Budapest's Central Market Hall — Nagycsarnok in Hungarian — is the largest and oldest indoor market in the city, and one of the most architecturally striking in all of Central Europe. Built in 1897 to a design by Samu Pecz, its neo-Gothic brick exterior and wrought-iron interior framework give it the grandeur of a cathedral devoted not to worship but to commerce. The building was painstakingly restored after severe flood and war damage, reopening in 1994 just in time to become one of the defining landmarks of post-communist Budapest's cultural renaissance. Standing inside the main hall, with light filtering through the upper gallery windows and the noise of vendors and visitors echoing under the vaulted ceiling, you get a genuine sense of a city that takes its food seriously.
Market