BUDAPEST, Hungary – In a highly symbolic act marking Hungary’s post-Orbán political transition, new Prime Minister Péter Magyar personally took down security fencing surrounding the former prime ministerial office on Budapest’s historic Castle Hill Friday, opening the landmark Karmelita building to public access after years of restricted entry. The former Catholic monastery, which commands sweeping views of the Danube River, became an indelible symbol of Viktor Orbán’s 16-year authoritarian-leaning rule after the former prime minister cordoned the site off from the public in 2021.
Standing before reporters as he pushed open the newly removed barriers, Magyar framed the move as a tangible break from the previous regime. “There is no place for cordons in Hungary after the change of regime,” he stated. Magyar emphasized that the site was constructed and renovated with public money from Hungarian taxpayers, making it rightfully belong to the people of the country rather than being locked away for exclusive government use.
Magyar and his center-right Tisza party swept to power in a landmark April election, ousting Orbán after 16 years in office and securing a two-thirds parliamentary supermajority that grants the new government a clear mandate to deliver on its promise of sweeping institutional reform. Since taking office, the new administration has already moved forward on key campaign pledges: rolling back the concentrated executive power Orbán built, restoring eroded democratic checks and balances, cracking down on widespread public corruption, and recovering misappropriated state funds from the previous era.
In a recent disclosure, the new government has already exposed details of luxury private renovations carried out on former government officials’ offices at public expense. Unlike his predecessor, Magyar plans to relocate the prime minister’s official office to the administrative district on the opposite bank of the Danube, leaving the Karmelita building open for public use while national authorities finalize a long-term plan for the site’s future.
The Karmelita building will remain open to visitors for an extended period, with an official booking website already launched to accommodate public tours. Magyar noted that several structures within the Castle Hill district have already completed long-delayed renovations, while other restoration projects are still ongoing. He added that opening the landmark to the public will likely spark new public discussions and ideas about how the site can best serve the Hungarian people going forward, though he declined to share specific proposals for its permanent use.
Beyond domestic institutional reform, Magyar has made mending frayed relations with the European Union a top foreign policy priority, with the explicit goal of restoring Hungary’s full standing within the community of Western democracies. To advance anti-corruption efforts, the new government plans to establish a specialized National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, which will be tasked with investigating allegations of misused public funds from Orbán’s tenure and working to recover stolen assets for the Hungarian state.