Close to Budapest is Gödöllő Castle, once the favourite summer residence of Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary and Empress of Austria. It is a fairy-tale castle that is still as magical today as it was at the time of its completion in 1748.

A magnificent staircase leads up to the Ceremonial Hall on the first floor which forms the centre of a symmetrical plan. There is a suite with a small dining room in which the closest members of the royal family dined.

When architect Antal Grassalkovich first began to have the castle built he also designed the palace garden which was typical of the aristocratic taste of that time, an English garden with tree lined avenues and lawns.

Queen Elizabeth played a significant role in the balance of power between Austria and Hungary. She loved Hungary and its people, felt at home in the castle and in the Writing Room committed herself to learning the Hungarian language from the most learned tutors of that time.

The imperial architecture of Gödöllö Palace, the world’s second largest Baroque castle after Versailles, became the model for many subsequent Baroque palaces.