Buda Castle

Buda Castle (Budai Var) is a sprawling castle in Budapest's Castle District that houses several institutions, including the National Gallery.

Mongol assaults threatened the then-separate towns of Buda and Pest in the 13th century, and Pest surrendered in 1241-1242. A few years later, King Bela IV chose to fortify Buda, a project that was finished about 1265, providing his citizens with sturdy walls to shelter behind.

Buda Castle was built in the 14th century by Stephen, Duke of Slavonia (the king's younger brother), but it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times since then, including by King Sigismund, and later altered by the Ottomans in the 16th century when they repurposed the castle as gunpowder storage and a magazine.

During the catastrophic siege of Buda in the late 17th century, the castle was destroyed and rebuilt as a considerably smaller Baroque palace in the 18th century. Construction was delayed owing to a fire and was only completed much later for the Queen of Hungary. It was never utilized as a royal house since the Queen spent so little time there. Instead, it was utilized as a nunnery and university for a short time.

Location: Budapest