The Budapest Parliament Building

The Parliament was our first adventure as a family. We'd read about it and of course, we'd seen on the shores of the Danube during the day and it lit up by night. The Parliament is a sprawling structure, with soaring spires and a huge brick-red dome.

Here is picture of the Parliament taken from the Buda side, with the Reformed Church of Buda in the foreground.

Duly impressed, we bundled up on a early Saturday morning at 9:30 and took the bus over to the Parliament to take the 10 am English tour. After about 20 minutes of queuing we discover that the tour was full and that in order to assure tickets for the 10 am tour, we should have been there at 8 am to buy them. No advance purchases were allowed. Shivering, we trekked back to the bus stop and eventually back to the hotel.

Take two: The following Saturday, Adam got up early, took the 8:05 bus to the Parliament, walked right up to the counter, purchased the tickets, then returned to find his family sleeping blissfully and somewhat traitorously. An hour and a half later, we were all back at the Parliament for the 10 am tour.

The tour was about 45 minutes and took us through one wing of the building. The two flanking wings are identical in structure and design, with only minor decorative distinctions, so the tour only goes through the main stairs, the cupola and then through the hall and chambers of the North wing.

I wished we could have seen more, but maybe that would have been wasted on us. With so much to take in, there was a little bit of sensory-overload. It is very opulent with historical significance and symbolism built in.

For example. This is a picture of the main stairs leading from the front doors. There are 96 stairs. The dome is 96 meters high. Why is that? Well, it represents the year in which the Kingdom of Hungary began, being 896. Just prior to the millenium year of the founding of Hungary, three cities (Buda, Pest and Obuda) were united to form Budapest, the capital of Hungary. The government resolved to constuct a new Parliament building to express the sovereignty of the nation, as well as to celebrate the upcoming millenial anniversary of Hungary. An international competition was held, with construction from the winning plan starting in 1885 and the building was inaugurated on the 1000th anniversary of the country in 1896 (but not fully completed until 1904, with the architect of the building going blind before its completion). So...the 96 steps represent the year 896 and 1896.

About one thousand people were involved in construction, during which 40 million bricks, half a million precious stones and about 88 lbs of gold were used. The Holy Crown of Hungary is on display in the central cupola.

This is the crown of the Kings of Hungary, beginning with St. Stephen and continuing with more than 50 others. No king of Hungary was regarded as having been truly legitimate sans this baby. It is seen here with St. Stephen's sword and coronation scepter.

An interesting fact: The Crown’s shape is elliptic and is larger than a healthy human’s head. During coronation, the would-be king had to wear a so-called 'kapa' made of leather, which was sewn for the size of the king, to hold the crown.

You may also notice that the cross is crooked. The story is that it was knocked thus in the 17th century, during a impending seige, when the top of the iron chest that housed the crown was hastily closed without the crown being properly placed. I guess no one bothered to fix it because the cross has been left in this slanted position for all to see. I wonder if someone lost their job over that little mishap?

Bizarre as it may sound, the item below may have been the most impressive thing we saw, while at the Parliament. It is a perfect scale replica of the Parliament made by a Hungarian family who wanted to make a gift for his city. The guide said how long it took and how many matchsticks were used, and be assured it was a years and many matchsticks, but I have forgotten the exact numbers because I was too stunned by the fact that it was made by an average Hungarian man and his family.