PARLIAMENT (ORSZÁGHÁZ)

Entrance to Parliament is via the basement to the left of the building, where a visitors' area(látogatóközpont) has been created. A small museum dedicated to the history of the Parliament has also opened its doors. As the cornerstone of Budapest's rapid urban expansion at the turn of the ^19th century, the Hungarian Parliament building was the subject of a public competition between the best architects of the time. Although the neoclassical building proposed by Alajos Hauszmann was not selected, the building was nevertheless erected for the Royal Court of Cassation at number 12 Kossuth Square (the Hungarian Supreme Court is due to relocate there shortly). Inspired by Westminster, the British Parliament, the Hungarian Országház - it still houses parliamentarians today, but only in the lower chamber, the upper chamber having been abolished - is a synthesis of Baroque, neo-Renaissance and neo-Gothic, and is considered the finest example of Budapest eclecticism, with its pinnacles, bell towers and spires... Entirely symmetrical (with two mirrored wings, one reserved for members of parliament, the other for tourists), it was built between 1885 and 1902 to plans by Imre Steindl. The building contains almost 700 rooms, 20 km of staircases and 40 kg of gold. At 265 m long and 96 m high, it remains the largest building in the country, topped by a dome (the number is not insignificant, alluding to the key date of 896, corresponding to the supposed arrival of the Hungarian tribes in Hungary). Since 2000, it has housed all the royal emblems of Hungary: the crown, the scepter, the apple of the kingdom and the sword. The interior of the Parliament is richly decorated, and the guided tour is highly instructive. It begins with the Great Staircase, decorated by Károly Lotz (who also did the frescoes for the Opera House), this time with an Apotheosis of Legislation. The staircase continues into the dome room, where the venerated Holy Crown with its leaning cross, a state attribute, is kept. Its history is worthy of the best sagas! Given to Saint Stephen by Pope Sylvester II, it was returned by the Americans in 1978, after an exile in Fort Knox, USA, during the Second World War! The stained glass windows are by Miksa Róth, a Hungarian Art Nouveau prodigy. Well worth a visit. Further on, close to the metro (line 2), the basement of Place Kossuth houses a small room dedicated to the 1956 revolution.