Vigadó Concert Hall, Concert hall in District V, Budapest, Hungary.
The Vigadó Concert Hall is a Romantic building on the Danube bank, designed by Frigyes Feszl and opened in 1865. Its pale stone facade has a rusticated ground level with tall round-arched openings, a main storey of arched windows framed by paired columns, and a carved frieze of rectangular relief panels below a balustrade. Inside, Lotz Károly's fresco of Árgírus királyfi and Tündér Ilona decorates the ceremonial staircase.
The first Redoute on this site, designed by Mihály Pollack, opened in 1833 and hosted Liszt, the Strauss family and the 1842 First Hungarian Industrial Exhibition. In May 1849 the Austrian general Hentzi shelled it from Buda Castle, bringing down its colonnade. Frigyes Feszl received the commission in 1859, demolition began on 25 July 1860, and the new Vigadó was inaugurated on 15 January 1865. Badly damaged in World War II, it was rebuilt over some thirty-six years following Feszl's design.
The name Vigadó means "Place for Merriment"; the building replaced the Redoute, a classicist hall of 1833 where the first national parliament sat in 1848. The stair hall is painted with Lotz Károly's Árgírus királyfi és Tündér Ilona, chosen because only Hungarian legends were allowed. The main hall's four dance figures, including Strobl Alajos's Fandangó, were modelled on actresses Hegyi Aranka and Pálmay Ilka.
The venue is open most days, and visitors should allow time to explore the different levels since elevators can get busy during busy periods. The staircases offer a good way to move between the halls and galleries, and there are multiple entrances that make navigation easier.
The building's 1865 opening ball drew three thousand people, the largest crowd it ever held at once. The paintings inside were commissioned on condition that the artists take subjects only from Hungarian legends: Károly Lotz chose the tale of Prince Árgirus and Tündér Ilona for the ceremonial staircase, with allegorical female figures by Than Mór beside it.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,595 contributors worldwide.
