Before World War II and a communist dictatorship devastated Budapest in the 20th century, the Hungarian capital was home to several architectural treasures that now exist only in photographs.
Click or tap on each of the following archival photos to reveal the same site as it appeared in December 2023.
The Elizabeth Bridge photographed in 1943. The structure was blown up by retreating German forces in January 1945 amid the siege of Budapest. The bridge’s twisted remains stood as a reminder of the war for nearly two decades before a utilitarian
replacement bridge was completed in 1964. | Archival photo: Fortepan/ETH Zurich/Agnes Hirschi
The Margaret Baths, built above a natural hot spring on Margaret Island. The bathhouse was damaged in the war, then looted by Soviet troops following the capture of Budapest by the Red Army in 1945, then finally demolished in the 1950s. It was
replaced with a spa hotel built in a brutalist style that still operates today. | Archival photo: Fortpan/Laszlo Laitai
Hungary’s National Theater seen in 1964. The following year the building was demolished by the communist authorities, ostensibly to allow for a subway tunnel to be dug underneath through unstable soil. Suspicions that the destruction was a
message to independence-minded Hungarians was apparently reinforced by the choice of March 15 as the date to begin demolition. The date is one of Hungary’s most important national anniversaries, marking a 19th-century uprising against Austrian
rule. | Archival photo: Fortepan/MZSL/Karoly Ofner
The Dunapolota, a luxury hotel originally built by the Ritz company, as it looked in 1943. The building was severely damaged in World War II and was later demolished to make way for the Forum Hotel, which opened in
1981 and now operates as the InterContinental. | Archival photo: Fortepan/ETH Zurich/Agnes Hirschi
The Regnum Marianum Church, on the edge of Budapest’s City Park, photographed in 1936.
The Church was built as a symbol of “gratitude” for the collapse of the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919. The symbology of the church made it an obvious target for the leftist regime that took power in Hungary
following the Red Army’s capture of Budapest. In 1951, the church was demolished and a strident monument glorifying the 1919 Soviet Republic was erected on the
site. | Archival photo: Fortepan/Ted Grauthoff
The building of the Museum of Science, Technology, and Transport in the eastern corner of Budapest’s City Park, photographed in 1896. The spectacular museum was damaged by bombing in 1945 and was rebuilt in a muted style before eventually being
demolished. There were plans to reconstruct the original building by 2018, but today the site remains a no-man’s-land surrounded by fencing. | Archival photo: Fortepan/Budapest City Archives/Gyorgy Klosz
Hungary’s Trade Ministry building photographed in 1921. The ministry headquarters was severely damaged in World War II and
its remains demolished in 1948. The footprint of the razed building is now a roundabout and park. | Archival photo: Fortepan
A pavilion built around a natural spring at the base of Gellert Hill that bubbled with warm and slightly radioactive water, photographed in 1910. Today a “medicinal drinking water” fountain (behind the gray doors seen
in the 2023 photo) drawing from the same spring is tucked into the structure of the rebuilt Elizabeth Bridge. | Archival photo: Fortepan/Hungarian Geographical Museum
Tollhouses at the western end of Liberty Bridge photographed in 1906. Charging locals for crossing the Danube was used to claw back the money spent on building some of Budapest’s elegant bridges. After 1918, the hated toll requirement was ended
and nearly all of the tollhouses were demolished after being damaged in World War II. Today, the only two remaining tollhouses are both located at the eastern entrance of Liberty Bridge. | Archival photo: Fortepan/Deutsche Fotothek/Bruck & Son
A memorial to Hungary’s sailors on Budapest’s Petofi Bridge, photographed in 1943. The monument, which was topped with a 30-meter-high lighthouse, commemorated the servicemen of the Austro-Hungarian Navy who were killed in World War I. The
monument was destroyed by retreating Nazi forces as they blasted the bridge in 1945. | Archival photo: Fortepan/Istvan Diveky
A fountain in the north of Budapest with a female figure holding a trident photographed in 1900. In 1942, a pedestrian underpass was cut through the monument and today only the statue remains. | Archival photo: Fortepan/Budapest City Archives/Gyorgy Klosz
Tollhouses at the western end of the Szechenyi Chain Bridge photographed around 1890. The bridge was restored after its destruction by retreating German forces in 1945 but the toll houses were not rebuilt. | Archival photo: Fortepan/Budapest City Archives/Gyorgy Klosz
The western forecourt of the Buda Palace photographed in 1930. The palace was one of the last strongholds of Nazi resistance to the Soviet Army’s advance into Budapest in the final winter of World War II and was severely damaged, mostly by artillery fire. The palace’s reconstruction under Hungary’s communist government fundamentally changed the look of the building. “Unnecessary” baroque decorations were removed, and the main dome was moved several meters from its original position. Today, major renovation works to restore the palace to its former
glory are under way. | Archival photo: Fortepan/Olbert Mariann
Calvin Square in central Budapest photographed around 1900.
Most buildings surrounding the square were destroyed during the siege of Budapest in World War II and never restored. Of all the structures seen in the archival image above, only the Hungarian National Museum building (center left) remains today. |
Archival photo: Fortepan/Budapest City Archives/Gyorgy Klosz
