Monuments to visit Budapest

The first cinema was opened in Erzsébetváros (Queen Elizabeth's neighborhood, hence the name Erzsébet körút), which has remained the traditional cinema district ever since. Most have since closed including the Örökmozgó at number 39, which moved to Üllői út 2-4, integrated into the Premier Kultcafé. At number 49, the famous Grand Royal Hotel - now Hotel Corinthia - reopened a few years ago. This is one of the busiest sections of the entire city.

An integral part of the urban development of Budapest at the end of the 19th century, and of the Andrássy Street route, this neo-Renaissance style palace designed by Miklós Ybl was inaugurated in 1884 after nine years of work. It was inaugurated with great pomp and ceremony, in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Sissi. Moreover, the emperor was his generous patron for half of the work, on the condition that the proportions of the Budapest building did not exceed those of the Vienna Opera! In addition to several statues (including two sphinxes that frame the facade), a portico with three arches serves as an entrance and is topped by the muses of the dramatic arts. Inside, the grand staircase, made of grey Croatian marble and covered with a red carpet, is flanked by columns of Carrara marble. On the upper floor, communicating with the royal box, the red salon was used by the imperial couple. Mór Than's delicate paintings depict (from left to right) Love and Psyche, Paris holding the golden apple to Aphrodite and The Three Graces. Once an important place for socializing, the foyer now serves as a bar during intermissions. The auditorium, wooded and arranged in a horseshoe shape, is partly gilded with gold leaf. The acoustics are remarkable. If you look up, you will not fail to marvel at the frescoes on the ceiling: The Apotheosis of Music, signed by Károly Lotz, encircles a three-tonne bronze chandelier. The institution finally reopened in 2022 after several years of closure for renovation.

The Szent Gellért monument is the presumed place from which, in the 11th century, the Benedictine Gerard was thrown by Hungarian pagan rebels who refused to convert. Classic arched columns encircle the bronze monument, erected in 1904 by Jankovits Gyula, which stands at 40 m (the statue itself is 7 m high). One climbs up stairs: a beautiful view and the start of trails that lead up to the east side of the citadel.

His head is lowered, his body is covered with a loose coat, you can't see his face, protected by a hood, he looks like a hermit, but no, it's Anonymous. Far from being an anonymous in Hungary, he is a distant ancestor of the Budapest historians, he wrote a chronicle of the history of the Kingdom of Hungary (the famous Gesta Hungarorum) under the reign of King Bela III of which he was the notary. He describes in great detail the arrival of the Hungarians in the Carpathian basin.