The Stoned Loft is located in the heart of Budapest, in the Palace Quarter, just a few minutes walk away from the main sights. Needless to say Budapest is much more than the Heroes’ Square, the Buda Castle, the Andrássy Avenue, the Synagogue… Let’s start our journey and get familiar with the neighbourhood.
The cobblestoned streets invite you into cheerful cafes, restaurants and bistros with brilliant flavors, with friendly, relaxed atmosphere, concerts and events all around. Starting from the Puskin Street, the Italian Cultural Institute, the National Museum, the Almássy Palace on Ötpacsirta Street, along with the library of Szabó Ervin, it is also a must to visit the Great Market Hall on Fővám Square. It looks like a simple market, but it is definately more than that. It has also been chosen as the best market in Europe. The market stalls offer extremely appetizing fresh food in the whole area of the market. In this most visited building of Budapest, we have the opportunity to buy traditional Hungarian food in the restaurants located inside the market.
The Place Quarter
Palace Quarter (Palotanegyed) is part of the 8th district of Budapest. The centuries-old sparkling religious and cultural life, the revolution of the entertainment industry in the past decades, and the boom of tourism industry has brought the development in the inner city of Józsefváros. In the recent years, public areas have been renewed, starting from Kálvin Square towards Mikszáth Kálmán Square on Reviczky Street or in Ötpacsirta Street, we feel that we are not only in Budapest but also in the cozy downtown of Europe.
The Great Danube Flood in 1838 has made a huge destruction in Józsefváros. The real urbanization of the area started after it, with the construction palaces and storey houses made from stones. After the defeat of the 1848 Hungarian Revolution, nobles and richer citizens have built palaces and mansions as their permanent residences, with renowned architects. The intensive development between 1867 and 1914 created the eclectic-Art Nouveau building stock in Budapest, which is almost considered as Hungaricum, since there is no such large number of eclectic buildings found elsewhere in Europe.
For centuries, the Church has set the cultural life of the world, and this is true especially for the Palace District. So it is needless to say why Horánszky Street and it’s surroundings are called as the „Little Vatican”, since there are many churches and faith centers in this area for more than a century by now. Perhaps it is not an exaggeration to say that the Palace District is a quarter of the religions, the quarter of cohesive religions.
From day to day and from evening to evening thousands of students are turning up in Inner Józsefváros. The flourishing of the quarter is greatly boosted by the fact that the palace district is Budapest’s largest students’ center. The biggest library of Budapest is the Szabó Ervin Library. Students spend a lot of time there, and even more next to it’s surrounding areas, in coffe houses and in restaurants. We can definately say that the Palace District is a quarter of youth, students and culture. For students, for clubs and for the countless guests the demand is huge for the Quarter’s cultural programs, in which the Palace Quarter is not lacking for sure.
The Palace Quarter has since overtaken the market leading ruin pubs of Budapest since decades, and the locations, which opened since are following also this alternative line. The Palace Quarter is definately the quarter of freedom and also the quarter of cultured entertainment.