Top Filming Locations in Hungary
Wenckheim Palace
The Gorgeous Palace with Amazing Ballrooms
Last updated on May 8th, 2023
The Wenckheim Palace was built in 1887, by Count Frigyes Wenckheim, in a neo-baroque style with neo-renaissance elements. Wenckheim, who was a wealthy aristocrat, built the palace in order to have a place to stay in when the family visited Budapest. During his visits, he hosted several charity events in the palace with his wife. After their death the city bought the building. Since 1931 it functions as one of Budapest’s largest libraries. The most grandiose ballroom has a pompous chandelier hanging from the high ceiling and elegant decoration of gold motifs on the white walls. In another room there are huge mirrors among the grand windows. There is a beautiful wood panelled library room, at least a hundred years old, with two well-furnished wooden spiral staircases. Another room has a real historic European feel with its stylish red and white striped wallpaper and gold ornamentation. There is a monumental staircase leading to these rooms from the large wrought iron gates at the entrance.
The 1972 Richard Burton movie, Bluebeard was mostly filmed here. The outside of the palace has also been featured in many films, like the 2011 romantic comedy Monte Carlo and Adrien Brody’s Houdini. In 2014, a TV series called Flemming shot scenes here that were set in London during the Second World War. Then a year later the comedy starring Jude Law, Melissa McCarthy and Jason Statham called Spy used the palace to double as a Parisian location. In the years after, the fantasy TV series called Emerald City starring Adria Arjona and Oliver Jackson-Cohen used this location for a princess’s bedroom. In 2018, the palace doubled as Cold War Era Russian headquarters in the blockbuster Red Sparrow starring Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton and Jeremy Irons. In the same year, interior scenes were shot here for the TV series The Alienist, which was set in 1890s New York. Progressive Productions also produced a Louis Philippe campaign photo shoot and an episode of ABC’s The Bachelor both of which took place in the Palace.
