Before you stands the site of the Archduke Joseph’s Palace. Imagine its grandeur. This wasn’t always an empty space. It has a rich history. Centuries ago two houses stood here. One belonged to László Pálóczi a regional judge. After his death in 1471 King Matthias gifted it to Nicholas Csupor. Later it became a residence for canons. On the southern half stood Benedict Heym’s house built in 1362. Cardinal Demeter owned it in the 1380s. The Bánffy family acquired it after 1514.
The Ottoman-Habsburg wars left both houses in ruins. After the siege of Buda German Gassl brothers briefly owned the land. But in 1714 the Austrian War Council expropriated it for military use. A battery position was established. The army auctioned the site in 1787. József Teleki an archbishop purchased it. He commissioned a U-shaped two-story palace. The Bratislava architect Anton Fisches designed it in the Zopfstil style. It was completed in 1789. It became known as the Teleki Palace. The Teleki family did not use it as their main residence.
In 1857 the imperial treasury bought the palace. Archduke Albrecht the military governor-general of Hungary received it. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 the Ministry of the Interior temporarily resided there. Between 1869 and 1870 it underwent more extensive reconstruction. Lajos Frey and Lipót Kauser designed the renovations. The General Staff’s needs were prioritized.
Archduke Joseph Karl moved the High Command of the Hungarian Armed Forces here in 1873. The new Royal Hungarian Ministry of Defence was built nearby. Archduke Joseph Karl bought the Teleki Palace. He rebuilt and expanded it in a historicizing style. Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl designed this grand renovation. The palace gained its iconic corner towers. The eastern decorations on the western facade were added.
Archduke Joseph August and his family lived in the palace during World Wars I and II. They fled West during the siege of Budapest. The western facade suffered damage. Experts believed it could have been repaired. It later served as a dormitory and workers’ canteen. It was evacuated in 1953. The neglected building was set on fire in the 1960s for filming. In June 1968 it was demolished. A medieval ruin field was created. Later an underground museum appeared.
The Archduke Joseph’s Palace Garden lay to the north. Many houses stood there during the Middle Ages and the Turkish occupation. German settlers arrived after the Turks left. In 1902 Archduke Joseph Karl removed the buildings. A palace garden was created between 1901 and 1906. A spectacle barn was built in 1903 in neo-Renaissance style. After World War II the garden was destroyed. A rubble field and car park replaced it. A wine house and cellar museum operated there until 2021.
The Hungarian government decided to rebuild Archduke Joseph’s Palace in 2019. This is part of the National Hauszmann Programme. This extensive project is revitalizing Buda Castle and its surroundings. The reconstruction began in July 2021. The palace will soon rise again. The magnificent Archduke Joseph’s Palace will restore the historical beauty of Budapest’s Castle Hill.