Facing the Royal Palace’s large courtyard to the northwest is the Romantic-style Matthias Fountain, portraying the young king Matthias Corvinus in hunting garb. To the right below him is Szép Ilona (Beautiful Helen), the protagonist in a Romantic ballad by the poet Mihály Vörösmarty. Apparently, Ilona fell in love with this dashing ‘hunter’ – who was in reality King Matthias – and, upon learning his true identity and feeling unworthy, died of a broken heart.
The middle one of the king’s three dogs was blown up during the war; canine-loving Hungarians quickly had an exact copy made.