Evening falls over Buda Castle by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

Buda Castle, the Old King's Palace, is a historic castle complex in the Hungarian capital Budapest. The complex is located on Castle Hill (Várhegy), the old city centre of the Buda district, 70 metres above the Danube.

The Castle is situated on a plateau and the entire complex consists of dozens of historically and architecturally valuable buildings and many narrow streets and alleys, whose course has not changed for 7 centuries. Construction of the Várhegy-Bástya and fortress began after the Mongol invasion in 1241. In the year 1255, King Béla IV ordered the construction of a castle as well as a town for the inhabitants of destroyed Pest. Castle and city were built separately and surrounded by huge ramparts.

Under King Matthias Corvinus, Buda Castle became a centre of art and science, which came to an end under Turkish rule in the 16th century. The Turkish rulers called Buda the "Golden Eye" of their empire, but doomed it to disappear anyway. Only the fortress walls were renewed by them. During the siege of Buda in 1686, the castle was destroyed and a small Baroque town was built on the ruins, as a domicile of the Habsburg rulers.

In place of the old castle, a small castle arose, but it was never inhabited by Empress Maria Theresa. Emperor Joseph II had a theatre built. The Franciscan monastery became the seat of the Landdag, but during the first part of the Habsburg era, the city of Buda was not yet a capital, but that role was filled by Presburg.