Watch close when walking around Budapest, apparently the city still has some secrets to be revealed; renovators recently discovered a hidden room in Vajdahunyad Castle in City Park.
Vajdahunyad Castle, with its beautiful, romantic scenery at the boating lake, is one of the most popular sights of Budapest. It was first built in 1896 mainly out of wood due to the tight deadline; it was part of the Millennial Exhibition which celebrated the 1000 years of Hungary since the Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895. A few years later, in the early 1900’s, the castle was rebuilt with stronger foundations. The constructions finally ended in 1908.
The building was designed by Ignác Alpár and it features copies of several landmark buildings from different parts the Kingdom of Hungary, from which one of the most significant is the Hunyad Castle in Transylvania. This is one of the reasons of its uniqueness; it combines many of the finest buildings in the historical Hungary into an eclectic castle with styles from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, including Romanesque, Gothic Renaissance or Baroque buildings.
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photo:hungarytoday.hu
The castle, now giving place to the Hungarian Agricultural Museum, has recently been under renovation. Imagine the surprise when a mysterious, hidden room was found by the workers; they first discovered one of the windows and then the door of the room behind a huge wardrobe. They also found the key they could open the door with. The small place had been hidden since the 1950’s, when the building was modernized and equipped with new furniture.
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photo:hungarytoday.hu
In the room, they found blueprints of the building by the architect, early construction plans from 120 years ago which makes the discovery even more significant. Alpár was one of the most acknowledged 19th-century Hungarian architect. He greatly contributed to the cityscape of today’s Hungary; besides Vajdahunyad Castle, he designed several public instituition buildings and county halls.
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photo:hungarytoday.hu
It is known that besides this newly-discovered room, numerous other, long-unused rooms exist in the building, some of which are not accesssible because the stairway leading to them has rotted away.
