St Gellért Statue & the Waterfall
Why is it significant?
Climb the first steps and stop in front of the curved colonnade. In the middle stands a tall bronze bishop, his right arm raised with a cross towards Pest, as if blessing the traffic on the bridge below. Beneath him, water spills down an artificial cascade over the rocks.
Key Facts
| Place | St Gellért Statue & the Waterfall |
|---|---|
| Address | Szent Gellért lépcső, 1016 Budapest, Hungary |
| Geo Coordinates | 47.48960, 19.04550 |
| Part of Walk | Hot Springs and a Hilltop: Budapest's Tabán, Gellért Hill and the Thermal Baths |
| Generated | Generated |
Climb the first steps and stop in front of the curved colonnade. In the middle stands a tall bronze bishop, his right arm raised with a cross towards Pest, as if blessing the traffic on the bridge below. Beneath him, water spills down an artificial cascade over the rocks.
He is Saint Gellért, in Italian Gerardo, a Benedictine monk from Venice who came to Hungary in the early eleventh century. King Stephen made him tutor to his son Imre, and later bishop of Csanád in the south. After Stephen's death came years of struggle, and in 1046, during a pagan uprising, Gellért was killed.
The legend says it happened right here. His enemies dragged him up this hill and threw him down from the cliff, and in some versions they pushed him down inside a barrel studded with nails. The hill has carried his name ever since. The statue, by Gyula Jankovits, was put up in 1904, and it is placed so that it lines up with the bridge, a bishop looking down on the city that grew from the river crossing.
But this hill had a darker reputation too. German-speaking Buda called it the Blocksberg, after the mountain in Germany where witches were said to hold their sabbath, and Hungarian folklore told of witches flying here on broomsticks to meet the devil. On a misty evening, with the wind in the bushes, you may find yourself believing it.
Now the climb begins. Gellért Hill rises to about two hundred and thirty-five metres, roughly a hundred and thirty above the Danube, and the paths zigzag up through trees and over bare rock. It is steep in places, so take it slowly, stop at the turns, and look back... every bend opens a wider view of the river. Follow the paths up and to the left, towards the bronze woman holding a palm leaf high above the city.