Vajdahunyad Castle ( Hungarian: ''Vajdahunyad vára'') is a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

in the

City Park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. It is a copy of

Hunyad Castle Corvin Castle, also known as Hunyadi Castle or Hunedoara Castle (Romanian: ''Castelul Huniazilor'' or ''Castelul Corvinilor;'' Hungarian: ''Vajdahunyadi vár''), is a Gothic-Renaissance castle in Hunedoara, Romania. It is one of the largest c ...

, known as Corvin Castle (

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

: ''Castelul Corvinilor''), in

Hunedoara Hunedoara (; german: Eisenmarkt; hu, Vajdahunyad ) is a municipiu, city in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania. It is located in southwestern Transylvania near the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, and administers five villages: Boș (''Bós''), Groș ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. It was built in 1896 as part of the Millennial Exhibition which celebrated the 1,000 years of Hungary since the

Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, also known as the Hungarian conquest or the Hungarian land-taking (), was a series of historical events ending with the settlement of the Hungarians in Central Europe in the late 9th and early 10t ...

in 895. The castle was designed by

Ignác Alpár Ignác Alpár József (born Schöckl József; 17 January 1855 in Pest – 27 April 1928 in Zürich) was a Hungarian architect.Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

, especially the

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

(now in

). As the castle contains parts of buildings from various time periods, it displays different

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

styles: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. Originally, it was made from cardboard and wood, but it became so popular that it was rebuilt from stone and brick between 1904 and 1908. Today, it houses the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, the biggest agricultural museum in Europe. The statue of the chronicler

Anonymus Anonymus is the Latin spelling of anonymous, traditionally used by scholars in the humanities for any ancient writer whose name is not known, or to a manuscript of their work. Such writers have left valuable historical or literary records through ...

(by

Miklós Ligeti Miklós Ligeti (May 1, 1871 – December 10, 1944) was a Hungarian sculptor and artist. His sculptural style integrated elements of impressionism and realism. Early life Ligeti was born in Pest. At first a pupil of Alajos Stróbl in Buda ...

) is also displayed in the castle court. lived in the 12th century (his true identity is unknown, but he was a notary of

Béla III of Hungary Béla III ( hu, III. Béla, hr, Bela III, sk, Belo III; 114823 April 1196) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1172 and 1196. He was the second son of King Géza II and Géza's wife, Euphrosyne of Kiev. Around 1161, Géza granted Béla a ...

), who wrote the chronicle

Gesta Hungarorum ''Gesta Hungarorum'', or ''The Deeds of the Hungarians'', is the earliest book about Hungarian history which has survived for posterity. Its genre is not chronicle, but ''gesta'', meaning "deeds" or "acts", which is a medieval entertaining li ...

(Deeds of the Hungarians). The external wall of the castle contains a bust of

Béla Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...

, a Hungarian-American actor famous for portraying

Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by som ...

in the original 1931 film.

Gallery

File:Vajdahunyad Castle, 2011 Budapešť 0140.jpg File:Vajdahunyad vára (16291. számú műemlék) 14.jpg File:Vajdahunyad vára (16291. számú műemlék) 27.jpg File:Anonymus.JPG File:Vajdahunyad vara 21.jpg File:Vajdahunyad Castle, Chapel, Budapest.jpg File:Vajdahunyad vára6.JPG File:Vajdahunyad vára7.JPG

References

Buildings and structures in Budapest Castles in Hungary Agriculture museums in Hungary Museums in Budapest Houses completed in 1908 1908 establishments in Austria-Hungary {{Hungary-castle-stub