Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hungary's increasing independence within the Habsburg empire. Soil from every corner of
the nation was piled into a Coronation Hill, on the site of the present square. The emperor
flourished the sword of St Stephen and promised to defend Hungary against all its enemies -
a pledge that proved almost as ephemeral as the hill itself. In 1947 the square was renamed
Roosevelt tér
in honour of the late US president - a rare example of Cold War courtesy that
surviveduntil2011whenthenewmayorsetaboutsweepingawaytheoldCommunist names.
Gresham Palace
Unquestionably the finest building on
SzéchenyiIstvántér,
and one of Budapest's landmark
hotels, is the magnificent Art Nouveau
Gresham Palace
on its eastern side. Commissioned
by a British insurance company in 1904, it's named after the financier Sir Thomas Gresham,
theauthorofGresham'slawthatbadmoneydrivesoutgood,wherebythecirculationofcoins
of equal face value but different metals leads to those made of more valuable metal being
hoarded and disappearing from use.
The building was in an awful state when it was acquired by the Four Seasons hotel chain
in 2001, but fears of a crass refurbishment were dispelled by a loving restoration: authentic
materials and even the original workshops were sought out to do the job. Today you can once
again see Gresham's bust high up on the facade, and members of the public may walk in to
admire the subtle hues of the tiled lobby and glass-roofed arcade, with wrought-iron peacock
gates and stained-glass windows by Miksa Róth.
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Magyar Tudományos Akadémia • V, Széchenyi István tér 9 • Mon & Fri 11am-4pm • Free • 1 411 6489
Statues of
Count Széchenyi
and Ferenc Deák, another major nineteenth-century politician
who helped to forge Hungary's agreement with the Austrians in 1867, stand at opposite ends
of Széchenyi István tér. The statue of the former isn't far from the
Hungarian Academy of
Sciences
, founded after Széchenyi pledged a year's income from his estates towards its es-
tablishment in 1825 - as depicted on a relief on the wall facing Akadémia utca. The only part
of the Academy that is open is its small collection of paintings, mainly portraits but including
the odd Munkácsy landscape.
St Stephen's Basilica
Szent István-Bazilika •
Basilica
Mon-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 1-6pm • Free but a 200Ft donation is encouraged
• Mass on weekdays 7am, 8am & 6pm, Sun 8.30am, 10am, noon & 6pm.
Chapel
Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun
1-4.30pm • Free •
Panorama Tower
Daily: Oct-June 10am-4.30pm; July-Sept 10am-6.30pm, closing earlier
in bad weather • 500Ft •
Treasury
Same hours as tower • 400Ft • 1 311 0839,
bazilika.biz
St Stephen's Basilica
took so long to build that Budapestis once joked, when borrowing
money, “I'll pay you back when the basilica is finished.” Work began in 1851 under the su-
pervision of József Hild, continued after his death under Miklós Ybl, and was finally com-
