The Buda Castle District, complete with 17th- and 18th-century Baroque houses, churches, and buildings has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. There is an extensive cave system under the district which was used during WW II as a hospital. This area offers filmmakers a vast selection of historic European exteriors: alleyways, arches, old houses and quaint, little parks. The famous Fisherman’s Bastion, a neo-gothic terrace with a panoramic view overlooking the city, is also located in this District. It is also home to the newly renovated Coronation Church, which has continuously been developed since the 13th century and currently has turn-of-the-century wall paintings, as well as a spire more than 70 meters tall.
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Filmed at this location
The area is highly favoured by filmmakers, for instance the castle courtyard was used for Woody Allen’s film Love and Death. It has also been used to double as other cities such as Paris in the TV series Maigret Sets a Trap or as Saint Petersburg in the 1998 adaptation of Crime and Punishment. Still, this iconic part of Budapest has been featured as itself more often, in films like the 1989 movie Étoile, the comedy called I Spy starring Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson and the 2019 action movie Gemini Man starring Will Smith and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Progressive Productions also used this location for a brand photo shoot for Fedex, a catalog photoshoot for the French sports brand Kalenji and for the 7th episode of the 2023 season of ABC’s The Bachelor which was shot entirely in Budapest.