Budapest Parliament — Danube at Night
799.00 د.إ
The Hungarian Parliament Building photographed at night from the Buda Castle hill across the Danube — the Gothic Revival palace of democracy in full floodlight reflected in the river, the Chain Bridge visible to the south.
Description
The Hungarian Parliament Building on the Pest bank of the Danube — designed by Imre Steindl, completed 1904, the third-largest parliament building in the world at 268 metres long — is one of Europe’s great architectural statements of national identity. The building’s exterior — a combination of Gothic Revival, Baroque, and Renaissance elements applied to an essentially French Second Empire plan — is executed in Zollikofer limestone and adorned with 90 statues of Hungarian kings, warriors, and coats of arms. At night, the full exterior floodlighting creates a warm amber luminosity that is reflected in the Danube’s fast-flowing surface. This photograph was made from the Fisherman’s Bastion on the Buda Castle hill at 9pm in December — when the river flow is reduced and the reflection quality is at its annual peak — using a 135mm lens to frame the Parliament facade and the illuminated Széchenyi Chain Bridge in a single composition across the river.
