Since the middle of the 13th century a royal castle has stood on the same hill on the Danube River’s west bank, selected because of its strategic location for controlling both the river and the flat plains. The Buda Castle Quarter, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, encompasses the palace, historical buildings, shops, restaurants, hotels, gardens, a church, towers, and balconies, as well as the residence and office of the Hungarian president.

The current Buda Palace is the third primary castle built on the same spot in the quarter. The first one was destroyed in wars between the Hungarians and Ottoman Empire. Its larger replacement, heavily damaged during WWII, was a prime military target because several thousand soldiers were housed there. The third and even larger palace now serves as home to the Hungarian National Gallery and the Budapest History Museum. 

Sandor Palace is the official residence and office of the president of Hungary. We watched the hourly ceremony for the changing of the guards.  

The lookout towers and balconies of Fisherman’s Bastion provide the perfect viewpoint or background for photos of the Danube River and Pest shore. (Yes, we took many pictures of and from the bastion.) The 7 turrets, built along with the balconies in the 19th century where the ancient castle walls used to stand, represent the 7 founding Hungarian tribes. The site is named after the guild of fisherman who protected the area during the Middle Ages. 

Matthias Church, officially named the Church of the Assumption of the Buda Castle, stands in front of the Fisherman’s Bastion. Even though it is the oldest surviving building in the castle quarter and the oldest church in Budapest, it has gone through several iterations since it was built in 1015 during the reign of Saint Stephen, Hungary’s first king. Throughout the 150-year Ottoman occupation the building was a mosque, then a coronation church in the 18th century, and surprisingly a horse stable for the Soviet Army during WWII. Fortunately the late Gothic style building was fully restored after that. It is currently a Catholic church and named in honor of King Matthias Corvinus the Fair, who remodelled the building in the 15th century and added the southern bell tower. 

So much detail on the inside as well.