Buda Castle

Buda Castle rises on Castle Hill like a sentinel over the Danube, bearing witness to 700 years of Hungarian triumph and tragedy. From Béla IV's first fortress after the Mongol devastation to the current Baroque-Neoclassical palace housing national museums, this castle has been destroyed and rebuilt more times than any comparable site in Europe. The castle reached its Renaissance pinnacle under King Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490), whose legendary library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, contained over 2,000 illuminated manuscripts — the greatest collection in Europe outside the Vatican. Ottoman conquest in 1541 began 145 years of Islamic rule; the castle became a garrison town with the Gothic church converted to a mosque. The Great Siege of 1686 liberated Buda with such ferocity that the Ottomans and most of the medieval fabric perished together. Habsburg rebuilding created the Baroque palace that expanded over centuries. Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth (Sisi), who adored Hungary, added grand state rooms. The 1956 revolution saw freedom fighters hold the castle district against Soviet tanks. Communist neglect was followed by painstaking restoration. Today the castle complex includes the Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest History Museum, and the National Széchenyi Library. Beneath the palace, a labyrinth of caves and tunnels stretches for kilometers — including the chamber where Vlad III of Wallachia (the historical Dracula) was allegedly imprisoned for twelve years.