Hungarian State Opera House

VI. Andrássy út 22.

They say that if the crown of Andrássy út is Heroes’ Square, then the Opera must be its wedding ring. The Neo-Renaissance building of the State Opera House was designed by Miklós Ybl, built between 1875 and 1884. Its auditorium seats 1289 people. The electric lights system in the building has been in place since 1895. To the right from the carriage entrance stands the statue of Franz Liszt, and on the left is one of Ferenc Erkel, the father of Hungarian opera. There are four separate sections in the Opera House: the reception area, the auditorium, the stage and the technical area. The entrance of the building is guarded by the statues of Ferenc Liszt and Ferenc Erkel, both the works of Alajos Stróbl. The ceiling of the auditorium is decorated by frescoes by Károly Lotz, and the reception area has Árpád Feszty's pictures. The box office is in the Western side of the building, with brass railings forcing the patrons in a snake-like line. The Opera can be visited on a guided tour as well.

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Former Institute of Ballet (Dreschler Palace)

VI. Andrássy út 25.

One of Budapest’s important monuments is the Dreschler Palace, directly opposite from the State Opera House. It was designed by star architects Ödön Lechner and Gyula Pártos, and built in just 3 years, between 1883 and 1886. The premises of the former Dreschler Café used to give home to the Institute of Ballet, nowadays it is being converted to a luxury hotel.

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Kodály Körönd

VI. district

Kodály Körönd is one of the two squares on Andrássy út (the other one is Oktogon). The four buildings on the square form a full circle, with Andrássy út and Szinyei Merse utca intersecting in the middle. Each of the four buildings has a small garden with chestnut and sycamore trees and a statue each (statues of Vak Bottyán, Zrínyi Miklós, Szondi György and Balassi Bálint, respectively).

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Millennium Underground Railway (M1)

Vörösmarty tér - Mexikói út Budapest

The first Metro line of continental Europe is underneath Andrássy Avenue. The National Assembly of Hungary has given its blessings to the plan as early as 1870, but construction started only in 1894 – and the works were finished as early as 1896. In 1896 Budapest gave home to the World Fair, and masses of people needed transportation from the center of town to the area known today as City Park and Heroes' Square. The reason why the railway was built under the ground is because Andrássy Avenue was the most elegant avenue of Budapest even back then, and the city fathers have opposed any means of mass surface transportation. The stops are marked with yellow signs, and staircases lead to the Metro - no escalators, as the tunnel is only just a few meters under the ground, supported by steels pillars. Every stop is a little museum, with photos and text in Hungarian, English and German.

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Dohány Street Synagogue

VII. Dohány utca 2.

The Great Synagogue in Dohány street (Hungarian: Dohány utcai Zsinagóga, Hebrew: בית הכ� סת הגדול של בודפשט) is the world’s second largest synagogue. It was built by the Neolog Jewish community of Budapest between 1854 and 1859; its architect was Ludwig Förster from Vienna, Austria. Parts of the interior were designed by Ferenc Feszl. The flat-ceiling interior can accommodate nearly 3,000: there are 1497 seats for men on the ground floor and 1472 for women on the two upper balconies. The Synagogue lies at a busy traffic junction, at the corner of Wesselényi utca, Dohány utca and Károly körút. It was built in Moorish Revival style, with Byzantine and Gothic elements. The western-side façade has arched windows with stone-carved ornaments and bricks, which bear the heraldic colours of Budapest: blue, yellow and red. Next to the main entrance are two polygonal towers, each 43 metres tall, topped by copper onion domes with golden decorations. Right above the entrance, a Hebrew line reads: "make me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them" (Exodus 25,8). The original building was heavily damaged by members of the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party in 1939. During the course of World War II, it was used as a stable for horses, an air raid shelter and communications centre for German radio operators. It was Adolf Eichmann who designated it to be a concentration point for Jews before transportation for extermination. Today, its five main parts are the Synagogue, the Jewish Museum, the Temple of Heroes, the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park and the Jewish Cemetery. The presence of the latter is quite unusual, as Jewish religious rules forbid the burial of the dead near places of worship. Its existence is due to the tragic events of World War II: in the extremely brutal winter of 1944-45, tens of thousands of Jews died in the Jewish Ghetto of Budapest, and over 2,000 needed to be buried in the courtyard of the Synagogue. During the siege of Budapest, the building suffered further damage. After the war, only the most essential reconstruction works were performed, and the building was in a very bad condition during the years of Communism. It was fully renovated between 1991 and 1996; this was when the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park was built in the back yard of the Synagogue. The park has a weeping willow tree (Memorial of the Hungarian Jewish Martyrs) with some names of the 400,000 Hungarian Jewish victims of the Holocaust inscribed on the leaves. There are four red marble plates, commemorating 240 non-Jewish Hungarians who saved Jews during the Holocaust ("Righteous Among the Nations"). These days, the Dohány street Synagogue is one of the most beautiful buildings and sought after tourist sights of Budapest, as well as the main Synagogue of the local Jewish community. The Jewish Museum is a part of the Dohány street Synagogue. It has a vast collection of Judaica on display. Permanent exhibitions are: Devotional objects for Jewish celebrations; Everyday objects; History of the Hungarian Holocaust.

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Nyugati Railway Station

VI. Teréz krt. 55-57.

The first railway line of Hungary was built in 1846 between the city of Vác in the North and Budapest. The Budapest terminal used to stand where the building of Nyugati stands today, which was only completed in 1877. The large iron structure was built by the Paris-based Eiffel Company, which became world famous following the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In 1980, during the construction works of Metro line # 3, a system of underpasses was built next to, and partially under the building. In 1999, the largest commercial mall of Hungary was built right next to the train station, and tracks 1-9 were given a protective roof. Fans of Gwen Stefani may recognize the interior of the building from the pop singer's 2007 video clip "Early Winter", as the production was filmed here. Adjacent to the railway station is the WestEnd City Center, central Europe's largest shopping center, with over 400 stores.

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Central Market Hall

IX. Vámház körút 1-3.

One of the most beautiful buildings in Budapest is the Central Market Hall, situated on the Pest side on Fővám tér. According to its main architect, Samu Petz "a beautiful building must be both harmonious and useful" - and he came very close to perfection with this piece of work. The ventilation caps and chimney pots of the roof are made of Zsolnay pyrogranite. Upon stepping into the building, where selling started in February 1897, its sheer size and train station-like interior are amazing, but what really catches the eye is the number of people constantly moving around from stall to stall, to buy fresh goods, directly from the producer. The first floor of the market has mainly foodstuffs on offer, and the second floor has traditional Hungarian folk art items and other typical products of Hungarian origin on sale. In the basement, a huge modern supermarket was opened in the 1990-s.

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Palace of Arts

IX. Komor Marcell u. 1.

A unique cultural centre, opened in March 2005 as a part of the Millennium City modern complex in Ferencváros, in the southern part of downtown Budapest. Covering a ground area of 10,000 sqm with 70,000 sqm floor space, it could house 4,500 people simultaneously. It houses the Bartók Concert Hall, equipped with the latest state-of-the-art technology, as well as the Ludwig Museum, and the Festival Theatre. Many banquets and corporate events take place in the building. It has all the attributes that are needed in a true flagship cultural centre: huge spaces, the latest technology in everything, a good location and marvellous architecture.

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National Theater

IX. Bajor Gizi park 1.

The National Theatre moved into the empty building of the People's Theatre (Népszínház) on Lujza Blaha Square in 1908. After hosting the theatre for half a century, the graceful, old building was blown up in March 1965 in order to build the underground railway. The theatre temporarily moved into Nagymező Street, and then into the building of the Hungarian Theatre (Magyar Színház) on Sándor Hevesi Square. The new National Theatre is the most distinguished venue for plays in Hungary. Although there has been a Hungarian theatre in Budapest for the last 150 years, it has only had a permanent and suitable home for theatregoers since 15th March 2002. The Great Hall (Nagyszínház) seats 619 people; the auditorium is tiered.

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Botanical Garden

VIII. Illés u. 25.

The so called "Füvészkert" in Budapest is the oldest botanical garden of Hungary, the official name of which is ELTE Botanical Garden. The garden flaunting more than 7000 plant species has been a nature conservation area since 1960 nationwide, and part of the Cultural Heritage since 2006. "Füvészkert" may be familiar to most people from the world famous novel by Ferenc Molnár, The Paul Street Boys.

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Academy of Music

VI. Liszt Ferenc tér 8.

The Academy of Music is the flagship of Hungarian musical education, and the most prestigious concert venue of Budapest. Its current building, the third in its history, is one of the most important Art Nouveau landmarks in the city. Originally christened Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music on its foundation in 1875, the Academy first operated out of Franz Liszt's very own apartment on the Danube embankment. It moved to what we today call the Neo-Renaissance Old Academy of Music on Andrássy Avenue (Sugár Avenue at the time). The Academy's current building was inaugurated in 1907. The magnificent Art Nouveau structure occupies the corner of Király utca and Liszt Ferenc tér. It was designed by architects Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl. The central theme of the façade is a statue of Liszt, by Alajos Stóbl, and the original stain glass windows were painted by Miksa Róth. Nowadays the building is under reconstruction.

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Keleti Railway Station

VIII. Baross tér

Keleti Railway Station (Hungarian: Keleti Pályaudvar) is Budapest’s busiest railway station and a major traffic junction, with a stop of the M2 Metro line and many bus lines, as well as the future stop of the M4 Metro. It lies along the axis of Rákóczi út in Pest, on a piece of land between Kerepesi út and Thököly út. The station was constructed between 1881 and 1884 for the Hungarian State Railways, the great hall was designed by Mór Than and János Feketeházy. The facade of the building is 43 metres tall; on top, it has a group of allegoric statues made by Gyula Bezerédi. On the facade, on the left and right side from the main entrance stand the statues of James Watt, one of the inventors of the steam engine, and George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", made by Alajos Stróbl. The frescoes in the old ticket hall and the northern wing are the works of Károly Lotz. The station is the starting point of four high-traffic railway lines in Hungary.

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Ernst Museum

VI. Nagymező utca 8.

A private collector, Lajos Ernst, a well-known figure of Budapest society, founded the Ernst Museum in 1912 at the time, with the aim of making his artistic and historic collection accessible to the general public. The institute was founded as a result of this intention to patronise the arts and, during the last century, it became one of the most significant exhibition spaces for 20th century Hungarian visual arts.

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Museum of Applied Arts

IX. Üllői út 33–37.

A uniquely beautiful art nouveau building in Pest, the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest features among many things Italian majolica, French furniture, Baroque goldware and Zsolnay ceramics (roof). The main designer of the building was Ödön Lechner.

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Ludwig Museum of Cotemporary Art

IX. Komor Marcell utca 1.

Ludwig Museum - Museum of Contemporary Art displays masterworks of modern and contemporary art. Our temporary exhibitions showcase leading artists of the international scene as well as the best-known masters of Hungarian art.

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Mai Manó House – Hungarian House of Photography

VI. Nagymező utca 20.

The Hungarian House of Photography, uniquely in Europe, was built for the purpose of exhibiting photography. A multi-storey building under historical monument protection, its primary task is to give home to Hungarian and international historical and contemporary photographical exhibitions.

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Hungarian National Museum

VIII. Múzeum körút 14.

Founded in 1802 with the book, medal, and manuscript collection belonging to Count Ferenc Széchenyi. In 1846 the museum took its final place in the neo-Classical building on today’s Múzeum körút designed by Mihály Pollack.

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Hungarian Natural History Museum

VIII. Ludovika tér 2.

A group of neo-Classical buildings, originally a military academy, housing mineral and rock exhibits, under permanent exhibition titles such as Man and nature in Hungary; Treasures from the mineral collection; Time track-rock park (in front of the museum).

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Millenium Underground Museum

V. Deák Ferenc tér 5.

The museum, an affiliate of the Museum of Transport, was opened in 1975 by the Budapest Transport Company and the city council. The exhibition is located in the Deák Ferenc tér Metro station, in a 60 metre long metro tunnel, which was decommissioned during the reconstruction of the metro station.

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Postal Museum

VI. Andrássy út 3.

The Postal Museum, founded in 1890, moved in 1972 into the main, first-floor apartment of the Saxlehner Manison in Andrássy út, one of the finest streets in the city. The palace, built in Eclectic style in 1886, was designed by Győző Czigler.

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Ráday utca - the Quartier Latin of Budapest (District IX)

IX. Budapest

The former main street of the historical Ferencváros district in Pest has seen amazing development in the past 15 years. Ráday utca connects busy Pest square Kálvin tér with the southern part of the Grand Boulevard. Cafés, restaurants, bookshops and snack bars have popped up like mushrooms after the rain around Kálvin tér, and the street has been partially turned into a pedestrian-only street recently - only the bus # 15 is allowed to use the street in a protected lane. From late afternoons onwards, the place has an atmosphere compared to the Quartier Latin in Paris, due to several university dorms and schools in the vicinity. A great plus is that here you will find more Hungarians than tourists here.

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House of Terror Museum

VI. Andrássy út 60.

The House of Terror museum is located on the picturesque Andrássy Avenue, and has a past which can be called anything but glamorous. In two shameful and tragic periods in the 20th century in Hungary it has served as a main site for interrogations and severe torture by the hounds of the government.

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Holocaust Memorial Center

IX. Páva utca 39.

This Neolog Synagogue, inaugurated in 1924, is the work of architect Lipót Baumhorn, who designed no less than 22 synagogues in the territory of historical, pre-WWI Hungary. The temple functioned until 1944, when it was turned into an internment station.

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