The Carmelite Order built the monastery on a parcel that had been occupied by a mosque during the Ottoman occupation of Hungary. The Order received the land in 1693 after the 1686 liberation of Buda, completed the monastery in 1736, and consecated it in 1763. In the 1780s, Joseph II's Klostersturm forced the Carmelites to disband, and in 1786, an imperial decree converted the monastery into the Castle Theatre (Várszínház) "for the delectation of high-ranking court officials." Notable performances during the imperial era included Ludwig van Beethoven and the premiere of Bánk bán.
Heavily damaged during World War II, the theatre was renovated by the state communist government in 1971 to serve as the seat of the People's Theatre and, after 1982, the National Theatre. In 2001, the National Dance Theatre became the building's primary tenant. The Hungarian government appropriated the Carmelite Monastery in 2014 and began further renovations in 2016 to prepare it for use as the prime minister's office. The prime ministry moved into the building in 2019.
History
The Court Theatre of Buda in the 18th century
In the Middle Ages, the area was occupied by a Franciscan church devoted to St. John, built between 1269 and 1270. The building was converted to a mosque during the Turkish occupation, and was destroyed in the 1686 siege of Buda. The plot was given to the Carmelites in 1693. Laying the foundation stone in 1725, their church was built by 1736, but only consecrated in 1763.
Joseph II dissolved the order in 1784, and on his trip to Buda in 1786, he personally arranged to convert the church to a theatre, to entertain government officers of Buda. The plans were made by Wolfgang von Kempelen. A part of the crypt under the sanctuary was rebuilt as a trap room, and cells functioned as changing rooms. The high altar became the stage. With a three-story auditorium, and a capacity of 1200 seats, the premiere was held on 17 October 1787, from which on the theatre was home to mainly German productions for the next few decades. The first ever play in the Hungarian language was premiered on its stage, on 25 October 1790, by the company of László Kelemen. On 7 May 1800 Beethoven gave a concert here. The building was renovated in 1815.
According to a pact with the municipality of Buda, for a symbolic lease, a company from Kassa played in the theatre between 1833 and 1837, including acclaimed actors of the era, like Déryné, Márton Lendvay or Gábor Egressy. They formed the foundations of the later National Theatre opening in 1837. Until 1870, German troupes were playing in the building, when German plays were banned by the municipality. From 1871, the theatre was home to the National Theater, and from 1885 to 1886, also hosted plays of the Népszínház the Opera House, and the Academy of Drama.
After World War I, the theatre re-opened on 21 March 1918. Plans were made to make the theatre a chamber theatre of the National Theatre, but it was found unfit for the task. Smaller groups played in the building until 1924, when, after the gallery collapsed, it was closed for the next five decades. During World War II, it received severe bomb hits, collapsing the balcony. Until the end of the war, the building functioned as an army storage. Renovations took place in 1947.
The Várszínház was reopened on 13 February 1978, and was the home to the Népszínház until 1982, after which it was the chamber theatre of the National Theatre until 1 December 2001. From 2001 until 2019, it was the home of the National Dance Theatre (thus being a theatre only in its name). Since 2019, the building has been a seat of the offices of the Prime Minister of Hungary.
Budapest is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second largest city on the Danube river. The city has an estimated population of 1,752,286 over a land area of about 525 square kilometres. Budapest, which is both a city and municipality, forms the centre of the Budapest metropolitan area, which has an area of 7,626 square kilometres and a population of 3,303,786. It is a primate city, constituting 33% of the population of Hungary.
Buda is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill, which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and 1249 and subsequently served as the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1361 to 1873. In 1873, Buda was administratively unified with Pest and Óbuda to form modern Budapest.
Johann Wolfgang Ritter von Kempelen de Pázmánd was a Hungarian author and inventor, known for his chess-playing "automaton" hoax The Turk and for his speaking machine.
Siófok is a town in Somogy County, Hungary on the southern bank of Lake Balaton. It is the second largest municipality in Somogy County and the seat of Siófok District. It covers an area of about 124.66 km2 between Lake Balaton, the Mezőföld and the Outer Somogy-Hills. Lying at the firth of the Sió Channel, it serves as the most important logistic station for goods between Lake Balaton and the River Danube.
The Hungarian State Opera House is a historic opera house located in central Budapest, on Andrássy avenue. Originally known as the Hungarian Royal Opera House, it was designed by Miklós Ybl, a major figure of 19th-century Hungarian architecture. Construction began in 1875, funded by the city of Budapest and by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary, and the new house opened to the public on the 27 September 1884. Before the closure of the "Népszínház" in Budapest, it was the third largest opera building in the city; today it is the second largest opera house in Budapest and in Hungary.
Buda Castle, formerly also called the Royal Palace and the Royal Castle, is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest. First completed in 1265, the Baroque palace that occupies most of the site today was built between 1749 and 1769, severely damaged during the Siege of Budapest in World War II, and rebuilt in a simplified Baroque style during the state communist era. Presently, it houses the Hungarian National Gallery, the Budapest Historical Museum, and the National Széchényi Library.
The Hungarian Parliament Building, also known as the Parliament of Budapest after its location, is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, a notable landmark of Hungary, and a popular tourist destination in Budapest. It is situated on Kossuth Square in the Pest side of the city, on the eastern bank of the Danube. It was designed by Hungarian architect Imre Steindl in neo-Gothic style and opened in 1902. It has been the largest building in Hungary since its completion. The architectural style of the Hungarian parliament building was influenced by the gothic Vienna City Hall, and the renaissance elements like the cupola was influenced by the Maria vom Siege church in Vienna.
The Church of the Assumption of the Buda Castle, more commonly known as the Matthias Church and more rarely as the Coronation Church of Buda, is a Catholic church in Holy Trinity Square, Budapest, Hungary, in front of the Fisherman's Bastion at the heart of Buda's Castle District.
Gül Baba, also known as Jafer, was an Ottoman Bektashi dervish poet and companion of Sultan Suleiman I who took part in a number of campaigns in Europe from the reign of Mehmed II onwards.
The conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques occurred during the life of Muhammad and continued during subsequent Islamic conquests and invasions and under historical Muslim rule. Hindu temples, Jain Temples, churches, synagogues, and Zoroastrian fire temples have been converted into mosques.
Ottoman Hungary encompassed those parts of the Kingdom of Hungary which were under the rule of the Ottoman Empire from the occupation of Buda in 1541 for more than 150 years, until the liberation of the area under Habsburg leadership (1686–1699). The territory was incorporated into the empire, under the name Macaristan. For most of its duration, Ottoman Hungary covered Southern Transdanubia and almost the entire region of the Great Hungarian Plain.
The House of Apponyi, also known as Apponyi de Nagy-Appony, was a prominent and powerful Hungarian family of the high upper nobility of the Kingdom of Hungary, whose members remained notable even after the kingdom's dismemberment in the successor states of Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
The architecture of Hungary is understood as the architecture of the territory of Hungary, and in a wider sense the historical territory of the Kingdom of Hungary. Major European styles from Roman to Postmodern is represented, including renowned examples of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Modern and International Style architecture.
Hungarian art stems from the period of the conquest of the Carpathian basin by the people of Árpád in the 9th century. Prince Árpád also organized earlier people settled in the area.
The city of Budapest was officially created on 17 November 1873 from a merger of the three neighboring cities of Pest, Buda and Óbuda. Smaller towns on the outskirts of the original city were amalgamated into Greater Budapest in 1950. The origins of Budapest can be traced to Celts who occupied the plains of Hungary in the 4th century BC. The area was later conquered by the Roman Empire, which established the fortress and town of Aquincum on the site of today's Budapest around AD 100. The Romans were expelled in the 5th century by the Huns, who were challenged by various tribes during the next several centuries. The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin started at the end of the 9th century, and the Kingdom of Hungary was established at the end of the 11th century.
Zsámbék is a town in Pest County, Hungary.
Sándor Palace is a palace in Budapest, Hungary. Located beside the Buda Castle complex in the ancient Castle District, it has served as the official residence and workspace of the president of Hungary since 2003.
Gül Baba's tomb (türbe) in Budapest, Hungary, is the northernmost Islamic pilgrimage site in the world. The mausoleum is located in the district of Rózsadomb on Mecset (mosque) Street, a short but steep walk from Margaret Bridge.
The Eparchy of Buda is a diocese or eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church, having jurisdiction over the territory of Hungary. The seat of the eparchy is in Szentendre near Budapest.
The St. Catherine of Alexandria Church is a Roman Catholic church in the Tabán quarter of Budapest, Hungary. It is the parish church of the Tabán Parish which also comprises parts of Gellért Hill and Naphegy. The church is a listed monument that was built in Central European Baroque style between 1728 and 1777. It was reconstructed several times in the 19th–20th centuries.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
