Citadella Gift Shop
Liberty Gift Shop
Citadella Café
Chimney Cake
Liberty Café
EN 
The history of the Citadella, towering atop Gellért Hill, is full of paradoxes. Although today it is one of Budapest's most important tourist destinations, the 19th-century citizens of Pest regarded it with hatred and referred to it as the "Bastille of Gellért Hill". And not without reason: the fortress was never built against an external enemy.
After the suppression of the 1848–49 Revolution and War of Independence, the Austrian military leadership, headed by the notorious Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau, decided to build a fortress system with which they could hold the "rebellious" Hungarian capital in check. The Citadella was built between 1850 and 1854 based on the plans of the Austrian military engineer Emmanuel Zitta. If we examine the original blueprints and the layout of the cannon embrasures, the empirical fact is clear: the guns were aimed not at the borders, but specifically toward Pest and the far bank of the Danube, so that any new uprising could immediately be drowned in blood.
Its function, however, quickly became obsolete. After the Compromise of 1867, the Citadella's military significance ceased, and the presence of the threatening Austrian garrison became a political anachronism. The military finally withdrew from it in 1897, and the capital symbolically "breached" the walls so that the structure would lose its fortress character.
The comprehensive 21st-century renovation closed precisely this historical arc. The walls of the closed, military, oppressive monster were opened, both literally and figuratively. The fortress, which once served to intimidate the city, now — with a new public park and the Museum of Freedom — becomes a symbol of the Hungarians' independence and desire for freedom, and an organic part of the city.
This extraordinary historical journey and its present-day renewal are also celebrated by the in-house-designed Citadella collection, which visitors can discover in the on-site gift shops.
