00:00Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest.
00:15It was first completed in 1265.
00:18Although the massive Baroque palace today occupying most of the site was built between
00:221749 and 1769, the complex in the past was referred to as either the Royal Palace or
00:28the Royal Castle.
00:30The castle now houses the Hungarian National Gallery and the Budapest Historical Museum.
00:35Buda Castle sits on the southern tip of Castle Hill, surrounded by the touristic area known
00:40as Varnagyde, Castle Quarter, which is famous for its medieval, Baroque, and neoclassical
00:45houses, churches, public buildings, and monuments.
00:48The hill is linked to Clark Adams Square and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge by the Castle
00:52Hill funicular.
00:54The castle is a part of the Budapest World Heritage Site, so declared in 1987.
00:59The original Royal Palace was ruined during World War II, it was rebuilt in a simplified
01:04Stalinist Baroque style during the Kater era.
01:07The first royal residence on Castle Hill was built by King Béla IV of Hungary between
01:111247 and 1265.
01:14It is uncertain whether it was situated on the southern tip of the hill or the northern
01:18elevation.
01:19Near the Kammerhof, the oldest part of the present-day palace was built in the 14th century
01:24by Stephen, Duke of Slavonia, who was the younger brother of King Louis I of Hungary.
01:29Only the foundations remain of the castle keep, which was known as Stephen's Tower,
01:34Budapest.
01:35The Gothic Palace of King Louis I was arranged around a narrow courtyard next to the keep.
01:40King Sigismund significantly enlarged the palace and strengthened its fortifications.
01:44Sigismund, as a Holy Roman Emperor, needed a magnificent royal residence to express his
01:49prominence among the rulers of Europe.
01:52He chose Buda Castle as his main residence.
01:55And during his long reign it became probably the largest Gothic palace of the late Middle
01:59Ages.
02:00Buda was an important artistic center of the international Gothic style.
02:05Construction began in the 1410s and was largely finished in the 1420s, although some minor
02:09works continued until the death of the king in 1437.
02:13The palace was first mentioned in 1437.
02:16Under the name, Fritz Polotha.
02:18The most important part of Sigismund's palace was the northern wing, known as the Fresh
02:23Palace, Han, Fritz Polotha.
02:25On the top floor was a large hall called the Roman Hall, 70 × 20 meters or 230 × 66 feet,
02:32with a carved wooden ceiling.
02:34Great windows and balconies faced toward the city of Buda.
02:37The facade of the palace was decorated with statues, a and coat of arms.
02:41In front stood the bronze equestrian statue of Sigismund, later repaired by King Matthias
02:46Corvinus.
02:47The southern part of the royal residency was surrounded with narrow swingers.
02:51Two parallel walls, the so-called Cortina Walls, run down from the palace to the river
02:56Danube across the steep hillside.
02:58The most imposing structure, the Broken Tower, on the western side of the Cowar Dunor, remained
03:03unfinished.
03:04The basement of the tower was used as a dungeon.
03:07The top floors were probably the treasury of the royal jewels.
03:11The reconstructed medieval fortifications and the Great Rondella in the last years of
03:15his reign Matthias Corvinus started construction of a new Renaissance palace on the eastern
03:19side of the Sigismund Courtyard, next to the fresh palace.
03:23The Matthias Palace remained unfinished because of the king's early death.
03:27The walled gardens of the palace were laid out on the western slopes of Castle Hill.
03:32After the death of Matthias Corvinus, his successor, King Wladyslaus II, carried on
03:37the works of the Matthias Palace, especially after his marriage with Anna of Foix-Candale
03:41in 1502.
03:43After the reign of King John Zapolia, the last national ruler of Hungary, the palace
03:47was repaired.
03:49On the southern tip of Castle Hill, the Great Rondella was built by Italian military engineers.
03:54The circular bastion is one of the main surviving structures of the old palace.
03:59That is all.
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