Vajdahunyad Castle

Budapest’s Vajdahunyad Castle and the buildings surrounding it are located in the Városliget Park by its picturesque large lake. This is a fairytale location; a historic atmosphere in a green park in the heart of the Hungarian capital, consisting of highly convincing fake historic buildings. The copy was built in Budapest more than a hundred years ago, in 1896 for the celebration of the millennium of the settling of the Hungarian tribes in 896. The castle is a partial reconstruction of the castle of the same name, originally built in Hungary, but now located in Transylvania, Romania, which was actually Dracula's castle. No wonder the 2013-2014 TV series Dracula was shot in the mysterious Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest as Dracula's castle! This unique structure is also enriched by parts of other prominent architectural structures, freely mixing Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance elements. For example there is a copy of a Hungarian Romanesque church’s facade combined with a Medieval cloister inside, which has been used as a set for many films. Next to this is the quirky Agricultural Museum; although it was built at the end of the 19th century, they constructed it precisely according to the plans of a beautiful baroque palace. What makes these buildings even more exciting is the lake surrounding them, which has also been home to many sport occasions over the years; it is open to the public for ice skating in the winter and over the past hundred years it has hosted many world ice-skating and aquatics championships.