Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
minus ofthe red metro line #2)that means youcan enjoy an evening concert and return easily
to the capital afterwards.
The Royal Palace
Királyi Kastély • Daily: April-Oct 10am-6pm; Nov-March 10am-5pm • 2200Ft; last tickets sold 40min before
closing; audio-guide 800Ft • 28 410 124,
kiralyikastely.hu
The
Royal Palace
was commissioned by a confidante of Empress Maria Theresa's, Count
Antal Grassalkovich, and designed by András Mayerhoffer, who introduced the Baroque
style of mansion to Hungary in the 1740s. The palace suffered as a result of both world wars,
being commandeered as a headquarters first by the Reds and then by the Whites in 1919-20,
and pillaged by both the Nazis and the Red Army in 1944. One wing was later turned into
an old people's home, while the rest was left to rot until 1985, when the restoration of the
palace finally began. The work gathered pace after the palace was chosen as the venue for
Hungary's EU presidency in 2011.
Pick up a plan of the palace's 26 rooms in the ticket office. The formal
staterooms
, reached
by a grand staircase, precede the private apartments used by Emperor Franz Josef and his
wife Elizabeth - his decorated in grey and gold, hers draped in her favourite colour, violet.
Sisi, as she was known, stayed two thousand nights in the palace at Gödöllő, preferring it to
Vienna. While her possessions are reverentially displayed - right down to a horseshoe from
her stallion - there's no sign to identify the secret staircase that she had installed as a means
of getting some privacy in a relentlessly public life.
Temporary exhibitions are held in the Rudolf and Gizella wings, while the
Riding Hall
(Lovárda), which hosted the EU presidency, is used for exhibitions and concerts. The
Baroque Theatre
(Barokk színház) that Count Grassalkovich established in a side-wing
(used for only two weeks each year when he was in residence), the
Royal Hill Pavilion
(Királydombi pavilion) and
Baths
(Fürdő) in the large park that stretches behind the Palace
are occasionally open to individual visitors. The baths were last enjoyed by Admiral Horthy,
who used Gödöllő as a holiday home from 1920 till 1944, installing a swimming pool and an
air-raid shelter; this can only be visited on a guided tour, though these are normally reserved
for groups only. Musical and cultural programmes are staged within the palace throughout
the year.
