Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue
REGISTRATION YEAR
1987
HISTORICAL FUNCTION
Medieval urban center, cultural and political hub, modern urban planning
LOCATION AND SITE
At the crossroads of continental routes, Budapest is located at the point of contact between the Hungarian plain and the Carpathian hills. A riverside city on the Danube, Buda was built on a rocky outcrop on the south bank, while Pest was constructed at the level of the plain on the north bank.
URBAN MORPHOLOGY
In the 13th century the network of streets had already been established and was well adapted to the heights of Buda, a 1.5 km. x 0.5 km. site. The four streets that cross the space get narrower and closer together, and eventually join, as they approach the Castle and the hill. The urban squares are located at these points of encounter. A series of short streets, connecting one block to another, cross the four longer streets, usually at right angles. The Danube’s shores, which are joined by a series of bridges, offers a harmonious balance of built and natural landscape. The most important landmarks of Budapest are the Neo-Gothic parliament building (1884-1904), located on the north bank, and, especially, the quarter around the Buda Castle, which dominates the south bank. Stretching along an elongated plateau, the Castle quarter, which possesses within its medieval walls a series of Gothic buildings (a church, a palace, and rows of houses), is without questions a site of imposing Baroque monuments. The Castle itself is Gothic in inspiration; during its heyday, it was transformed into a Renaissance monument, and in the 19th century, the Empress Maria-Teresa refurbished it as a Baroque building.
REGISTRATION CRITERIA
Criterion (ii): Aquincum played a major role in the dissemination of Roman architectural forms in Pannonia, then in Dacie. The Buda Castle played an essential role in the dissemination of Gothic art in the Magyar countries.
Criterion (iv): The Buda Castle illustrates, with the old quarters around it, two significant historical periods that were separated by a haitus that corresponded the Turkish occupation.