Szatmári Gizella: Walks in the Castle District - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2001)

The former house of master chimney-sweep József Petrotta (No. 22 Országház utca)

of the wall—in a Romantic fashion. The sign features a veiled, flitting angel-like figure recalling that the history of female orders (in this case that of the Poor Clares) has been inextricably interwoven both with national affairs and with politics in the Castle District. The Poor Clares’ former cloister (at No. 28, which has been joined to No. 49 Úri utca, for which see below) was rebuilt by Franz Anton Hillebrandt after the dissolution of the order. Here Parliament assembled three times (in 1790, 1792 and 1807) in the impressive, three-storey high, Louis XVI style banqueting hall. Cinder the name Buda Redout, the hall was also the venue of fancy-dress balls held during the last days of the carnival period before Shrove Tuesday. Today it is occupied by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and is used for conferences and concerts.

Many of the houses in Országház utca were owned by well-to-do tradesmen. No. 22 belonged to master chimney-sweep József Petrotta (1822). Medieval features can be found on this building, too, but they are walled in, although the lower part of the middle bal23