Fisherman's Bastion and Buda Castle Hill

Castle Hill rises sharply from the western bank of the Danube, directly opposite the Parliament Building on the Pest side. The flat limestone plateau at the top has been fortified, destroyed, and rebuilt so many times over the past eight centuries that the current collection of buildings represents an archaeological layer cake of Hungarian history.

Fisherman's Bastion sits at the northern end of the hill, overlooking the river. It is one of the most visited spots in Budapest, and for good reason: the panoramic view from its terraces is the single best vantage point for understanding the layout of the city. But the Bastion is also an interesting piece of architecture in its own right, and the Castle District around it contains far more than most visitors realise.

Fisherman's Bastion: The Structure

The Bastion was designed by Frigyes Schulek and built between 1895 and 1902 as part of the celebrations for the Hungarian millennium in 1896. It is not, as the name might suggest, a defensive fortification. It was built purely as a decorative viewing terrace, replacing a section of the old castle wall that had become unstable.

The seven conical towers represent the seven Magyar tribes that settled the Carpathian Basin in 895 AD. The style is Neo-Romanesque, which Schulek chose deliberately to complement the nearby Matthias Church, which he was simultaneously restoring. The white stone gives the structure a fairytale quality that becomes particularly striking in early morning light or when illuminated at night.

The lower terraces are free to walk at any time. The upper terraces charge a small admission fee during summer months (roughly 1,200 HUF), but outside of peak season they are open without charge. The difference in the view between lower and upper levels is marginal, so paying is optional.

Matthias Church

Officially the Church of Our Lady, Matthias Church stands immediately behind Fisherman's Bastion and has been a place of worship since the thirteenth century. The current appearance dates largely from Schulek's nineteenth-century restoration, which was extensive and not entirely faithful to any single historical period.

The colourful Zsolnay ceramic tile roof is the most immediately noticeable feature. Zsolnay, a ceramics factory based in the southern city of Pecs, produced the distinctive glazed tiles that appear on several important buildings in Budapest. On Matthias Church, the geometric patterns in green, orange, and cream create a visual effect that is quite unlike any other church roof in Europe.

Inside, the walls are covered with painted decorations that Schulek designed to evoke the medieval appearance of the original interior. Whether these bear much resemblance to what was actually there is debatable, but the overall effect is rich and atmospheric. The Loreto Chapel, accessible from the south aisle, contains a collection of ecclesiastical art and replicas of the Hungarian coronation regalia.

The Royal Palace and Buda Castle

The southern half of Castle Hill is occupied by the former Royal Palace, now commonly called Buda Castle. The current building is largely a twentieth-century reconstruction. The palace was severely damaged during the siege of Budapest in 1944-1945, and the rebuilding that followed removed many of the baroque and Renaissance details that had accumulated over centuries.

What remains is imposing but somewhat austere. The palace houses the Hungarian National Gallery, the Budapest History Museum, and the National Szechenyi Library. Of these, the History Museum in the basement levels is the most architecturally interesting, as it incorporates surviving medieval rooms and chapel remains from the original palace complex.

The palace courtyard offers good views south along the Danube toward Gellert Hill and the Citadella. The entrance from the Buda side, through the ornamental gardens and past the Turul bird statue, is a more pleasant approach than the tourist-heavy route from Clark Adam Square.

Walking the Castle District

The residential streets between Fisherman's Bastion and the Royal Palace are the most overlooked part of the hill. Tancsics Mihaly Street and Fortuna Street contain medieval house foundations visible at street level, baroque facades from the eighteenth century, and a handful of Gothic sedilia, recessed stone window seats that were incorporated into later buildings.

The former medieval Jewish quarter, centred around Tancsics Mihaly Street, includes a small museum in a building where Jewish prayer rooms dating to the fifteenth century were discovered during renovations. The entrance is easy to miss.

The Hospital in the Rock, a network of caves beneath Castle Hill that served as an emergency surgical hospital during the Second World War and later as a nuclear bunker during the Cold War, offers guided tours that provide a completely different perspective on the hill's history. The Hospital in the Rock museum maintains a detailed website with tour schedules.