Parliament - Orszaghaz, Budapest

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Orszaghaz – the Hungarian Parliament is huge, richly decorated building on the left bank of Danube, designed by Imre Steindl and built between 1884 and 1902. Interior decoration of the Parliament is as rich as its exterior.

The Parliament building is open all year round and can be visited on guided tours.

Working hours: October 1st – April 30th: Monday – Friday, 8 am – 4 pm; Saturdays, 8 am – 4 pm; Sundays, 8 am – 2 pm / May 1st – September 30th: Monday – Friday, 8 am – 6 pm; Saturdays, 8 am – 4 pm; Sundays, 8 am – 2 pm

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The Parliament building is told to be the biggest parliamentary building in the world. I'm not sure if this is true, but it's certainly among the biggest ones, and it's definitely huge! :)

The eclectic building was designed by Imre Steindl. The works started in 1885 but were only finished in 1904 (even though in 1896 they already had a millenium ceremonial gathering in it).

The interior surface of the Parliament is 17000 sqm, it has 10 internal "gardens" and the cupola is 96 m high. The part of the building facing the Danube has 88 sculptures representing great leaders of the past.

The building can be seen on guided tours in the following times:
Monday from 8am to 11 am
Tue-Sat from 8am to 16 pm
Sunday from 8 am to 14 pm

The guided tours are available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Hebrew - check the homepage for schedule!

Visits can also be booked by phone (+36 1 441-4904 or 441-4415) to avoid long queues.

Entrance tickets are available for 2300 HUF (1150 for students).

The visit for EU citizens is free since the 1st of May 2004! Take your ID to prove your citizenship!

After seeing the chapel we took tram 18 , 19 , 41 ,
in front of the Géllerthotel.
It follows a nice route along the river and if it stops
you got the most magnificient vieuw on one
of the city most remarcable buildings.
(the line returns at Batthyani tér)

It looks like a midieval cathedral but it only
dates back from the turn of the century , the
beginning of the 20th century. Therefor this
type of architecture is called neo-gothic.
At that time it was the largest parliament
building in the world. It had to give the young
nation something to be proud at and to raise
the nations self esteem.

Some figures?
17 years , 1000 people worked on this building.
Lenght 268 meters and at some point it is
wide 118 meters. There are 20 kilometers
of stairs in the building and 691 rooms.


The building is completely covered with native
white stone. All rooms are decorated with frescos.

For some reason it looked much more
impressive from this side.
Time for some pictures and to move one.

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The Parliament is one of the most well known buildings in Budapest, and it is on many postcards. You will get a great view of the building from Castle Hill, on the other side of Danube. The Parliament building was built from 1884 to 1904. It’s built in a neo-Gothic style and its one of the largest parliamentary buildings in the world.

The national government sits here, but visitors are allowed to join one of the guided tours, to see some of the beautiful rooms and the Crown Jewels.

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The construction works of the Neo - Gothic Country House (Országház) began in 1885. It would have been completed in 1896, in the year of Millenium, the feast of the thousand-year existence of Hungary, but it was not complete totally. Some of the inner works were continued to 1904 yet.
However, despite this the peers and the representatives held their festive meeting in the new palace on June 8 1896.
A man who saw the parliament in its original state without scaffoldings lives on Hungary hardly. It has been reconstructed continuous, already since 80 years.
The poor quality of the original stones gave reasons for the renovation. The original rough limestone was too soft, and turns to dust strongly from this reason. From the beginning of the 80s years the stones were replaced by harder limestones, the durability of these insures the good condition of the building onto more hundred years. At the moment the Danube facade is under renovation.
An observer, who is not experienced, can also see it, which parts of the building were already completed, since they are much more clearer in the color.

Individual tourists in organized groups with English guide may enter at the ticket office of the gate #10 and gate #12 at 10:30am and 1:30pm, everyday.
Guided tours are available also in Gerrman , French, Spanish, Hebrew and Russian language fom 8am to 4pm.
Admission fee: Adults 2.820 HUF, Students 1.410 HUF, but for citizens of the European Union is free of charge.

Important notice: The reconstruction of the facade was organized by me and my company from 1994 to 2002

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The Hungarian Parliament Building (Hungarian: Országház, literally country house) is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, one of Europe's oldest legislative buildings, a notable landmark of Hungary and a popular tourist destination of Budapest. It lies in Lajos Kossuth Square, on the bank of the Danube, in Budapest. It is currently the largest building in Hungary[1], and the largest Parliament in Europe.[2]

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The Hungarian Parliament Building (Országház) is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary. It is one of Europe's oldest legislative buildings. Parliament is located in Kossuth Lajos Square right on the bank of the Danube River. It is currently the largest building in Hungary and the second largest Parliament in Europe.

Construction started in 1885 and the building was inaugurated on the 1000th anniversary of the country in 1896, and completed in 1904. (The architect of the building went blind before its completion.)

There were about one thousand people working on its construction in which 40 million bricks, half a million precious stones and 40 kg gold were used.

There are some beautiful views of Parliament from The Castle District.

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Probably the most photographed building in Budapest and one you cannot miss is the Parliament building. It is *the* landmark of Budapest and Hungary, the largest building (691 rooms) of the country. The neo-Gothic style of the construction was designed after the model of the parliament in London - you'll notice right away. It was opened in 1902 but finally completed only in 1936.

The most notable difference to the London parliament is the huge dome in the centre (height 96 m). Right below the dome is a grand hall where the crown and szepter of the Hungarian Kings are on display, surrounded by sculptures of former Hungarian Kings along the walls (pic #4).

Originally both assembly halls were used for the parliament (like House of Commons and House of Lords) but nowadays there's only one National Assembly. The other hall in the northern wing is used commercially for congresses etc.

You can join a guided tour of the building. No reservation in advance is necessary. Please see their website for detailed information. Note that the tour is free for EU citizens. For non-EU citizens the fee is quite steep IMO: 10 Euro, students get a 50% discount (which is still expensive). The quality of the tour was not particularly exciting. And it was quite short.

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This is not totally straight-forward: as you must book your time AHEAD of time, so if you are definitely wanting to do this, check it out early, as the groups are a controlled number of persons, and are not always available due to sessions and visits of Government Officials.

This is the Parliament of Budapest. Make a guided tour inside!! It is inside and outside just awesome and I love this great architecture on this building. On the guided tour you will hear and see sth. about some kings and about the courtroom inside.
On the entrance you will checked like in an airport. It´s for the safety.