Searching For The Abandoned Palace - How To Find Chateau in Budapest?
We love to return to Budapest. On each of our trips, we discover a new object, which can be a landmark in our urbex map. We have amazing photos and memories from Kelenföld Power Plant. We also loved our trip to Red Star Train Graveyard. But on our summer visit to Hungary, we missed something really stunning. Industrial urbex and abandoned trains were satisfied for us, but we always wanted to see abandoned chateau. We saw a lot of urbex photos on Facebook groups and we dreamt about finding something like that. What was our surprise when it turned out that we passed him many times.
Last holiday we were on Liberty Square and we took photos with Ronald Regan Statue, but we ignored the building behind us. It wasn’t until we looked at the photos from the holidays that we noticed the tenement house in the background. Actually, at first glance, it was a tenement house. This building was bigger and more spectacular than Warsaw’s tenement houses like Lejb Osnoz’s one. That was something like a palace hidden in the tenement. We did some research and we realized that we saw Adria – a Hungarian palace with a great story.
Urbex in Rock and Roll Rhythms - Exploration During Mangalitsa Festival
We have visited Budapest in February 2020. We didn’t know that was the last time before the COVID-19 outbreak, and that was the last trip abroad before the closing borders. Unaware of what awaits us in a month, we enjoyed a Mangalitsa Festival – the fair with the Hungarian pig meat. We were impressed by booths with delicious food, and the square resonated with rock music. The festival took on Liberty Square, so we were near Adria again. This time we couldn’t miss such an opportunity. Let’s face it, we are not ordinary tourists. The Mangalitsa meat was tasty, but after the first meal, we preferred to go to urbex. Luckily the gate was open and we had no problems with getting inside. From the very first moments of the trip, we knew it was worth it. A beautiful courtyard, decorated fireplaces, moldings on the ceilings, and a lot of glass made this place magical. Our dream came true – we visited abandoned chateau. We saw a legendary place among the urbex buildings. Of course, outside was a performance and we heard nice rock music, so we can say that was the urbex in the rock and roll rhythms.
Shipping Compamy in The Heart Of Budapest - Does The Hungary Have Access To The Sea?
It’s time to think to whom we owe this trip. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Artúr Meinig – the architect who designed the building in 1900. Yes, the same guy who designed the Wenckheim palace, where today we can find the Szabó Ervin library. Basically, we can find the same items in Adria in The Library, for example, the four figures representing the continents which were the destination of the companies’ travel. Ok, but what does Adria mean? Adria was a Hungarian shipping company. Probably you have another question – what was the shipping company doing in Hungary – the landlocked country? I am in a hurry with an answer. Nowadays Hungary has no access to the sea, but before WWI the borders were totally different and Hungary, actually Austria-Hungary, bordered the Adriatic Sea. After the war, Hungary has lost the sea access and the shipping company has been closed. Only the marine elements on the facade of the building remind us of the company that had its heyday here.
An Abandoned Palace in Budapest - What Stories Took Place In This Building?
Before being an abandoned palace, Adria was a witness of amazing stories. Have you ever drunk a real Parisian coffee? But how about drinking Parisian coffee in Budapest? You could do it in Ypsilon – coffee house placed on the ground floor of the palace.
American style robbery in the Budpests’ bank? Yes, it was possible, of course, in Adria. The Commerce Bank Of Pest had its seat there, and in 1935 a scary robbery took place there. According to Avant La Lettre Tarantinesque, the burglars shot a boy and ran away. They were found by the police two days ago. It was a western scene, but not in the west part of America. It was happening in Budapest.
The Adria Palace Survived World War II and Bacame An Alcohol Paradise
Unlike Warsaw, Budapest was not so damaged during WWII. Luckily, Adria Palace hasn’t been bombed. After the War, the building was rented by the Hungarian Association of Partisans. This organization was useful when Hungary participated in the war, but later their activity gradually narrowed due to the lack of enemies. We heard some legends about the association president, who kept his alcohol in the palaces’ safe.
The association was replaced by the Express travel agency. They spent 40 years in Adria. Do you know what the travel agency director and te association director have in common? Both of them loved to hide alcohol in palace spaces. The second of them kept his bottles in the wooden chest of drawers located in one of the corner offices. So as not to associate Adria only with drunkenness, we would like to mention Heim Pál who had there children hospital and dental surgery. We have no information about the alcohol hidden by doctors
Abandoned Palace in Budapest Toaday - What’s Happening with Adria Now?
As you can guess, nowadays, Adria is an abandoned building. But not abandoned at all. Some movies were shot there, for example, Die Hard or the one scene from Blade Runner 2049. Due to an easy entrance, the place is visited by a lot of urban explorers. Most of them feel respect for this object. Despite being abandoned, the building seems to be intact. It’s good news for us because that means that “take only pictures, leave only photos it’s not just empty words. No graffiti, no destroyed walls, no poops. It was great to be able to see such an aesthetic abandoned building. Ok, so now it’s the time to see the photos that we took. Enjoy our urbex photography!
