Buda Castle - Interior - Baroque and Historicism - North Wing

North Wing

• Lobby (Előcsarnok) – The main lobby of the Royal Palace was situated in Hauszmann's Northern Wing on the Danube side. It was a long, rectangular hall divided into four sections with free standing Ionic columns and two square pillars. The section at the southern end was elevated a few steps. Nine arched windows opened towards the Danube. In the middle of the other sidewall, a doorway led to the inner courtyard. The walls and the ceiling were stuccoed. The southern elevation was closed off with a stone balustrade between the pillars and the wall. The ornate lobby was designed for important state ceremonies.
• Great Ballroom (Nagy bálterem) – The Great Ballroom, in the middle part of the northern wing, took over the function of the smaller old ballroom in the Baroque wing. Designed by Hauszmann, it was the most splendid room of the palace. The two-storey high, airy room was lavishly decorated with stuccoes, half columns, trabeation, balconies, and six crystal chandeliers in Neo-Baroque style. Seven arched windows and doorways opened towards a pillared terrace facing the western forecourt. On the other side, the ballroom was connected to the Buffet Hall through three doors. Photos made after the war show the room with its vaulted ceiling collapsed. The ballroom was totally destroyed in the course of reconstruction.
• Buffet Hall (Buffet-csarnok) – The Buffet Hall, on the Danube side of the northern wing, was a very long hall used for state banquets. It was connected to the Great Ballroom nearby and it was possible to join them together. There was a shorter, passage-like space between the two rooms. This passage was separated from the Buffet Hall by six square pillars, while its other side was a solid wall with three doors. On the eastern side of the Buffet Hall a long row of windows opened towards the Danube and a pillared terrace. The Buffet Hall was divided into three sections with free-standing Ionic columns, holding trabeations. The vaulted ceiling was lavishly decorated with frescoes and stuccoes.
• Habsburg Room (Habsburg terem) – The Habsburg Room was situated in the middle of the long palace complex, under Hauszmann's (false) dome, where the new northern wing and the old palace met. Although this part of the building belonged to the original palace, it was thoroughly rebuilt by Hauszmann; this stately room was totally his own work. It was one of the three historical rooms of the palace representing the important periods of Hungarian history. A free-standing, double flight of steps, called the Habsburg Steps, connected the room with the Royal Gardens on the Danube terrace. The room had lavish Baroque decorations with half-pillars and gilded stuccoes. The vaulted ceiling was decorated with Károly Lotz's fresco Apotheosis of the Habsburg Dynasty. Károly Senyei's four Carrara marble busts stood in front of the sidewalls representing King Charles III, Queen Maria Theresa, King Franz Joseph I and Queen Elisabeth of Bavaria. The Habsburg Room survived World War II unscathed, but in the 1950s, it was deliberately destroyed for political reasons.