concerts within these walls.
It is a great honour for us to have a part of the relic of St.Gellért in our church since March 2002, when it was brought here fromo Murano and placed in an illuminated reliquary int he new facing marble altar of the renovated sanctuary. It reminds the visitors to the veneration of Our Lady of Hungary, the Virgin Mary taken to heaven, which St. Gellért insisted so much on.
The Gellért Hill
Rising steeply above the capital, Gellért Hill (Gellért- hegy) seems from the Danube to be a huge cliff, al- though it is only 140 metres (430 ft.) above the level of the river. Owing to its exceptional situation, it offers a peerless panorama of the entire city. Up to the end of the nineteenth century this was the limit of the town of Buda, and the hill served as an outpost and fortress of Buda Castle. The plateau is still not fully built over: only on the southern and western slopes can we find villas. The top can be reached on foot in a good quarter of an hour from the Buda end of either Elizabeth or Liberty Bridge. The motor road starts from Elizabeth bridge, but bus 27 starting at Móricz Zsigmond körtér will also take you to the summit.
The Citadel, the fortress on top of the hill, was built between 1850 and 1854 by the despotic Habsburg authorities to control the city after the suppression of the Hungarian War of Independence. The walls in the east-west direction are 200 metres (220 yds.) long, 4 to 6 metres (13-20 ft.) high and at some points 3 metres (10 ft.) thick. In 1897 the Austrian troops left the fortress, and in 1899 the city of Budapest, which bought it, had the walls symbolically demolished -as can still be seen next to the main gate-but then it was again used to house Hungarian soldiers. During the 1944-45 siege it was from the Citadel (and from Castle Hill) that the encircled German troops kept the city under gunfire until their final surrender. Today the Citadel serves as a look-out terrace and has a restaurant. The former barracks have been converted into a tourist hostel.
Looking northward from the hilltop the Buda hills and the Pilis mountains can be seen. On the Buda side, we can almost look into the streets of Castle Hill and recognise the southern fortifications of the Royal Palace. Directly below us we see the slopes of the former Tabán district converted into a park. The Tabán was once a Turkish suburb of small houses. All the Danube bridges are visible; the nearest are Elizabeth Bridge and Liberty Bridge; towards the south we see Petôfi Bridge and the Southern Railway Bridge with the Lágymányosi Bridge beside ( its the newest bridge in the city, it was finished in 1995), towards the north the Chain Bridge, Margaret Bridge, Árpád Bridge and the Northern Railway Bridge.
The Liberation Monument (the work of Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl) was erected in 1947 to commemorate the liberation of the country and in honour of the soldiers of the liberating Soviet Army ( today we call it occupation ). The female figure holding the palm of victory together with the pedestal is 40 metres (132 ft.) high. In front of it is the statue of a Soviet soldier; of the two accessory figures one vanquishes the symbolic figure of destruction and devastation, the other one raises high the torch of progress. The names of fallen Soviet soldiers are carved on the pedestal.