Hospital in the Rock and Nuclear Bunker, and More

My plan for this afternoon was to first visit the Hospital in the Rock and Nuclear Bunker (that’s one thing, not two). It’s on the Buda side of Budapest. Because I was in Buda in the morning, I figured it made sense to stay in Buda and see the Hospital in the Rock and Nuclear Bunker rather than going back to the Pest side, where my hotel is, and then come back another day. There aren’t all that many other days left in my remaining time in Budapest.

I intended to play it by ear after the Hospital in the Rock and Nuclear Bunker, take a look at what time I finished, and then maybe take in one or two of the sights in Buda Castle Hill that I didn’t see when I was up there the other day.

That was my plan, but the best-laid plans of mice and Joels often go awry.

I’d read in one of my guidebooks that entry into the Hospital in the Rock and Nuclear Bunker is possible only on guided tours. It said that English-language tours usually run at the top of the hour.

I’d lingered over lunch because the restaurant was air-conditioned and the outside was very much not. After finishing lunch, I looked at Apple Maps. It told me that if I walked, which looked like the only reasonable option, I’d arrive at about 2:15.

I decided to head over anyway. I hoped there was an air-conditioned space where I could wait.

That was my plan. But I’m a Joel and, as the saying goes, my best-laid plans often go awry.

I arrived at the ticket office at the expected time. The person at the ticket desk told me I’d have to buy my ticket at one of the three electronic kiosks along the side wall, but the 3:00 tour was sold out. The next available one was at 4:00.

I bought a ticket for 4:00 and set about trying to figure out how to fill the time.

There’s a relevant fact that I knew I’d have to introduce at some point in this entry. But I wasn’t sure where to put it. It’s necessary to carry this narrative forward. So here it is.

The Hospital in the Rock and Nuclear Bunker is partway up Buda Castle Hill on the side away from the Danube River. The road it is on hugs the side of the hill and is flat as it passes the Hospital in the Rock. (I’m going to drop the “and Nuclear Bunker” part from hereon in for brevity’s sake.) With what little time I had before I needed to get back, I didn’t feel like climbing the rest of the way up the hill to see those Buds Castle sights I missed the other day.

When I was walking to the Hospital in the Rock, I saw what looked like a nice park on the other side of the road, a short piece back. I decided to walk there and look for a seat under a shady tree, and spend some time there.

I hadn’t walked more than a few steps when I spied a public elevator built into the hill. I wondered, “Hmm, maybe that goes up to the top of Buda Castle Hill.” I pressed the call button and rode the elevator up to its only other level.

Sure enough, it let me off at the top of Buda Castle Hill. I was near the other end of the hill from Buda Castle, but I walked in that direction and took a look at the palace I’d seen only from the outside the other day.

The only way to enter the palace is to pay to go into one of the museums or galleries in it. At least, that’s what I overheard a guide tell his group the other day.

Budapest History Museum

The Budapest History Museum is in a building that I learned today is part of what’s known as Buda Castle Palace. So, the building under renovation that my walking tour app and mapping applications told me the other day was Buda Castle is only part of it. The palace is, apparently, another part of it.

The guide was partly right about having to pay to go into one of the museums to get into the palace. Or, he might have been one hundred percent right if none of his group were over 70. It’s free for us super-old people, such as, say, me. (Seniors 65-70 still have to pay, but at a lower rate than the regular adult entry fee.)

I didn’t have much time to spend in the museum because I needed to get back to the Hospital in the Rock, but I did manage to toddle around most of it quickly. It’s not terribly large. Not terribly small either, but not terribly large.

Not surprisingly, the Budapest History Museum explores Budapest’s history. That history begins significantly before the creation of Budapest. There are several relics on display, including some from the Neolithic period. One small cabinet alone held figurines, cups, pottery, jewelry and a skull dating between 5000 BCE and 2500 BCE.

The museum also displays several artifacts, including a collection of sculptures, from a variety of considerably more recent times. In addition, some space is devoted to the history of Buda Castle and its palace.

One room, titled “Ethnic Diversity — The Cemetery,” displays gravestones demonstrating the ethnic diversity of Budapest throughout history. The headstones were obviously from the graves of people of a variety of religions and ethnicities. The engraving on one gravestone was in Hebrew.

The exhibits included lots of text in Hungarian and English. There were also a couple of videos with a Hungarian soundtrack, with English subtitles.

If I hadn’t been short of time, I probably would have spent longer in the Budapest History Museum. And I likely would have appreciated my time there.

More pictures from inside the Budapest History Museum:

Hospital in the Rock and Nuclear Bunker

This is going to be a short section because, for a reason unknown to me, photography and videos of any kind, not just flash, are strictly forbidden inside the Hospital in the Rock. That in itself is not the reason for the brevity of this section, but rather, my photographs are my memory aids. Without them, I remember even less than I otherwise do, and that’s often not much.

The tour starts with a very brief live introduction, followed by a short video relating the history of the facility. That very brief live introduction, in addition to listing the facility’s rules, warned visitors that the temperature inside remains 15° to 18°C all year, so we should put on our sweaters or jackets before going in.

What the what? It was a muggy 32°C outside. Who the heck brings a sweater or jacket in that weather? Apparently, some people knew about the temperature inside because a couple of the visitors (and the guide) had a sweater or jacket.

Skipping ahead, I don’t think it was ever below 18°C anywhere inside. I was wearing shorts and a short-sleeve shirt. I was blissfully cool the whole time, never uncomfortably cool.

So, what is the Hospital in the Rock? I’m glad you asked. Here’s the scoop based on what little I remember from the video and the subsequent tour.

Hot flowing waters beneath Buda Castle Hill created natural caves. They had been discovered hundreds of years ago. People back then used them to store valuables they wanted to hide from marauders and stuff they wanted to keep cool. When other methods to accomplish the same goals became available, the caves fell into disuse and were abandoned.

At one point, the city decided to clean them up and reopen them, but I forgot when and for what purpose. Then, near the beginning of World War II, it was decided that the caves would make a good hospital that would be protected from bombardment. The Hospital in the Rock wasn’t ready for use until later in the war, but its original capacity of 60 patients was found to be inadequate. Hence, it was expanded further into the cave system. The capacity was, thus, well more than doubled. During the Siege of Budapest in 1944 and 1945, even that wasn’t enough. Hundreds of people were treated in there simultaneously, often having to keep patients on gurneys in hallways and double-bunking.

The facility wasn’t abandoned after the war. It was converted into a nuclear bunker, not to protect people from a nuclear attack, but to treat survivors suffering from radiation sickness and other injuries should it happen. Special air filtration systems and other equipment were added to meet this need. It continued as a nuclear bunker, with regular drills and training exercises for nurses and other medical personnel until after the Cold War ended.

The tour was led by a guide who took us through much of the facility, giving a spiel about each room we entered or passed.

The rooms held vintage medical equipment. There were also several very lifelike wax mannequins representing doctors, nurses, and other facility personnel, along with wounded soldiers being treated.

The cave system was extensive. We went through a lot of rooms. None of it looked like caves. All the walls, ceilings and floors were straightened and covered with normal construction material. There was one window out onto a section of the caves that hadn’t been used for the Hospital in the Rock or nuclear bunker. The ceilings and most of the walls in that section remained rough rock, although there were some large manmade blocks on the lower walls of the caves.

Not all of the rooms of the museum that had been the Hospital in the Rock still represent their original purposes. They converted one room to look like an attic outside the facility ravaged by war. Another contains an old helicopter that had been dismantled and rebuilt inside. There’s also an old personnel carrier in that room.

In addition, because of its use as a nuclear bunker, they’ve turned a few rooms over to displays on the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the effects of those bombs. There are also maps of major cities showing the blast radius if bombs were dropped on those cities.

When the tour was over, I walked back to the Pest side of Budapest and to my hotel to wrap up the day.