HU-81946 The Hungarian Parliament Building and Flag

The Hungarian Parliament Building (Hungarian: Országház which translates to ‘House of the Country’ or ‘House of the Nation’) is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary. This building is one of Europe's oldest legislative buildings, a notable landmark of Hungary and a popular tourist destination of Budapest. It lies in Lajos Kossuth Square, on the bank of the Danube. It is currently the largest building in Hungary and still the highest building in Budapest.

Construction of the building was started in 1885. The building was inaugurated on the 1000th anniversary of the country in 1896 and completed in 1904. About one thousand people were involved in construction, during which 40 million bricks, half a million precious stones and 40 kilograms (88 lb) of gold were used. During the communist regime a red star perched on the top of the dome but this was removed in 1990.

The Hungarian Parliament Building is in the Gothic Revival style; it has a symmetrical façade and a central dome. The dome is Renaissance Revival architecture. There are two absolutely identical parliament halls out of which one is used for official business, the other one is used for guided tours.

The physical dimensions of the building are as follows:  268 m (879 ft) long, 123 m (404 ft) wide. Its interior includes 10 courtyards, 13 passenger and freight elevators, 27 gates, 29 staircases and 691 rooms (including more than 200 offices).

On the left of this postcard is the flag of Hungary.  The flag of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyarország zászlaja) is a horizontal tricolour of red, white and green. In this exact form, it has been the official flag of Hungary since October 1, 1957. The colours are from the Middle Ages. The new constitution, which took effect on  1 January  2012, states that red is strength (erő), white is for fidelity (hűség) and green is for hope (remény).

This postcard came from Eniko on 20 January 2015 Postcrossing.