Springtime in Hungary

The Four Seasons Gresham Palace at the end of the Szechenyi Chain Bridge.

Back in Time

Finding the glory days at Budapest’s the Four Seasons Gresham Palace

By Tim Johnson

The turn of the century—the illustrious fin de siècle—was a heady time for Hungarians.

Created in 1873, the city of Budapest brought together the previously separate communities of Buda, Obuda, and Pest, and quickly became a cosmopolitan national capital. It attracted people from across Europe and grew in wealth and power to become a full, named partner in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In 1896, Budapest became the first city on the continent to open an underground rail system, beating the Paris Metropolitan by four years. Europe’s largest parliament building rose from the banks of the blue Danube, its grand domes and spires still gracing that river to this day.

Subsequent years weren’t so kind to this Central European nation. Two world wars, the collapse of empires, and especially the four decades of serving as a Soviet satellite state wore down the once-magnificent place. Budapest has recovered, economically, since the fall of communism, and newly polished remnants of those glory days are everywhere, from the parliament building to the heights of Fisherman’s Bastion, completed in 1902.

But today, there’s no place to fully experience the fin de siècle than at Muzsa and the Gresham Palace. The latter rises on the Pest side of the Szechenyi Chain Bridge—the first bridge to span the Danube in Hungary, and once one of the longest spans in the world. As Hungary’s fortunes rose and fell, so did those of the palace.

Designed by two Hungarian architects, Zsigmond Quittner and Jozsef Vago, it opened in 1906 as the opulent headquarters of the Gresham Life Assurance Company. It was an Art Nouveau masterpiece, a place of business, but also a residence— the home of senior staff.

However, hard times were ahead. In the Second World War, the Red Army commandeered its hal-

Budapest

HUNGARY

Budapest was

created in 1872 when Buda, Pest, and Obuda became a single borough.

lowed halls as barracks. In the communist period, the palace fell into disrepair, and the building became a grubby apartment block.

That’s no longer the case—far from it, in fact. Renovations stretched from the late 1990s into this century. Designers were careful to salvage and preserve Art Nouveau elements throughout.

In 2004, the building welcomed the first guests to the Four Seasons Gresham Palace. And in October 2020, after three years of work, Muzsa (Hungarian for “muse”) opened, completely transforming the ground level of the hotel.

A few steps inside took me back in time. Ostensibly a lobby bar, it’s much more—in fact, there’s no other place to better experience Budapest’s glory days.

I was greeted by Zoltan Forrai, a friendly, charismatic bar supervisor. He showed me around, pointing out the hand-painted china (“You’ll only find this in two places—here and in Buckingham Palace”) and all the gilded design elements, for which they’ve already won three awards.

He handed me a cocktail menu. The opening page includes the story of Muzsa, which reads, in part, “You can summon her here, a palace for the ages. ... Let her inspired cocktail creations dance with your senses, and be transported to a timeless Golden Age.”

“The turn of the century was such a period of freedom and prosperity,” Forrai explained, noting the palace was built to demonstrate Hungary’s might and affluence. In those early years, Hollywood’s elite spent time here. During the Cold War, the CIA had a secret office inside. Now, both movie stars and world leaders are back, something I would experience a little later in the evening. I carefully sipped an Old Fashioned made from Hungarian whiskey from a specially handmade tumbler that Forrai mentioned, in passing, cost 300 euros to make.

He handed me off to Adam Horvat, the sommelier, who said the communist years were also very bad for winemaking. “It was all about quantity, never about quality,” he said, looking a little pained. He remarked that the country made three classes of wine: for local consumption (“very poor”), for the Soviet Union (“also poor”), and for export abroad (“much better”).

In a private, tucked-away tasting room, Horvat had me sip a few different Hungarian wines which, he noted, had recovered nicely since 1989. This country has a very long tradition of winemaking, dating back to the 5th century, in 23 separate regions. Muzsa makes a top priority of featuring the very best Hungarian wines. I didn’t try any of the Royal Tokaji Essencia, a luxury bottle encased in glass and priced at the rather steep sum of $35,000.

And, too soon, it’s all over. A man slips into the room and quietly whispers something to the staff. A president, or a prime minister, in town for a summit and staying at the hotel, would like to spend a little time in the tasting room. I’m happy to take one more sip, muse for a couple more minutes at the Art Nouveau splendor, and slip onto the Budapest night, the Danube just a few steps away. 

Tim Johnson is based in Toronto. He has visited 140 countries across all seven continents.

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HUNGARIANS lives in Budapest, Hungary’s capital.

If You Go

Getting Around:

Budapest has a welldeveloped network of trams and buses, in addition to their first-in-Europe metro system. Stay: The Four Seasons Gresham Palace is the country’s premier hotel. In addition to the marvels of Muzsa, their ubercomfortable rooms overlook the Danube River and the skyline of Buda. Take Note: Hungary doesn’t use the euro as its currency. You’ll need to purchase Hungarian forints (HUF) or get some out of the ubiquitous local ATMs. One U.S. dollar will buy you about 400 HUF.