Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The biggest attraction in the Royal Palace is the Hungarian National Gallery , which is de-
voted to Hungarian art from the Middle Ages to the present. It contains much that's superb,
but the vastness of the collection and the confusing layout can be fatiguing. Though all the
paintings are labelled in English, other details are scanty. It's therefore worth taking the free
guided tour in English (Thurs & Sat 11am). On one Thursday each month, the gallery stays
open till 10pm for an evening of themed events, which consists of talks, tours and concerts.
The main entrance is on the eastern side of Wing C, overlooking the river, behind the statue
of Eugene of Savoy. You'll need to give a couple of days' notice to see the separate Habs-
burg crypt , containing the tombs of several Habsburgs who ruled as palatines of Hungary
until 1849.
Ground Floor
Through the shop to the left of the ticket office, a lovely wooden ceiling from a sixteenth-
century church and marble reliefs of knightly tombs are the highlights of a Medieval and
Renaissance Lapidarium . Between the two, doors on the left lead to the fantastic collec-
tion of fifteenth-century Gothicaltarpieces and panels at the rear of Wing D. Salvaged from
churches great and small that escaped destruction by the Turks, some are artful and others
rustic, but all are full of character and detail: notice the varied reactions expressed within the
Death of the Virgin from Kassa (Kosice, a Slovakian centre of altar-painting) and the gloat-
ing spectators in the Jánosrét Passion in the second room. From the same church comes a St
Nicholas altar as long as a limo and lurid as a comic strip, whose final scene shows cripples
being cured by the saint's corpse. Also strange to modern eyes are The Expulsion of St Adal-
bert , who seems blithely oblivious to the demolition of his church, and the woodcarving of
St Anthony the Hermit , carrying a hill upon his back. The pointed finials on the high altar
from Liptószentmária (Liptovská Mara in Slovakia) anticipate the winged altarpieces of the
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