THE HISTORY OF THE CITADELLA

Due to its commanding position above the Danube, Gellért Hill has attracted settlers since the 4th century BC. The Celtic Eravisci tribe established a fortified hilltop community here — an oppidum protected by earthworks. When the Romans extended their authority over the region in the 1st century AD, the inhabitants were relocated from the defensible height to reduce the risk of rebellion, forming the administrative unit known as civitas Eraviscorum. Medieval legend gives the hill its most enduring story. In 1046, during the pagan uprising associated with Vata, Bishop Gerard — a missionary central to Hungary’s early Christian state — was hurled from the rocky slope facing the Danube. From the 15th century onward, the hill increasingly bore his name: St Gerard’s Hill, today known as Gellért Hill. During the Ottoman occupation, the summit chapel was replaced by a timber palisade fortress. The Turks, who held Buda for nearly a century and a half, named the hill after a revered Muslim holy man buried there: Gürz Elias.
At the initiative of Palatine Joseph, construction started in 1813 on a university observatory atop the ruins of the earlier Ottoman fortification. When inaugurated in 1815 — in the presence of Emperor Francis I, King Frederick William III of Prussia and Tsar Alexander I — the observatory called “Csillagda” ranked among Europe’s most advanced scientific institutions. This world-class “Star Tower” (Csillagda) was almost completely destroyed during the May 1849 siege of Buda. From Gellért Hill, Hungarian forces shelled Buda Castle — and Austrian artillery, inevitably, returned fire. The ruins of the building stood for almost two decades, even as the Citadella Fortress was being constructed around it. After the defeat of the War of Independence, the Habsburg military command resolved to establish a defensive ring around Pest-Buda in place of the outdated Buda Castle. First among these projected fortifications was the stronghold planned for Gellért Hill. Though additional forts were also proposed, they were never realised. Strategic priorities shifted, and the northern town of Komárom ultimately became the Monarchy’s principal defensive bastion.

The word citadel, derived from Italian, refers to a fortress built at a city’s highest point — a last defensive refuge. Construction began in 1850 at the behest of General Haynau, overseen by Austrian military engineer Emanuel Zitta and based on designs by Ignaz Weisz. Even Adam Clark, famed builder of the Chain Bridge, submitted a proposal. Ultimately, architect-engineer Mátyás Zitterbarth won the commission with the most economical bid which involved transporting some 2500 cubic metres of stone and earth down the hillside via rail carts. High-quality limestone from Sóskút supplied the material for the walls, delivered by Antal Hofhauser’s company. By 1854, imperial troops were already in place, occupying the completed stronghold at last.
Imposing even by contemporary standards, the Citadella stretched 220 metres in length and 60 metres in width; its walls averaged 4 metres in thickness and soared to 12–16 metres high. Its walls were anchored directly into the bedrock in many places, rendering them effectively impervious to artillery. The defensive layout accommodated sixty modern cannons and housed a garrison of several hundred soldiers. The western end was sealed by a D-shaped, multi-storey round bastion, while the eastern sector — behind today’s Liberty Statue — was guarded by a semi-circular bastion. The bastion formed part of the inner courtyard, while the cannon tower constituted a separate, enclosed unit.
The Round Bastion consisted of two concentric semicircular rings. On the outer level, casemates were arranged on both the ground and upper floors, while the inner sections served to accommodate the garrison and store ammunition. Along the straight spine of the D-shaped structure were located the officers’ and non-commissioned officers’ quarters, as well as shared communal spaces, all enclosing the central courtyard. The casemates were accessible only through one another, via doorways cut into the thick dividing walls. The walls themselves were constructed of alternating layers of brick and stone, using limestone from Sóskút for the main structure and red limestone from Tardos for the coping stones.

Embrasures opened from the vaulted casemates, while smaller pivot bases allowed the cannons to be rotated horizontally. Ventilation openings were incorporated into the walls, to help air the huge quantities of smoke produced by the artillery of the time. When cannons needed to be replaced, this was accomplished using hooks and ropes secured to the vaulting above. At the uppermost level of the cannon tower was an artillery terrace, beneath which lay a rainwater cistern. This provided drinking water for the permanent garrison of 250 men and, in times of siege, was of even greater importance, ensuring the Citadella’s independence from external water sources. Rainwater was channelled into the reservoir through stone-lined drainage channels in the courtyard.

In addition to the East Bastion, the courtyard was protected by projecting northern and southern outworks and bastions built into the walls. These pentagonal projections enabled defenders to bring flanking fire upon approaching enemies. The main entrance to the courtyard opened from the north, directly beside the cannon tower. On the side facing Sas Hill, a gently sloping firing mound (glacis) was formed, providing a clear field of fire for the artillery of the Western Round Bastion. This glacis was separated from the cannon tower by a dry ditch that followed the curve of its semicircular form.

Following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the Citadella’s military importance declined rapidly. By 1899, with imperial troops withdrawn, Budapest residents — long resentful of the fortress as a symbol of oppression — began enthusiastically dismantling sections of the structure. The distinctive V-shaped opening above today’s Great Gate preserves the memory of this act of civic defiance. Yet financial realities halted full demolition. The Citadella remained an abandoned fortress without a clear purpose, though ambition was not lacking.

Already in the 1840s, Count István Széchenyi proposed transforming Gellért Hill into a national pantheon. After the Compromise, Count Ödön Széchenyi revived the idea, leading to a nationwide design competition in 1871. The winning design, submitted by Gyula Berczik, envisioned a monumental domed building in the Byzantine style, while second place was awarded to Frigyes Feszl. Other ambitious proposals soon followed: Gyula Kolbenheyer and Sándor Straub imagined a fairytale-like castle, an unknown author — most likely Kálmán Thaly or Ödön Serly — conceived a pyramid, and Adolf Wilhelm proposed a Hungaria statue in the manner of the Acropolis. Even a monument to Chief Árpád was considered. Yet one after another, these grand visions came to nothing, and for decades the fate of the Citadella remained unresolved. Meanwhile, Gellért Hill itself was evolving. No longer a neglected suburb, it developed into an urban retreat for a newly-unified modern Budapest. Promenades lined with benches appeared on its northern and southern slopes, culminating in 1902 with the installation of the St Gerard Statue and its landscaped surroundings.
The Citadella complex itself, however, lived many lives in the early 20th century. At times it housed police residences; at others it gained notoriety as a slum and refuge for criminal elements. Between the two world wars, English-style park landscapes, Roman rock gardens and scenic roads reshaped the hill, while the fortress itself gained architectural illumination. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the fortress once again assumed its military role. A bunker and anti-aircraft positions were established in the courtyard, and its vaulted casemates were used to care for the wounded. In February 1945, the Citadella fell into Soviet hands. During the siege, the structure suffered damage in several places, and to this day the scars of gunfire are etched into its walls.
Crowning the hill in 1947 rose the forty-metre Liberty Statue (formerly the Liberation Monument) created by Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl. At its centre stands the fourteen-metre bronze Genius, a symbol of peace and freedom. During the Revolution of 1956, the statue of the Soviet soldier was toppled and later political changes would go on to remove additional Soviet references. In the post-war years, the fortress again served military purposes before parts damaged in combat were dismantled during organised volunteer campaigns of the Kádár era. By the 1960s the Citadella was officially protected as a historic monument. Tourist facilities, restaurants and viewing terraces followed, and new access roads, a promenade and a Budapest bus route connected the site to the city. So popular did the hill become that in 1987 the Citadella joined Budapest’s UNESCO World Heritage listing.
After the political transition, however, the site came to embody the contradictions of Hungary’s new reality. Ideological functions faded, maintenance declined, all while the increasing visitor numbers contrasted sharply with the fortress’s deteriorating condition. The capital envisioned a renewed tourist destination, while local residents imagined a public park and shared community space. Meanwhile, privatisation brought with it a succession of temporary hospitality and entertainment venues within the fortress walls, as the historic fabric itself steadily deteriorated. Impressive though the Citadella remained when seen from afar, by the turn of the millennium its condition was increasingly falling into disrepair. Closed off and devoid of meaningful purpose, the neglected complex stood in surroundings entirely unbefitting of its UNESCO World Heritage status. Soon, however, it will reopen as an experience centre worthy of one of Budapest’s most iconic landmarks — welcoming visitors back for unhurried moments and views that never fail to astonish.