Heroes Square Budapest
When the Millennium Monument was first completed in Budapest, five of the statues in the left colonnade depicted members of the Habsburg dynasty: Ferdinand I, Leopold I, Charles III, Maria Theresa, and Franz Joseph. The monument had been built in 1896 to celebrate a thousand years of Hungarian statehood, but Hungary was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Habsburg rulers occupied a place of official honour in the national narrative. After World War II, when the monument was rebuilt following wartime damage, those five Habsburg figures were quietly replaced by Hungarian national leaders who had, in some cases, fought against the very empire that once had statues commemorating it here. The irony compounds: several of the freedom fighters now installed, including Bocskai and Bethlen, originally arrived in Budapest as gifts from the Habsburg court.
This history of revision is worth knowing before you arrive. Heroes’ Square (Hősök tere) is officially a monument to Hungarian identity, but the specific identity it depicts has been renegotiated multiple times across its 125-year existence.
What You Are Looking At
The square is anchored by the Millennium Monument: a 36-metre Corinthian column topped by a bronze statue of Archangel Gabriel, who, according to Catholic tradition, appeared in a dream to Stephen I and presented him with the crown that founded the Christian kingdom of Hungary. The column is flanked by two curved colonnades, each with seven statues of significant Hungarian historical figures, kings, princes, and leaders spanning from the Árpád dynasty through the 19th century.
At the base of the column, the Seven Chieftains of the Magyar tribes, who led the migration into the Carpathian Basin around 896, are arranged in bronze across a plinth. Arpad, the founding prince, is centrally placed.
In front of the column, the flat stone marking the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is embedded in the pavement. It is easy to walk past without noticing.
The two buildings flanking the square are the Museum of Fine Arts (Szépművészeti Múzeum) on the left, completed in 1906, and the Kunsthalle Budapest (Műcsarnok) on the right, the main contemporary exhibition hall. Both are worth entering for anyone with more than half a day.
The square itself is free to enter and open at all hours.
Restoration Note for 2025-2026
The Archangel Gabriel statue was removed from the top of the column in 2024 for its first full restoration in 120 years. The nearly five-metre-high bronze had deteriorated significantly and required a thorough assessment and repair that surface-level maintenance could no longer address. The statue was anticipated to be reinstalled by early to mid 2025, but check current reports before your visit. If the scaffolding is still up when you arrive, the monument is still visitable and the colonnades are fully accessible; the column simply looks different without its crowning figure.
City Park
Heroes’ Square is the formal gateway to Városliget (City Park), Budapest’s main urban park. The park has been under a phased renovation programme for several years and now contains several new or refurbished cultural institutions.
Széchenyi Thermal Baths, inside the park, are genuinely worth the visit and should not be treated as a quirky add-on. The building is a neo-baroque palace from 1913 with 21 pools of varying temperature, sourced from artesian wells reaching 970 metres below the surface. Water temperature in the main outdoor pool stays at around 38 degrees Celsius year-round. The entry fee runs around 9,000 to 10,000 HUF (approximately EUR 24 to EUR 26) in 2025 for a standard day ticket. Weekday mornings are quieter; weekend afternoons can be packed.
Vajdahunyad Castle, just inside City Park behind the lake, is a compilation of historical architectural styles, Gothic, Romanesque, Baroque, and Renaissance, all assembled for the 1896 Millennium Exhibition. It now houses the Hungarian Museum of Agriculture. It is unusual enough that it rewards a walk-around even if you do not enter.
Where to Eat
Gundel (Állatkerti körút 2, right on the edge of City Park) is Budapest’s most famous fine-dining restaurant, opened in 1894 and now serving traditional Hungarian cuisine at a high standard: foie gras, Mangalica pork, and the house Gundel pancake (filled with walnuts and rum, finished tableside with chocolate sauce). It is expensive by Budapest standards (main courses 8,000 to 16,000 HUF) and worth it for a special occasion. The Sunday brunch is popular and bookable in advance.
Széchenyi KertVendeglo (adjacent to the baths building) is a more practical local option for lunch after the baths. Solid Hungarian food, bigger portions than you would expect from a tourist-facing location, and prices that reflect actual value rather than the proximity to a major attraction.
For the full Andrássy Avenue experience, walk the kilometre from Heroes’ Square toward the Opera House and eat at any of the restaurants lining the side streets between Heroes’ Square and Oktogon. The Terézváros and Erzsébetváros districts behind Andrássy have a denser concentration of good restaurants and the city’s famous ruin bars.
Where to Stay
Andrássy Hotel Budapest (Andrássy út 111) is the most logical choice for visiting the square: a UNESCO-listed building directly on the boulevard, about 800 metres from Heroes’ Square, with a respected restaurant and well-designed rooms. Five-star pricing.
Hotel Moments (Andrássy út 8, near the Opera House end) is the mid-range Andrássy option: comfortable, well-located, and significantly cheaper than the five-star properties on the same street.
The Erzsébetváros district (7th district), where most of the ruin bars are concentrated, gives you a livelier neighbourhood base 20 to 25 minutes on foot from Heroes’ Square. The M1 yellow metro line connects Heroes’ Square (Hősök tere station) directly to Oktogon and Deák Ferenc tér in a few minutes.
Getting Around
The M1 metro, Budapest’s original underground line from 1896 (Europe’s second-oldest subway system), runs from Vörösmarty tér in the city centre along Andrássy Avenue to Heroes’ Square. Single tickets cost around 450 HUF; a 24-hour travel card runs around 2,500 HUF and covers all metro, tram, and bus lines. The number 1 tram also serves the area.
Budapest Airport (BUD) to the city centre takes 30 to 40 minutes by the 100E airport bus to Deák tér (900 HUF), then onward by metro.
Practical Notes
Cash is essential in Budapest. Many restaurants, market stalls, and even some museums prefer or require forint payments. ATMs are widely available in the centre but withdrawal fees vary. Exchange rates at official exchange offices are consistently better than those at the airport or hotel front desks.
Peak season runs June to August and hotel prices roughly double. April, May, and September offer the same clear weather with considerably more reasonable rates and shorter queues at the baths.
The Museum of Fine Arts holds an outstanding collection: El Greco, Goya, Raphael, Rembrandt, and one of the best Bruegel collections outside the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Admission is around 5,800 HUF (free with the Budapest Card). A morning at the museum followed by an afternoon at the baths, with dinner in Erzsébetváros, is a genuinely good day that requires no further planning.