Heroes' Square originally uploaded by zsoolt.
Budapest has several places that might be attractive and interesting for you. However these places are usually some distances apart from each other. Not like in Prague where everything that is worth to visit is within a circle. Moreover, they can be discovered in a maximum of two hours, on foot. Budapest is different. You have to find the pearls :)
One of the frequented places is the Heroes' Square (Hősök Tere) and its surrounding area.
Heroes' Square (Hősök tere) is one of the major squares of Budapest. It lies at the end of Andrássy Avenue with which it comprises part of a World Heritage site next to City Park.
Two important buildings surrounded it, namely: Museum of Fine Arts and Palace of Art (or Art Exhibition Museum).
The central site of the square, as well as a landmark of Budapest, is the Millennium Memorial. Two other names for this landmark Millennium Monument or Millenary Monument are used interchangeably. You can see statues of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century and other outstanding figures of Hungarian history.
The construction of the memorial was started when the one thousandth anniversary was celebrated in 1896, but it was completed only in 1929.
The Museum of Fine Arts (Szépművészeti Múzeum) is a museum in Heroes' Square. It was built by the plans of Albert Schickedanz and Fülöp Herzog in an eclectic-neoclassical style, between 1900 and 1906.
The museum's collection is made up of international art (other than Hungarian), including all periods of European art of more than 100,000 pieces. The collection is made up of various older additions such as those from Buda Castle, the Esterhazy and Zichy estates, as well as donations from individual collectors. The Museum's collection is made up of six departments: Egyptian, Antique, Old sculpture gallery, Old painter gallery, Modern collection, Graphics collection. The institution celebrated its centenary in 2006.
The Hall of Art (Műcsarnok) is an art museum also located in the Heroes' Square, facing the Museum of Fine Arts. It is worth visiting as it is the greatest exhibition hall in Hungary, exhibiting representative works of art of Hungarian as well as other artists and it regularly organizes themed exhibitions.
Our tip:
Heroes' Square and its surrounding area is a perfect place to walk around. Though at times you can see local guys playing and practicing their skateboarding skills on the Heroes' Square, the place is not really an intended attraction unless there are major events. Around the Vajdahunyad Vára, there is a little artificial lake which was under reconstruction in 2007 summer. Normally, you can rent boats for romantic dates there:) We did not list it here but somewhere very near, you can find the Zoo, the Amusement Park and the famous restaurant of the Gundel family. Or to the other direction, you can find the Museum of Transportation which has a cute café behind which actually was a train. (Some time later we will post about this place)
