View of the Hungarian Parliament Building

The Parliament House is one of Budapest's best-known public buildings, the seat of the Hungarian Parliament and some of its institutions (such as the Parliament Library). It is located in the V. district of Budapest, on the left bank of the Danube, at Kossuth Lajos tér. The construction lasted from 1885 to 1904 based on the plans of Imre Steindl. A condition for the construction of the Parliament was that only domestic building materials were used. The exception is the eight marble monoliths, each six meters high, located next to the main staircase, which were brought from Sweden (a total of 12 such columns were made, the other four are in the London Parliament). During the construction, an average of one thousand people worked for seventeen years, and 176,000 cubic meters of earth were moved; 40 million bricks, half a million decorative stones, and 40 kg of gold were used. The building itself is 268 m long, 123 m wide and 96 m high, with a floor area of 17,745 square meters and a volume of 473,000 cubic meters. Its central element is the dome, on both sides of which rises the House of Representatives (today the Parliament) and the meeting hall of the former Grand Order House (today the Congress Hall). The building has 27 gates, inside there are 29 staircases and 13 passenger and freight elevators for traffic and transportation. The building has slightly more than 200 office spaces. There are 90 statues outside, 152 inside, a total of 242 statues on the walls, frescoes and paintings by famous artists also adorn the Parliament. The total amount of 22-23 carat gold used for decorations is approximately 40 kilograms.

Since summers in Budapest can be hot, the architect of the parliament came up with a special type of air conditioning system. Two fountains were placed in front of the building, with hidden openings underneath them. These openings served to supply and circulate air. Tunnels ran from the fountains into the parliament, supplying water-cooled fresh air to the meeting rooms. Later, however, some of the tunnels were bricked up. The remaining open air ducts are still in use today, and on hot summer days large amounts of ice are deposited here to cool the rooms of the parliament.

The Hungarian Parliament Building, an iconic building located on the banks of the Danube, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Budapest and is the seat of the legislature and guardian of the Hungarian Holy Crown.