page_title: Buda Castle
section_title: Grand Ballroom
hierarchical_section_title: Buda Castle / Interior / Baroque and Historicism / North Wing / Grand Ballroom
caption_attribution_description: English: The new Grand Ballroom in the Royal Castle of Budapest.
context_page_description: Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest. It was first completed in 1265, but the massive Baroque palace today occupying most of the site was built between 1749 and 1769. The complex in the past was referred to as either the Royal Palace or the Royal Castle. The castle now houses the Hungarian National Gallery and The Budapest History Museum.
  Buda Castle sits on the southern tip of Castle Hill, surrounded by the touristic area known as Várnegyed, which is famous for medieval, Baroque and Neoclassical houses, churches, public buildings and monuments. The hill is linked to Clark Ádám Square and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge by the Castle Hill Funicular. The castle is a part of the Budapest World Heritage Site, so declared in 1987. The original Royal palace was ruined during WWII, it was rebuilt in a simplified Stalin Baroque style during the Kádár era.
context_section_description: The Grand Ballroom (Nagy bálterem), in the middle part of the northern wing, took over the function of the smaller old ballroom in the Baroque wing. Designed by Hauszmann, it was the most splendid room of the palace. The two-storey high, airy room was lavishly decorated with stuccoes, half columns, trabeation, balconies and six crystal chandeliers in Neo-Baroque style. Seven arched windows and doorways opened towards a pillared terrace facing the western forecourt. On the other side, the ballroom was connected to the Buffet Hall through three doors.
  Photos made after the war show the room with its vaulted ceiling collapsed. The ballroom was not restored but totally destroyed in the course of the post-war remodelling.
caption: The Grand Ballroom
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