Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar on Friday symbolically dismantled the security cordon surrounding former prime minister Viktor Orbán’s government complex in Budapest’s Castle District, the renovated Carmelite Monastery.

Magyar, accompanied by Minister for Transport and Investment Dávid Vitézy and Minister of the Interior Gábor Pósfai, also announced that the complex and the nearby building that previously housed the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office under Antal Rogán would be opened to visitors on weekends.

Guided tours are scheduled to begin on Saturday, with groups entering every 15 minutes following online registration.

Magyar and the Tisza Party—which during both the election campaign and its first days in government placed particular emphasis on symbolism and emotionally charged political gestures—framed the moment as historic, with the prime minister declaring that ‘there is no place for cordons in Hungary after the regime change’, referring to Tisza’s landslide victory on 12 April.

The removal of the barriers also carried strong symbolic weight in Hungarian political history. Magyar himself referenced one of the most memorable and ironically similar precedents: Viktor Orbán and Fidesz MPs dismantling the security cordon around Parliament during the anti-government protests against then-prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány in 2007.

At the time, Orbán argued that the barriers represented an unacceptable separation between the political elite and society.

Since relocating the prime minister’s office to the Carmelite Monastery in 2019, Orbán’s government gradually tightened access to the surrounding area, officially citing construction works connected to the National Hauszmann Programme and nearby reconstruction projects. Although journalists were initially still able to question ministers and government officials entering or leaving the complex, that practice had largely disappeared by 2021.

Critics increasingly argued that the cordon had become part of, and symbolic of, what they described as the broader securitization and centralization of executive power under the Orbán governments.

According to Magyar, visitors will now be able to access several previously restricted areas, including the former prime ministerial office section, cabinet meeting rooms, the terrace, and the gardens. The government stated that the buildings would remain accessible for an extended period while discussions continue regarding their long-term future function.

Magyar had already announced earlier that he would not move into the Carmelite Monastery himself, instead relocating the prime minister’s office to the former headquarters of the Ministry of Construction and Transport near Parliament.

Friday’s event also formed part of the Tisza government’s broader review of reconstruction projects in the Buda Castle District. Vitézy announced audits into several ongoing state investments and indicated that contracts could be renegotiated or terminated if irregularities were identified.

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