The Gozsdu Courtyard (Gozsdu Udvar in Hungarian) is a complex comprising 7 buildings and their courtyards. It can be found between to paralel streets, the Király and the Dob street which are both some of the main streets of the 7th district or Jewish quarter of Budapest. The Gozsdu Courtyard is near to the synagogue triangle, too: the Dohány street Grand Synagogue, the Kazinczy street Orthodox Synagogue and the Rumbach street Synagogue. Deák Ferenc Square Metro station and Andrássy Avenue, a UNESCO World Heritage Site is also very close. The building complex was constructed in 1901 by the Gozsdu Foundation based on the design of Győző Czigler and according to the testament of the Romanian lawyer, Emanoil Gojdu (1802-1870, Gozsdu Manó in Hungarian). He was a Romanian lawyer in the Kingdom of Hungary, and he was a defender of the rights of the Romanians in the Kingdom of Hungary and Transylvania and he supported the studies of young Romanians at his time.

The passage has a very eventful history, it used to be the main center of Jewish shopkeepers before the second World War, so we can say that this was the first shopping mall in Budapest. There was a local saying that goes like “If a couple walked through the Gozsdu bazaar they could dress up completely by the end and at the exit they could even buy a wedding ring”. Then unfortunately, all the 7 original buildings were part of the Jewish Ghetto that existed in Budapest in the 7th district from November 1944 to January 1945.

After the second World War, during the time when Hungary was a communist country the building complex became state property and no one took care of it, so soon this place started to fall apart and tenants moved out, it was left completely abandoned. Luckily a couple of years ago an investment company purchased the buildings and they nicely renovated them, however, no one moved in the apartments for years because the prices are quite high, so until 2010 these pretty buildings surrounded a ghost area. Finally, a couple of years ago some locals chose this place to set up a designer market which was such a successful initiative that even today it goes on and brought life back to the passage. Very soon the area became so attractive that pubs and restaurants moved in, now it is the center of gastronomy, entertainment and nightlife. You can find Hungarian, Italian, Spanish restaurants, cafés, pubs, clubs, wine bars and many more if you walk in and around the Gozsdu Courtyard.