Budapest's Palace District

Budapest's Palotanegyed (Palace Quarter or Palace Neighbourhood) forms an inner part of Pest, the eastern half of Budapest. Known until the communist period as the ‘Magnates’ Quarter’, it consists of the most westerly part (west of the Nagykörút) of the city's Eighth District, or Józsefváros (Joseph Town), which was named on 7 November 1777 after Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria (1741-1790), who reigned 1765-1790 (1780-1790 as King of Hungary). (Vienna's Eighth District, the Josefstadt, was also named after him, but long after his reign, in 1850). Józsefváros developed immediately east of the medieval walls of Pest and was originally called Lerchenfeld ('Lark Field') or the Alsó-Külváros (‘Lower Suburb’). The Palotanegyed's borders are the Múzeum körút to the west, Rákóczi út to the north, the József körút to the east and Üllői út to the south. There is an extensive photo archive of the Palace District at the Fortepan website.