A pagan revolt
Hungary was newly Christian, and the resistance was violent.
Aisano — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FOTO:Fortepan — ID 60683: Adományozó/Donor: Krantz Károly. — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Illustratedjc — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dennis G. Jarvis — CC BY-SA 2.0
A monumental statue on the slope of Gellért Hill overlooking the Danube, showing Saint Gellért raising a cross, framed by a semicircular colonnade and an artificial waterfall. The story behind it is among the most violent in early Hungarian history. Gellért was an Italian bishop who came to Hungary in the eleventh century to preach in a kingdom newly Christian. During a pagan revolt in 1046 he was killed by being put in a barrel and thrown from this hill into the Danube — which is why the hill carries his name. The monument was raised in the early twentieth century amid a wave of commemorative projects for Hungary's millennium, and its position was chosen with care: it stands where the whole city sees it from the opposite bank, looking directly down on Elizabeth Bridge. The spot is also among the best viewpoints over Budapest: from the steps climbing to it you see the Parliament, the Danube with its bridges, and the whole of Pest. Practical points: free and always open, reached by climbing on foot from Elizabeth Bridge — a fairly long staircase. The waterfall runs seasonally and may stop in winter.
Hungary was newly Christian, and the resistance was violent.
It stands where the whole city sees it from the opposite bank.
From the steps you see the Parliament and the Danube bridges — best at sunset.
Slope of Gellért Hill, above Elizabeth Bridge, Budapest
Yes if you have the time and energy. The summit holds the Citadella and the Liberty Monument, and the view from there is wider than from the Gellért monument. Climbing from the monument to the top takes about twenty minutes more on steps and paths. A bus also goes up if the stairs are difficult.
Shortly before sunset: the light comes from behind you in the west and lights the Parliament and the opposite bank, and you can stay as the city's lights come on. It is among the finest things in Budapest and costs nothing.
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