Its architecture is characteristic of the turn of the century; its flights of
stairs, its projections, its turrets, and its ambulatory-like galleries make it
a mixture of the neo-Gothic and neo-Roman- esque styles and of the romantic
baronial castles. In 1901-3, the aim of its architect, Frigyes Schulek, was to
provide a worthy setting for the Church of Our Lady (Matthias Church); when
building it he also made use of the remaining stones of the old Castle wall.
The Fishermen's Bastion received its name from the medieval ramparts system
which rose above the suburb named Fishermen's Town;
furthermore, there used to
be a fish-market behind the ramparts. Beneath the Fishermen's Bastion lies the
old suburb of Vízi- város (Water Town), now full of new bindings; its Baroque
church towers recall the past. Looking to- wards the north we get a view of the
Danube with Margaret Island.
The building which dominates the panorama of the Pest bank is that of the Parliament with its dome and spires. At the head of the Chain Bridge in Pest stands the building of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, with the dome of the Basilica in the background. Further down the block of the Hotel Duna Inter-Continental becomes visible. The church towers between the Chain Bridge and Elizabeth Bridge are reminders of the past of the Inner City of Pest.
Beyond the vast, somber mass of the buildings of Pest, there rise in a semicircle the high-rise blocks of the new housing estates built in the 1960s. Casting our glance towards the south we see the Chain Bridge (Lánchíd), built in 1849 in neo-Classic style, rebuilt in 1949, further to the south the most recently reconstructed bridge, 1964-spans the river. The panorama ends at the dolomite rocks of Gellért Hill.