Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-06
THE RARE BEAUTY OF BUDAPEST

BY WILLIAM
Special Correspondence OF The sta
NO city In the world has more attrac-
tive architecture in its public and private
l. buildings than Budapest
Vt0aCe and one Is particularly i'm
Designs. pressed thereby after hav-
ana other parts Of the east for i've or
SIX months. where there is so little OF
that sort. The Budapest architecture
Is very ornate and fiorid in color and de-
sign. perhaps too much so to satisfy the
western critic, whose ideas Of the artis.
TIC are more somber and given to straight
lines. The exteriors Of almost all
structures, railway stations as well as
churches, apartment houses as we'll as
palaces. warehouses as well as art gall
leries, In Budapest are fairly rioting in
holdings, pinnacies and towers: Every
thing suggests the oriental. There Is q
glimpse OF Hindustan. Delhi ana even
China in the decorations. and the forms
OF the domes and towers. which is nat
ural. for, although Budapest was found
ed by the Romans. for Centuries It. was
occupied by the Mongols and the Huns.
and afterward by the Turks 1t re-
tains evidences Of all these and other
races which have followed each other
like historical pageant in possession OF
the fertile. fields and the broad streams Of
Hungary.
On the one side Of the Danube are the
antiquities: on the other side everything
Is essentially modern and up-to.date.
There are two towns, you know, Buda,
the modern city. and Pest, the ancient
city, which was originally the Aquincum
OF the Roman legioHs, the Ofen OF the
Mongols and the Pest OF the Turks.
Pest dates back 500 years before the
Christian era; the .Mongol hordes from
China conquered 1t In the thirteenth CEN
fury and the Turks In the sixteenth.
Pest remained for $50 years In the hands
of the Turks, who were driven out by
the Germans in 1856. The cities Of Buda
and. Pest were united in 1872 under the
present name and became a royal resi-
dence and the seat of the Hungarian
parliament. the Hungarian ministry ana
the supreme court.
Forty years ago, before the union, Buda-
pest was primitive and unIovely settlement
Of not more than 100000
Great people. with some fine old
r.- buildings, but very few new
ViVW1A' ones. Today it has nearly
100000 people, Of whom nearly 100000
are Magyars, 10000 Jews and 100000
Germans. The people are as enterprising
as those OF any city in Europe, and have
built modern city Of marble and gran
lite, one Of the most beautiful and SPLEEN
did Of the European capitals, second only
to Vienna in the stately magnifioence Of
it's public buildings, and almost equal to
Berlin in it's monuments, parks and other
physical attractions Budapest has
grown as rapidly as Chicago or Minneapo-
lis. and, unlike those cities, it's construc-
ton has been kept SO well in hand by the
authorities that every feature is harmoni-
Gus and every public Improvement has
been guided by the application Of the
highest degree OF artistic taste and SCI
entific principles
We borrowed the underground trolley
from, Budapest. where II was invented
and first introduced, and We might bor-
row much more from its public utilities
and civic decorations. Problems which
are perplexipg, or should perplex.> Bos-
ton. Washington and Chicago, such as the
treatment Of rivers and markets, have
been solved here with remarkable skill
and satisfaction, and II the Chicago river
and the Potomac at Washington could be
treated in the same manner as the DAN
ube has been treated, it would add inf
| nitely to the attractions Of both those
cities. s-.s 80. 49,
The public market house at Budapest
has been pronounced as near perfection
as such public utility can be, for light,
ventilation, sanitation and convenience
for buyers and sellers. The retail stalls
are on level with the street, the whole
sale department is upstairs. where mer-
chandise is delivered by railway trains.
The fish department is In q tunnel, that Is
cool and fed with flowing streams. The
practical has not been entirely sacrificed
to the artistic, but there is a happy COM
bination Of both to an extraordinary de-
gree.
The River Danube. which here becomes
navigable for steamers drawing twelve
and fourteen feet, fowB be-
NumArOus tween ornamental granite
o:. walls which support ter
0&A~B0e' races covered with ware
houses that are not Objectionable IN sp.