GFE Stumpes: Buda (4/7/2026)

Tuesday, April 7, 2026 (continued)

Now we are on the Buda side (western right bank) of the Danube River.

Hotel Gellért (1911-1918, by Ármin Hegedűs,
Artúr Sebestyén and Izidor Sterk in Secessionist style) is
supposed to reopen in 2027 as the Mandarin Oriental Gellért

Part of the Hotel Gellért is the Gellért Gyógyfürdő/
Gellért Thermal Bath, which is also under
restoration, to reopen in 2028, and is now
separately owned by the city of Budapest

Across the street and also on Gellérthegy/Gellért Hill is
the Gellérthegyi Barlangtemplon/Gellért Hill Cave Church
(carving into the hill began in the 1920s, by Kálmán Lux;
1926-1930, by Károly Weichinger under the Pauline monks)
was initially a hermit's cave, then it housed a poor family

In front of the Cave Church is Szent István-szobor/
St Stephen statue (2001, by Pál Kő) of the first
king of Hungary (c 1000 CE) who united the
Magyar tribes and converted them to Christianity (KSS)

Looking down on Liberty Bridge with a
Viking longboat to its left (KSS)

The entrance to the Cave Church aka
Sziklatemplon/Rock Church

Heading down into the chuch

Side chapel

Stained glass window

A statue of St Paul the Hermit (of Thebes) with a lion at
his feet; the Pauline Order takes its name from this
Egyptian saint who is said to have lived in a cave for
90 years and was sustained by a raven (the bird on his
shoulder; to the right is a Hungarian flag featuring the
Pauline Order symbols, specifically the Sacred Heart
of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary

A terra cotta statue of the Virgin wearing
the crown of Hungary with Jesus;
Mary is the patron saint of Hungary

Bust depicts Szent István/King Stephen I

Türingiai Szent Erzsébet/Saint Elizabeth of
Thuringia/Hungary is portrayed carrying
either bread or roses based on the legend
that she was secretly taking bread to the
poor and when asked by her husband what
she had under her cloak, it was revealed
that she carried red and white roses

A railing along a rear chapel shows two angels holding
the coat of arms of Poland; in 1939 the Rock Church
was a sanctuary for thousands of Polish refugees

Polish Jagiellonian Eagle is a stylized version
of the White Eagle, the coat of arms of Poland

Memorial for St Maximilian Kolbe, known for
volunteering to take the place of another prisoner
who was sentenced to death at Auschwitz (KSS)

The nave of the Rock Church (KSS)

A green pyrogranite altar (by Hungary’s
renowned Zsolnay Porcelain Manufactory) is
decorated with an icon of three overlapping fish

Statue of the Risen Christ and a Paschal
Easter Candle on display after Easter

Statue of Our Lady of Fatima as she appeared
to the shepherd children in Portugal,
with her Sacred Heart and wearing a crown

A rear hall display of intricately carved religious art
by the Transylvanian woodcarver Béla Ferencz

This carving depicts Saint Stephen I of Hungary
offering the Holy Crown to the Virgin Mary

A confessional?

Apparently you can take a tuk tuk tour in Budapest (KSS)

These benches can be pivoted to
face in either direction

The ruins of the Pauline Monastery and the Rock Church
is located beneath the cross towards the left
(taken 4/8/2026 from the opposite side of the river)

A spiky fence

Dandelions

Rudas Gyógyfürdő/Rudas Thermal Bath (1550 with
later expansions in 1556 and 1896)

The Ottoman domed section of the bath dates to 1550

Vuk, a little fox from an animated Hungarian
film, holds onto a missile embedded in the
stone wall as a response to the 2022
invasion of Ukraine, by Mihály Kolodko

Erzsébet híd/Elisabeth Bridge (1961-1964, by Pál Sávoly)
is a cable-stayed bridge that used the original pillars
from the bridge destroyed by Germans in World War II

ČKD Tatra T5C5K2 Tram #4076 (1980)

CAF Urbos 3 Tram #2248 (c 2020)

We took a tram up the hill in Buda, but
found we still had to climb 164 steps

We did not have to take these stairs up
to the level of Budavári Palota/Buda Castle

Our goal was the Sziklakórház Atombunker Múzeum/
Rock Hospital Nuclear Bunker Museum (1930s as an
air raid shelter, 1944-1945 as a secret hospital treating
civilians and soldiers during the Siege of Budapest,
then 1958-1962 converted into a top-secret nuclear
bunker that was decommissioned in 2002);
unfortunately no photos were allowed