Evening star., 1924-01-13

At Gods great judgment seat.
n UDYARD KIPLING is wrong.
- The east and the west have
met here at the capital OF
Hungary. Budapest is the
beginning of the east and the begin
ming of the west. The two are Joined
in this city, and they reach to Con-
stantinople and Paris. Hungary is
a great succotash of the nations. The
Hungarians are the result of migra-
tions from Asia, or rather from the
little nest in the Ural mountains
where some seven Turkish tribes
Joined together more than thousand
years ago under a prince called Ar
pad, made their way across the
steppes of Russia, gathering up a
scattering of Firms who had drifted
down from the forests of the north,
and captured this part of the rich
basin Of the Danube. Before and
since then other nations have come
from the east and left their mark
here. The Huns were among them.
and Attila was their leader. The
Goths had their turn, and hundreds
of years later the Turks came up
from Constantinople and held Hun
gary for a century or SO, leaving
their oriental marks on Budapest.
So much for the east. And now
for the west. This bread basket of
Europe has always been coveted by
the nations. The Romans wanted IT,
and long before Christ came they had
fought their way into the valley OF
the Danube and built their settle
ments here. I can take you outside
Budapest in thirty-minute motor
car trip and show you the remains Of
old Aquincum, which was city of
10000 inhabitants In the days Of
Diocletian, who, as you will remem-
her. prosecuted the Christians, Or.
II you want to save money, we can
go there by trolley.
The ruins of an amphitheater which
once held 10000 spectators are still
to be seen, and we can walk over the
sites of great baths. among broken
eolumns. the relics Of temples and Of
a theater which accommodated 5000
There Is museum there, with a shed
hard by covering a mosaic pavement
representing gIadiatorial fight.
1t was about the year 1000 that the
Christians got their hands on Hun
gary. The people then had q king
who was crowned by the Pope, and
they still call him st. Stephen I. He
brought in German settlers from
tho west and established German
colonies. And SO the sway of the
~ - I@~ n,1
forth. leaving it's marks on the coun-
try and people and upon Budapest.
One can easily see this in the city
today2
Here the Gothic spire and the dome
of the oriental mosque march side by
side. You see combination of spires
and domes on almost every great
building, and on many of the private
ones as well. The royal palace, or
mighty castle. which stands on the
heights high over the Danube. has
a half dozen green domes rising
above q wilderness Of Greek and Ro-
man columns, and its interior blazes
with oriental magnificence. It is one
of the mightiest palaces ever con-
structed by royalty. Its front is
more than q thousand feet long, and
Its rooms number $50. It was built
by the Empress Queen Maria The
rosa three-quarters of a century ago.
and today the Hungarian people keep
1t as a residence for their monarchs
of the future. The crown room is
still preserved, and when another
king comes to the Hungarian throne
he will probably live there. Not far
from 1t is the Coronation Church,
which. although built in Gothic style,
was used as a mosque by the Turks,
the marble statue Of the Virgin fac
ing the floor, where the Mohamme-
dams bumped their heads in their
prayers.