After RFE/RL said it would resume operations in Hungary after 27 years, photographer Amos Chapple explored the country to take a series of aerial images capturing the country's culture and history.
Hungary From Above
- By Amos Chapple
1
The three sculptures atop Keleti station, Budapest's main railway terminus, depict the gods of fire (left) and water (right) flanking a woman holding steam -- a combination of the two elements. Steam was the main power source for trains when the sculpture was made in 1884.
2
Holiday homes are clustered together on an islet on Kavicsos-to, a lake south of Budapest.
3
Cornfields surround the ancient Somogyvamos steppe church, near Lake Balaton. The lonely ruins are the only remains of a village that was reportedly wiped out by Ottoman Turks during a war that raged in the region in the Middle Ages.
4
Matthias Church stands on a hilltop overlooking Budapest. Hungarian kings were crowned inside the ancient stone church, which was extensively damaged during the 1945 Allied siege of Budapest. Repairs were only completed in the 1980s.
5
Fuzer Castle, near the border with Slovakia, dates to the 1200s but was largely destroyed in the 1600s to prevent rebels from using it as a base. It is currently undergoing restoration.
6
Female figures hold hands on a building in Szeged. The southern city is known for its art nouveau architecture.
7
Esztergom Basilica, on the banks of the Danube River. Completed in 1869, it is the largest church in Hungary. Slovakia is on the left side of the river.
8
Buda Castle (left) glitters over the Danube at dusk.
9
A golden statue called the Benevolent Angel of Peace, which holds a dove in her hand, greets boats returning to port from Lake Balaton. The statue by Russian sculptor Pyotr Stronsky was installed in 2012.
10
A turul -- a giant bird of prey from Hungarian mythology -- is perched on a pedestal in Budapest's Royal Castle.
11
A tractor mows the grass in an overgrown orchard near Lake Balaton.
12
Szeged Synagogue is the fourth-largest Jewish house of worship in the world.
13
A roadside monument to St. Wendelin, the patron saint of shepherds, stands near Sumeg in western Hungary.
14
A fisherman motors along Lake Balaton on a perfectly still summer morning. The lake runs for nearly 80 kilometers and is 14 kilometers across at its widest point, making it the largest lake in Central Europe. It is also one of the shallowest, with most “swimmers” needing to wade out hundreds of meters to reach waist-deep water.
15
Boldogko Castle was built atop a rocky outcrop in northeastern Hungary. The ancient castle was built to defend against the Mongol Golden Horde that terrorized Europe in the 1200s.
16
Pannonhalma Archabbey sits on a hilltop near the western city of Gyor. The monastery, which was built in 996, has some 50 monks living on the site.
17
Budapest's Liberty monument, which was initially built to commemorate the Soviet soldiers who died fighting their way into Budapest during the 1945 Allied siege, towers over the city. After Hungary's 1989 revolution that overthrew the country’s communist rulers, many communist-era monuments were removed but the elegant Liberty monument only had its inscription changed to commemorate everyone who had sacrificed their lives for Hungary's freedom.
18
St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest, named after the first king of Hungary. The mummified, nearly 1,000-year-old "incorruptible" right hand of St. Stephen can still be seen on display inside the church.
19
Budapest's Archangel Gabriel, depicted holding a cross and the holy crown of St. Stephen, Hungary's first king. The small cross atop the crown is bent in imitation of the real crown, which is currently kept in the parliament building.
