The first Royal Palace to be built up here on Castle Hill was during the Middle Ages, and was commiss-ioned by King Béla IV. after the Tatar invasion of 1241-1242.

Subsequently all the Kings added buildings here and there, with the most important construction undertaken by Kings Zsigmond (1387-1437) and Mathias (1458-1490). The former built a large gothic palace, and the latter renovated and added on in the Renaissance style. During the Turkish occupation (1541-1686), the Castle was home to the ruling Pasha.

During the seige of Budapest when the Christian forces recaptured the Castle and the city from the Turks, the Royal Palace was pretty much destroyed. It was not until the reign of Queen Maria Theresa (1740-1780) that the Castle was totally rebuilt again, with a few additions made in 1890 in the Neo-baroque style.

It enjoyed a few hundred years of relative peace before it was destroyed again during WWII, when the entire castle hill area was razed to the ground. Once again the entire Palace and castle area was rebuilt virtually from scratch. The Palace was reopened in 1976 with much pomp and circumstance. Today it is open to the public, and houses the National Gallery, Museum of Modern Art, and the Budapest Museum of History, as well as the Széchenyi National Library. Directly across the street from Rivalda, the former Ministry of Defence has stood untouched since WWII.

This gives you some sense of the destruction and desecration that occurred during the 4 month seige of Budapest. Today the entire Castle district is designated as a world heritage site, and is enjoyed by millions of tourists from all over the world.