Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue

• Large scale reconstruction
• Building heights and regulations
• Demolition and inappropriate development in the buffer zone known as the ‘Jewish Quarter’
• Inappropriate use of public areas and street amenities
• Lack of conservation of residential housing in the area inscribed as World Heritage
• Effects arising from use of transportation infrastructure (increased traffic volume)
• Management Plan Systems/Management Plan
• Legal framework
• Identity, social cohesion, changes in local population and community
• Housing

Total amount provided: 800 million HUF (ca. 2.7 million EUR) EU support for the “Street of Culture” project 

On 31 January 2024, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, an executive summary of which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/400/documents. Progress on a number of conservation issues addressed by the Committee at its previous sessions is presented in the report, as follows:

• In May 2023, the National Heritage Protection and Development Non-profit Ltd. organisation was appointed as the management body for the property. It will be responsible for finalising the Management Plan;
• There is commitment to revive ICOMOS advisory assistance for the overall management and development of the property, which started in Spring 2022. It is considered that the first two online sessions began an important dialogue on the attributes underlying the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, and further sessions could allow dialogue on the National Hauszmann Programme (NHP) and the concerns of the Committee;
• Two international meetings – the ‘V4 Heritage Academy Summer University’ and the ‘World Heritage Volunteers Project’ – were organised on the challenges of World Heritage conservation and management, with a particular focus on the issue of reconstruction;
• A brochure, produced by the developer, was submitted outlining the ‘entire Programme’ of the NHP, including the work undertaken to date;
• No response has been provided to the Committee’s request to consider halting work on the NHP to allow dialogue on how the project might be modified.

In response to a request for details of the Citadel project, following a third-party notification to UNESCO, the State Party explains that the aim is to transform the closed Citadel fortress into an open park, connecting the two sides of Gellért Hill on which it stands and opening the wall behind the raised Statue of Liberty, thus creating ‘a true symbol of national freedom’. A Visual Impact Assessment (VIA) was undertaken, which showed that “the visual impact of the project will not affect significantly the visual appearance of the property”. No further details, results of the VIA or plans of the project, have been provided.

As a result of third-party notifications, the State Party also explained that projects in the northern area of Budapest, namely the Marina City residential complex, the Lång Quarter and the Twins office building, were all approved in accordance with the then applicable maximum height of 65 metres and before Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) were required.

The commitments to complete the Management Plan and to revive ICOMOS advisory assistance are welcomed. The two sessions held online in 2022 addressed management and the definition of the attributes of OUV. As indicated by the State Party, these sessions initiated an important dialogue on OUV, but they also set the stage for further discussions on the Committee’s concerns, in particular on the NHP. Unfortunately, despite the Committee’s recommendations to halt work to allow for further dialogue, this did not happen.

Work on the NHP, which began in 2019, has continued. The submitted promotional booklet explains the rationale for the NHP as the overall ‘renewal’ of Hauszmann-designed structures in the Buda Castle Quarter as a ‘21st century renaissance of national identity’. The booklet describes the work completed so far to rebuild elements destroyed during WWII or rebuilt during the Communist era. These include the reconstruction of the facades of the Guardhouse, based on original plans but ‘meeting the challenges of 21st century technology’, completed in 2020, and the facades of the Riding in 2021. Other completed projects include the reconstruction of the Stöckl Stairway linking the Guardhouse to the Riding Hall, the Karakash Pasha Tower, and the Hauszmann Ramp. Work on the Buda Castle continues. The reconstruction of the South Range was completed in the summer of 2021, including the complete recreation of the interior of St Stephen’s Hall to its early 20th century form. Reconstruction of the north range of the palace complex is underway, and there are plans to re-build Archduke Joseph’s Palace, the former Hungarian Red Cross Headquarters, the Royal Defence Headquarters, and the National Archives of Hungary. As the booklet appears to have been published in 2021, this list might not be up to date.

Only photographs or visualisations of the various buildings have been provided, with no supporting documentation to show the evidence of the work or materials used. The overall plan aims to make most of the castle area accessible to all. To that end, external elevators have been constructed in places, some buildings are intended to become restaurants or events spaces, while others await a new use.

It is considered unfortunate that despite two international meetings organised by the State Party to discuss reconstruction approaches in European cities, particularly with respect to the NHP project, no dialogue was forthcoming with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies. Similarly, despite several requests by the Committee, full details of the Buda Castle Quarter project, including the justification for reconstruction in relation to documentary evidence and the methodological approach, have not been provided to the World Heritage Centre, nor have the Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) or Conservation Plans. It is of great concern that the extensive reconstruction work undertaken since 2019 has not been approved by the Committee, either in principle or in detail, and appears to address national priorities rather than preservation of the OUV.

In order to provide a better understanding of the rationale for this work and what has been accomplished, the Committee may wish to request the State Party to invite, as soon as possible, a Reactive Monitoring mission to the property to follow up on the recommendations of the 2019 Reactive Monitoring mission and the intervening Committee decisions, and to assess the overall state of conservation of the property and its management.

Overall, the state of conservation of the property continues to be put at risk by negative factors which collectively and cumulatively impact its authenticity and integrity and are potential threats to its OUV. Without urgent and adequate measures and responses to reorienting the approach to conservation and development, the property will meet some of the criteria set out in Paragraph 179 of the Operational Guidelines.