It was formed in 1873 by merging three towns, two on the hilly west bank and one on the flat east bank (1873)
Buda and Obuda joined with Pest on 17 November 1873
Geography · Cities
Budapest
unified 17 November 1873
Hungary — on the Danube
Hungary's capital was created in 1873 by merging three separate towns on either bank of the Danube: hilly Buda and ancient Obuda on the right bank and flat, commercial Pest on the left. Famous for its thermal baths, its Neo-Gothic riverside parliament and the chain bridge that first linked the two sides, it is the largest city on the Danube and the seat of a fifth of Hungary's population.
How to spot them
- ▸Divided by the Danube into a hilly west bank and a flat east bank
- ▸Quiz clue: 'the Pearl of the Danube', 'Buda and Pest', 'thermal baths', 'Chain Bridge'
- ▸A vast Neo-Gothic parliament on the river, modelled on Westminster
- ▸Continental Europe's first underground railway, built for an 1896 jubilee
Key facts
Continental Europe's first underground railway opened here in 1896 for a millennial jubilee (1896)
The Millennium Underground, now Metro Line M1, second in the world after London
Its parliament building, the largest in Europe when finished, was modelled on the Palace of Westminster (1885–1904)
Designed by Imre Steindl; it houses the Holy Crown of Hungary
The first permanent bridge between its two halves, of 1849, was designed by an Englishman and built by a Scot (1849)
The Szechenyi Chain Bridge: designed by William Tierney Clark, built by Adam Clark, no relation
It has more thermal springs than any other capital, feeding baths such as the Szechenyi and the Gellert
Some of the Turkish baths, like the Rudas and the Kiraly, date from Ottoman rule
Sixty pairs of iron shoes on the river embankment commemorate Jews shot into the water in 1944–45 (2005)
Shoes on the Danube Bank, by Gyula Pauer and Can Togay
A white neo-Romanesque terrace of seven turrets, one for each founding Magyar tribe, overlooks the river from the castle hill (1895–1902)
The Fisherman's Bastion, by Frigyes Schulek, beside the Matthias Church
Quick-fire facts
- •Hungary's capital and largest city, with about 1.7 million people; roughly one Hungarian in five lives there
- •Nicknames: the Pearl of the Danube and the Queen of the Danube
- •Buda contains Castle Hill, Gellert Hill and the Citadella; Pest holds the parliament, the basilica and Andrassy Avenue
- •St Stephen's Basilica keeps the Holy Right, the mummified right hand of King Stephen I
- •Andrassy Avenue runs to Heroes' Square and the Millennium Monument
- •The city was the eastern capital of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy from 1867 to 1918
- •All the Danube bridges were destroyed by retreating German forces in the siege of 1944–45
- •UNESCO inscribed 'Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrassy Avenue' in 1987
- •It has hosted the World Aquatics Championships and the World Athletics Championships, and holds the Hungarian Grand Prix at nearby Mogyorod
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Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Budapest