In July I had the pleasure to spend three days in Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
It was a short period, far from enough to visit everything, so I had to select a few places I wanted to see and one of them was the Parliament.
Being the capital city (it's both a city and county) Budapest is the most populated city of Hungary with a total population of 1,752,286.
The Hungarian Parliament Building is not only the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary but also a popular tourist destination.
Opened in 1902 it was designed in neo-Gothic style. It is an impressive building that can be seen from both sides of the Danube.
The parliament is symmetrical and thus has two absolutely identical parliament halls of which one is used for politics, the other for guided tours. It is 268 m (879 ft) long and 123 m (404 ft) wide. Its interior includes 10 courtyards, 13 passenger and freight elevators, 27 gates, 29 staircases and 691 rooms (which includes more than 200 offices). With its height of 96 m (315 ft), it is one of the two tallest buildings in Budapest, along with Saint Stephen's Basilica. The number 96 refers to the nation's millennium, 1896, and the conquest of the later Kingdom of Hungary in 896. source
You can see the building on most of the postcards, brochures and banners, very often the photo is taken by night.
The place is always full of tourists taking photos, videos and if you want to take photos the crowd makes your job harder. This is something you have to deal with everywhere, especially during the tourist season.
However, I can't complain because at least I got to see the building without scaffolding. I heard the renovation process took ages, one or more parts of the building has been always covered by scaffolds.
The Parliament is situated in the Kossuth Lajos square along the the statue.
The square, renamed in 1927 in honor of Lajos Kossuth, was previously known by several names including; Országház tér ("Parliament Square") (1898–1927), Tömő tér or Stadt Schopper Platz in German ("Landfill Square") (1853–1898). This name recalls how the low-lying territory flanking the river, then outside the town of Pest, was filled with rubbish to raise the level of the ground. The first recorded name was Stadtischer Auswind Platz ("Unloading Square for the Ships") in 1820.
In the second half of the 19th century, great public buildings were erected on the square and it became the symbolic centre of the Hungarian state. The Hungarian Parliament Building is located on the square.
In the middle you can see Kossuth Lajos surrounded by Prime Minister Batthyány Lajos and ministers from his cabinet. Born in 1802 , Kossuth Lajos was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and Governor-President of the Kingdom of Hungary during the revolution of 1848–49.
However, this is only a replica of the original statue that was inaugurated in 1927 and taken away from here at the beginning of the 50's. This statue was inaugurated on March 2014. It's a replica of the statues that can be found at Dombóvár.
This is the other side of the building, facing the Danube river.
I love Gothic buildings, I can't explain why but I love them all.
Unfortunately our tight schedule did not let me take as many photos as I would have loved to, so the place is on my list and I hope I can go back and spend half a day taking photos and watching everything closely.
This is the third part of my journey. Read the other parts here:
Budapest - Part 1 - Shoes on the Danube Bank
Budapest - Part 2 - West End City Center
Useful information
Website
Address: Budapest, Kossuth Lajos tér 1-3, 1055 Hungary
Coordinates 47.506944°N 19.045556°E
Metro 2 and tram 2 takes you there, get off at Kossuth Lajos Square station.