Laczkó Dezső Múzeum The Hall of the Veszprém Cuonty Council is a three-storied neo-renaissance style building with a very impressive entrance and archway. The construction was completed in 1887 by the design of István Kiss. There are two flying cherubs in the tympana, holding a shield with the year of the construction's beginning written on it.

The two storied, red grit-ornamented Laczkó Dezső Múzeum (also known as Bakonyi Múzeum) is located close to the Erzsébet grove, in the shadow of ancient trees. It offers one permanent and two periodic exhibitions to the visitors. The permanent one (Térjünk a tárgyra) is about the history of Veszprém and her surroundings. Those exhibitions are based on more than hundred years collection work.

Bakonyi ház Next to the Laczkó Dezső Múzeum you find the "Bakonyi Ház", which was built in 1935 as a copy of a common XIX. century cottage house. The thatched, arcaded building is one of the most developed of its era. The installation and facilities represent the life of a countryside-living gentry of those years. The backroom hosts a mouthpiece workshop also working nowadays.

Between the two buildings stands the stone statue of Laczkó Dezső. (Artist: Ferenc Medgyessy)

The recently redecorated building of the Eötvös Károly County Library (former Livestock Government House) stands in the theatre garden. It provides a rich collection of magazines and journals, science and polite literature, books for kids, collection of music and also an information centre for entrepreneurs.

City Hall The redoubtable building close to the castle at "Óváros" square is the City Hall, the centre of the civil service. The romantic-style building meant to home a bank originally. The construction was completed in 1857. It has been working as a City Hall since 1990.

Walking further we can recognize the symbol of the town, the Fire Watchtower. It has been built in the era of IV. Béla as a simple watchtower. It had been served defense purposes till the end of the Turkish epoch. The tower had been rebuilt after the earthquake in 1801. The lookout with its 48 meter height provided an excellent place for permanent fire-watching. Towards the safety, the citizens employed a full time fireguard in order to attend the town 24/7. The redevelopment design of the fire-watchtower (as we can see today), was made by Henrik Tumler. It was being built between 1811 and 1817. The clockwork of the Copf-style brazen-tower plays the "verbunkos" music of Csermák Antal by the hours.

Fire Watchtower The "Várkapu" (also known as Porta Heroum) is a memorial for the victims of the World War I. It was built by the design of Pázmándy István in 1936. The right-side tower with its historical atmosphere is a museum, hosting mineral collection from spring to fall. There are three housing above the arch of the spacious gate. Full shape cherubs are watching us from the end ones, and a sword shot by leafy limbs makes us remember to the victims from the middle one. The date of the first great war is also can be seen here.

Passing the arch gate, you find yourself at the "Csikász Galéria", which offers varied exhibition of contemporary arts throughout the year.

Várkapu The Piarist Church, which was being built between 1828 and 1836, is a neo-classical style building. In spite of its two-storey tower, it 's the lowest church of the castle. An "MMT" inscription can be read on the wall. The three letters is an abbreviation for the Greek text: Maria, mother of God. The picture on the high altar was made for the adoration of St. Imre, and Piarist Saints can be seen on the side-altars.

There is a red marble carving at the flaring corner of the square. It's a copy of the "Vetési" stone, a renaissance reminiscence of Hungary which presumably used to belong to the St. György zion. Its name "Vetési" comes from Albert Vetési. The erudite bishop of Veszprém used to be a diplomat of king "Mátyás".

The next famous building of our walk is the "Dubniczay" house. There is a huge, nineteenth century built ashlar-arch cellar under the yard. During the excavations traces of equerry, castle-wall, cannon-tower and dungeon were found. The Castle Gallery and the brick collection of the Museum of Hungarian Building Industry are also located here.

Szentharomság trinity As the Vár street get flared, we reach the "Szentháromság" (trinity) square, which is an open-air home for both parochial and profane festivals, concerts, performances.

One of the highlights of this square is the Archbishop Palace, probably the most beautiful building of the city. It was built on the place of the Queens Castle (former "Acsádi Palace) under the guidance of Fellner Jakab. The building with its patio and walking garden provides a decisive experience from the valley, from the east side of the castle. The rooms treasure several valuable paintings and articles of virtue. The most significant of them are the murals of Johann I. Cymbal. This building hosts the Primatical Archives and the library too.

The Trinity statue, which was erected in 1750 by the order of Padányi Bíró Márton is located in the centre of the square. The then bishop ensured exclusive place for the crest and the patron saint of his own family among the statues and embossing. The composition was made by Schmidt Ferenc, a sculptor-hewer master. The name of the Castle's main square also comes from this composition.

Archbishop Palace AThe Gizella Chapel, which was established by Gizella the Blessed, (the spouse of St. Stephan, our first apostolic king), is located nearby the Archbishop's Palace.

The building had been almost completely ruined during the Turkish times. Its enterieur, which is one of the oldest in the country, became a highlight of Veszprém and can be visited nowadays. Both the keystones of the arch and the early apostolic murals from the thirteenth century are very rare and old. The chapel consists of three sections. Two of them are squab, oblong-shaped, and the third one is a square-shaped sanctum. The inscription on the altar "The trust of the ancestry is the hope of the future" was created during the redecoration of the thirties in this century.

The sinking time of the castle well (front of the Gizella Chapel) is unknown. Its depth is estimated 40 meters. Thanks to the excavations in 2002, the curb had been cleaned up, and floodlight also put in operation.

There is a Latin inscription on the top of the curb: "This is the town, where the wells of the Hungarian culture sprang exuberantly sometime. In memory of Bishop Albert Vetési. (1458-1486)"

The other decisive building of the square is the Szent Mihály Cathedral itself. Also the 1001 Pannonhalma Patent mentions the Szent Mihály Church, which had been built at the same place, probably in the era of monarch Geza. The cathedral suffered of fire from time to time. Early in the eighteenth century the original Romanesque red and white stone built building had been renovated in Gothic style. Also the crypt was built this time. The basilica utterly lost its baroque character during a later renovation, as their towers had been raised by more meters and rebuilt in Romanesque style. There are several stained glass windows, picturing Saints, to boost the appearance of the Cathedral. The nave of the basilica is stave domed, its inner ceiling is wooden coffered. Passing the sanctuary we can get down to the crypt. The shrine of the warlord-bishop Beriszló Péter can be found here.

The Szent Mihály Cathedral has been guarding the relic of Boldog Gizella since 1996. She played important role in the construction of the church.

Gizella királyné museum The ruins of the Szent György round-chapel can be found nearby the Szent Mihály Cathedral. The head-relic of Szent György had been guarded here, attracting crowds or pilgrims. A note also today can be seen on the worn-out doorsill of the chapel: IN LIMIE NO SEDETO - Do not sit on the doorsill. Szent Imre, the young-passed only son of I. Szent István swore maidenhood here. The statue front of the chapel represents the young prince.

The copf-style Grey Friars Church (built in 1730) stands right by the statue. The church and the abbey had been rebuilt after the conflagration. The abbey was stilted by one storey and connected to the church. The building (Vár street 33.) hosts the Szent Ferenc Parson's Home nowadays. Above the graved wainscot of the dining hall several Italian pictures can bee seen. They have been beautifying the walls for more than two hundred years. The gilt statues of Szent Imre and Szent István stand beside the main altar. Religious pictures can bee seen on the vault. The monk-poet, Ányos Pál was entombed in the crypt of the church.

King I. Szent István and Queen Gizella The Tejfalussy house, which hosts the collection of the Gizella Királyné Museum, was built in the early 1770's. The collection contains religious relics which had been guarded in separate churches earlier. In the basement of the exhibition a valuable stone collection can be seen, which offers a foretaste of the remembrance both the town and far lands. One of the most precious pieces of the collection is the gold filament shot cope from 1480, which used to belong to the bishop Albert Vetési originally.

The statue of the first Hungarian Royal Couple, King I. Szent István and Queen Gizella stands at the end of the street, protected by a balustrade. The statue, which was made by Ispánky József in 1938 for the 900th anniversary of the king's death, became the symbol of Veszprém by now. It's worth to take a short break on the northwestern cape of the Castle Hill and enjoy the breathtaking view of the sights of the town.

Viaduct Having a look from here the Margit ruins can be seen. The remains of the notable building of the early medieval can be easily approached by walking down on the stairs close to the Szent Mihály Cathedral, and from there by following the crooked creek Séd. The former church and monastery had been built for the black friar nuns by bishop Bertalan about 1240. Szent Margit, the daughter of our king IV. Béla had been nursed here for 6 years. Beside the small, one-naved church also the wall ruins of some accessory building can be seen, surrounded by houses. Both the church and the monastery became the victim of the Turkish subjection and fell into decay. The ruins were excavated in 1938. Today only the basement walls and a part of the church wall can be seen.

One of the well-known symbols of Veszprém is the Viaduct above the Fejes-valley. It is named after Szent István, and leads to the Szent László church 50 meters above the cranky Séd creek. One can enjoy breathtaking scenery from the viaduct both towards the town and its surroundings. Facing to east the castle, to west the Betekints-valley, to north the Bakony-mountains can be admired.

University of Veszprém The tuition is one of the most important issues in the life of Veszprém and so is the University of Veszprém. It was established in 1949 as a branch of Budapest University of Polytechnik. Veszprém University became independent in 1951. The institute offered education in chemistry engineering at first but the increasing requirements inspired the then University to renew the education frequently and adjust it to demand. According to this, several new departments had been established.

Towards the Betekints-valley

The ruins known as the Remains of the Veszprém-valley Sisters' Monastery (excavated in 1936) are located in the Séd-valley, close to the Zoo.

As a legend tells, the crowning cope of Queen Gizella and maybe the one of his husband were embroidered here. Also the Queen herself participated in the work by which the ornate cope was embroidered. A true copy of the cope is still can be seen in the Gizella Királyné Museum.

Veszprém Zoo The Zoo, named after the famous Africa-traveller Kálmán Kittenberger, is located in the picturesque Fejes-völgy. The area exceeding ten hectare homes 450 animals of 120 species. Apart from the well-known zoo-animals zoological rarities such as Sumatran tiger, caracara or David-deer also can be found here.

Right above the Fejes-valley, the "Gulyadomb" hosts the Zoo Riding School and the Zoo of the Hungarian Farmyard Animals. The exhibition meant to present the originally ancient but nowadays rare old Hungarian farmyard animals. One can meet here species like "magyar szürkemarha", black or white "racka" sheep, and from the shepherd dogs, the "pumi" and the"mudi". The Zoo Riding School offers tours for the expert riders beside the horseback riding trainings. These tours lead to the most beautiful parts of the Bakony Mountains, across woods, uplands and valleys.