Tanulmányok Budapest Múltjából 29. (2001)

A BUDAI KIRÁLYI PALOTA MINT ÉPÍTÉSZETI EGYÜTTES; A PALOTA ÉPÍTÉSTÖRTÉNETE A LEGÚJABB KUTATÁSOK ALAPJÁN - Kelényi György: A budai királyi palota építésének története a XVIII. században 217-240

GYÖRGYKELÈNYI HISTORY OF THE ROYAL PALACE IN THE 18TH CENTURY Summary This paper focuses on the history of the Royal Palace from the recapture of Buda Castle in 1686 until the end of the 18th century. The Royal Palace was damaged beyond repair during the siege of 1686. In 1714 the Castle Commander was issued a permit to use the rubble and ruins to reinforce the castle defences. When the site was surveyed, it came up that a new building should be erected in the same place. The proposed but never accomplished building consisted of a quadrangular block with a connected, elongated outhouse. This modest design, however, would have been unfitting in light of the rich architectural past of Buda Castle. In 1748 Antal Grassalkovich, Principal of the Chamber, initiated the construction of a royal palace representing the kingdom and evoking the heyday of the capital—to which the Queen gave her consent. The foundation stone was laid the following year, and construction began. Imperial chief architect, Jean Nicolas Jadot, head of the Hofbauamt in Vienna, developed the plans. He drew heavily on the former building on the site, improving it in many ways. He erected a main building, and also added a symmetrical block onto the other end. Ultimately, then, the palace assumed a U-shaped ground plan. Court intrigues made Jadot leave Vienna in 1753. He handed over his drawings to his in successor, Nicolaus Pacassi. The new architect altered the door and window frames, and the wall-division elements on the Danube front; without, however, making changes to his predecessor's treatment of solids. In 1769,20 years after the foundation stone was laid, the new palace was finished. As the construction was drawing to an end, the question of what the palace would be used for became an increasingly pressing matter. Regarding the Royal Palace as a symbol of Hungarian statehood and of the royal establishment, the Estates insisted on having a royal residence in the Hungarian capital; however, they had little hopes of the Queen moving her household, even temporarily, to Buda. Queen Maria Theresa first decided that the Order of the English Ladies should be accommodated in the Palace, but changed her mind in 1777, and instead decided that, the complex would house the university, which was about to move from Nagyszombat to Buda anyway. New functions called for alterations. One of the domes of the palace was replaced by an observatory. The new university building, and hence the palace, was ceremoniously opened in 1780. The palace had some other features added to it then. In 1778 Hillebrandt built the Holy Right Hand Chapel to house the Magyars' ancient relic, the state-founder St Stephen's right hand. However, the question of what to do with the palace remained unresolved, because in 1783 Joseph II had the university moved over to Pest. From then on until 1849 the palace served as the residence of the Palatines in office, who were exclusively members of the Habsburg House after the end of the 18th century.