The new shell of Archduke Joseph’s Palace, built in 1902 and then demolished in 1968, rises on Buda’s Castle Hill
Photographer: Robert Bevan/Bloomberg
Budapest’s Most Historic Site Gets a Controversial Rebuild
Hungary’s Orban government says it is restoring Buda Castle to its historic form. Critics say the new buildings are inauthentic and part of a land grab.
Thanks to US President Donald Trump, historic revival architecture has returned to the news this year. In January, the president signed an executive order demanding that all new federal buildings respect “traditional and classical architectural heritage” in their design — reflecting a wider right-wing trend associating revivalist architecture with conservative values.
This push for new-old buildings is global: In Dresden, Germany, whole sections of the city’s historic center have been rebuilt to resemble the city’s pre-World War II self, a form of project being repeated across Germany, Russia and France. Often these initiatives are promoted both by mainstream right-wing parties such as Germany’s CDU, and through culture war agitation from figures on the far right.