Visit the Budapest Parliament as the third-largest in Europe, a monumental building on Kossuth Square on the Pest bank of the Danube designed by Imre Steindl.
In 1873, the city of Budapest was created by merging three separate cities, Buda, Óbuda, and Pest. Seven years later, the Hungarian Parliament made the decision to construct a new, representative building to serve as a symbol of national sovereignty. The building was designed to face the Danube River and an international competition was held to determine the winning design. Imre Steindl was declared the winner, and two other designs were implemented as the Museum of Ethnography and the Ministry of Agriculture, both situated opposite the Parliament building.
Construction of the winning design began in 1885, and the building was opened in 1896, with the intention of celebrating the country's supposed 1000th anniversary. However, the building was not fully completed until 1904, after the original architect had passed away. During its construction, approximately 100,000 individuals were involved, and 40 million bricks, half a million precious stones, and 40 kilograms of gold were used.
Following World War II, the Hungarian legislature became unicameral, and today, only a small portion of the Parliament building is utilized by the government. During the period of the Hungarian People's Republic, a red star was placed atop the building's dome, which was subsequently removed after the fall of communism in 1990. On 23 October 1989, Mátyás Szűrös proclaimed the Hungarian Republic from the balcony overlooking Kossuth Lajos Square.