Four Seasons Gresham Palace Hotel in the center of Budapest

Passing the gallery

Text: Danila Gulyaev

Magazine: N4 (93) 2005

Budapest, though the capital of Hungary, but for Europe - a provincial city. This quality - provinciality according to European standards - has recently been valued in the tourist "what is what" above any metropolitan. Because in such places peace and quiet, forgotten by Paris and London, are combined with architectural beauty and quite European standard of living. The Gresham Palace Hotel of the Four Seasons network opened in the center of Budapest quite recently - last summer, and the locals took this fact with pride as evidence of their city’s recognition as a place of secular and relevant. At the same time, the new hotel is an example of respectful attitude to the architectural past: for the sake of its creation nothing was demolished and did not distort the appearance of the historical center by the new building. Gresham Palace is a mansion built in 1906 according to the design of architect Zigmond Quittner (Zsigmond Quittner). A sample of the ar-Nouveau Eastern European izvod (here it is called the Hungarian secession) was restored with a budget of almost $ 100 million: the restoration of complex structural and decorative elements of the building required really large funds. The result was a real Budapest fairy tale: one of the most beautiful buildings in the city has got five-star rooms, restaurants, SPA and all the proper infrastructure. Given the worldwide interest in Art Nouveau, in Gresham Palace you should go at least to see how it all looks in the original. Maybe at one time these interiors were perceived as a model of eclecticism, but today Gresham Palace looks holistic and harmonious. The luxury of numerous stained glass windows and atriums, mosaics with ornaments, whimsical decoration lines is devoid of redundancy, subject to rigid architectural logic. Especially impressive are the halls and terraces of the hotel, combining European severity and eastern exoticism. Thanks to stained glass windows and high arches, the space acquires an almost Byzantine solemnity. The rooms are designed in a less fanciful style, so that during the hours of rest, the gaze rests from the dizzying lines of the Hungarian secession.Отель Gresham PalaceFlight: to Budapest flights of Russian and European airlines, ticket price from $ 180.Weather: the average temperature in April is about + 17 ° С; in May-August it is about + 25 ° С; it is dry and sunny.Accommodation: from 300 in a standard room to 4200 in the Royal Suite.Entertainment: inspection of the most beautiful palaces and cathedrals, walks around the island of Magrit - an old park with the ruins of ancient monasteries and bathhouses, riding on the old trams, restaurants with spicy national cuisine, museums with excellent collections of paintings.Back