Citadel

The fortress on top of Gellért Hill, and a building whose entire purpose was to intimidate the city below it.

The Habsburgs built it in 1851, two years after crushing the Hungarian revolution of 1848–49. It was garrisoned by imperial troops and its guns pointed inward, at Buda and Pest, not outward at any foreign enemy. Everyone in the city understood exactly what it was for. It never actually fired on Budapest, and after the Compromise of 1867 the demand for its demolition became a standing political issue; a symbolic breach was made in one wall.

It saw real fighting only in 1945, when German forces held it during the siege.

The Liberty Statue stands just beside it — a woman holding a palm frond above her head, erected in 1947 and visible from most of the city. Its Soviet-era inscriptions and accompanying figures were altered after 1989, leaving the statue itself in place with a changed meaning.

The hilltop has been under a long redevelopment, so what is accessible varies; check before making a special trip. The view from the surrounding terraces does not depend on any of that and is the best in Budapest.