Hungary to ban Budapest skyscrapers in architecture crackdown

Hungarian officials are set to ban skyscrapers from appearing in the country’s capital in a bid to preserve Budapest’s historic cityscape.

All buildings over 65 metres high will need special planning permission from the government, with no building allowed to top more than 90 metres.

In a press conference, Minister for the Prime Minister’s Office Gergely Gulyás said that the motion had already been discussed and agreed upon in cabinet.

The only skyscraper to escape the ban is the 21-storey MOL Campus Tower, which received planning permission back in 2017. Due for completion in 2021, the 120-metre building by Foster + Partners will host Hungary’s national oil and gas company, the MOL Group.

The skyscraper is already set to tower above the capital’s current tallest building, the 88-metre-tall Semmelweiss Medical University tower. The capital’s other major landmarks — St Stephen’s Basilica and the Hungarian Parliament Building — both stand at 96-metres tall, a symbolic gesture designed to show the equal importance of both religion and state.