Vajdahunyad Castle in the City Park of Budapest was built between 1896 and 1908 as part of the Millennial Exhibition which celebrated the 1000 years of Hungary. It features copies of several landmark buildings from different parts the former Kingdom of Hungary, especially the Hunyad Castle in Transylvania.
Vajdahunyad Castle also houses the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture (Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum), which is the largest museum of this kind in Europe. It covers such topics as animal husbandry, forestry, fishing, Hungary’s wine industry, and much more. If you walk around the museum you will have the opportunity to see the beautifully painted walls, huge crystal chandeliers, carved pillars and stained glass windows.
As the castle contains parts of buildings from various time periods, it displays different architectural 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.
A walk around the castle may give you the impression that it is a Baroque building. It is, in fact, a combination of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture, built in such a way as to show all the architectural styles that can be found in Budapest. The architect Ignác Alpár intended different buildings to represent various eras in the Hungarian history; and so the period of the kings of the House of Árpád is displayed in the Romanesque style; the period of the kings from various mediaeval dynasties is done in the Gothic style; while the period of the Habsburg dynasty is marked by the Renaissance and Baroque styles.
As previously mentioned, the castle was built between 1896 and 1908 for the Millennial Exhibition to celebrate the 1000 years of Hungary, dating to the Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 896. During the millennium celebration the castle housed an exhibition that outlined the significant periods and events of Hungary’s one-thousand-year history.
While strolling in the castle court you will see the mysterious statue of Anonymus. There is a superstition that if you are writing some project or thesis you should grab the pen of Anonymus, which is thought to bring good luck and inspiration.
Anonymus, known as Bele Regis Notarius because his true identity is unknown, lived in the 12th century and was a notary of Béla III of Hungary. He wrote “Gesta Hungarorum” (“Deeds of the Hungarians”), a chronicle based mostly on legend and myth.