Budapest

**Budapest** is the capital and largest city of Hungary. It was made as such in 1873. In that year, three towns on the River Danube, namely _Buda_, _Óbuda (Old Buda)_ and _Pest_ were united. About 1.7 million people live in the city. Its highest place is _János Hill (527 m)._

## Climate

Budapest has a humid subtropical climate with relatively cold winters and quite warm summers.

## History

Celtic tribes lived there before 1 AD. Later, the Roman Empire transformed the first settlements into the Roman town of Aquincum. The Hungarians arrived in the territory of modern Hungary only at the end of 9th century AD.

Budapest also became the co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a great power that dissolved in 1918 after World War I. The city was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Battle of Budapest in 1945, and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

## Landmarks

Budapest has historical buildings, baths and parks.

The Roman Catholic cathedral, **St. Stephen's Basilica**, is in the 5th district of Budapest. The church is a Neo-Renaissance-style cathedral. It is one of the most significant church buildings in Hungary. The building is named in honor of the Hungarian founding king, St. Stephen (975-1038), whose right hand, the Holy Right, is kept here as a relic. With a height of 96 meters, it is the fourth-tallest building in the country and the third tallest in the capital after the Parliament and the MOL Campus.

The former royal palace, the **Buda Castle** -as part of the Castle District- has been part of Budapest's World Heritage Sites since 1987. The Gothic-style royal palace was built in the 1300s and lasted until the end of the 1400s. Due to the Turkish occupation from 1541 to 1686, very serious damage was done to both the castle and the buildings of the Castle District. In the building of the palace, the National Széchényi Library has been located in the back, decorated with Art Nouveau elements, and the Hungarian National Gallery and the Budapest History Museum are located in the palace.

Also on the Castle Hill, the **Matthias Church** is a Gothic church with a great historical past. It was originally built in Romanesque style in 1015, but was destroyed during the Mongol invasion in 1241. The current building was built in the 14th century and underwent a thorough reconstruction in the late 19th century. After the occupation of Buda, the church was transformed into a mosque, during which the late Gothic frescoes inside the church were destroyed. After the liberation of Buda, according to the plans of Frigyes Schulek, it was restored to its second, Gothic state. During the Second World War, it was used as a camp by the Germans and the Soviets during the siege of Budapest.

The **Hungarian Parliament Building**, also known as the Parliament of Budapest after its location, is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, a notable landmark of Hungary, and a popular tourist destination in Budapest. It is situated on the Kossuth Lajos Square in the Pest side of the city, on the eastern bank of the Danube. It was designed by Hungarian architect Imre Steindl in neo-Gothic style and opened in 1902. It has been the largest building in Hungary since its completion, and the third biggest Parliament building in the world.

Further north, the building of the **National Police Headquarters** (in the common language “Police-Palace”) located in the Árpád Göncz City Center. Since its completion, its shape and size have been one of the defining buildings of the whole of Budapest in terms of cityscape. The plans were completed in the 1990s by József Finta and Géza Meichl, and their construction was financed by Postabank collaborating with the Hungarian police. 36,000 cubic meters of concrete and 4.5 thousand tons of rebar were used for the construction. The headquarters can be divided into two parts, one eight-story and columnar and the other sixteen stories and cylindrical, with police antennas at the top that extend 93 meters high. In 2007, an unknown person fired at the building with a machine gun.

On the south, in the 10th district of Budapest, located the **transmission tower on Száva Street**. With a height of 154 meters, it is the third-tallest structure in Budapest (after the Mount Széchenyi TV mast and the chimney of Óbuda Power Plant). The tower is well visible from the southern Pest region of the capital, but it can be seen in several lookouts of Buda too.  It was built in 1987, and it is currently owned by Hungarian Telekom. As a backbone transmitter, it broadcasts digital terrestrial radio (T-DAB +) and digital television channels (DVB-T standard, MinDig TV and mobile phone DVB-H).

Other landmarks in Budapest are the Citadel, the Statue of Liberty, the Millenium Monument, the Zoo, the Hungarian National Museum, the Great Market Hall, the Dohány Street Synagogue and the famous thermal baths (Széchenyi, Szent Gellért, Király). Budapest is also known for the ruins of Aquincum, the capital city of the Roman Province of Pannonia.

## Trivia

It has the oldest subway-line in mainland Europe.

Twin cities of Budapest:

- Beijing CN
- Berlin DE
- Bethlehem
- Florence IT
- Fort Worth US
- Frankfurt am Main DE
- Kraków PL
- Lisbon, PT
- New York US
- Sarajevo BA
- Shanghai CN
- Skopje MK
- Subotica RS
- Târgu Mureș RO
- Tehran IR
- Tel-Aviv IL
- Vienna AT
- Zagreb HR

## Other sources

- Evans, R.J.W. _Austria, Hungary, and the Habsburgs: Central Europe c.1683–1867_ (2008)  online
- Herman, Arthur. _What life was like: at Empire's end : Austro-Hungarian Empire 1848–1918_ (Time Life, 2000); heavily illustrated.
- Kann, Robert A. _A History of the Habsburg Empire: 1526–1918_ (U of California Press, 1974); highly detailed history; emphasis on ethnicity
- Oakes, Elizabeth and Eric Roman. _Austria-Hungary and the successor states: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present_ (2003)
- Ungvary, Krisztian (2006). _The Siege of Budapest: one hundred days in World War II_. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11985-5.
- Molnar, Miklos (2001). _A concise history of Hungary_. Cambridge Concise Histories. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-66736-4

## Other websites

- Budapest Holidays
- Budapest tourism info Portal
- History of Budapest
- Budapest map
- WorldFlicks in Budapest: Photos and interesting places on Google Maps

## Infobox (unesco world heritage site)

- **child**: yes
- **official name**: Budapest, including the Danube Promenade, Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue
- **year**: 1987
- **extension**: 2002
- **id**: 400
- **criteria**: Cultural: ii, iv
- **area**: 473.3 ha
- **buffer zone**: 493.8 ha


## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Budapest
- **official name**: Capital City of Hungary
_Magyarország fővárosa_
- **settlement type**: Capital city
- **imagesize**: 280
- **image caption**: Clockwise from top: the Danube with Matthias Church in the background, Buda Castle seen from Gellért Hill, Hungarian Parliament Building, Hungarian Parliament, Heroes' Square (Budapest), Heroes' Square, St. Stephen's Basilica
- **image flag**: Flag of Budapest (2011-).svg
- **image shield**: Coa Hungary Town Budapest big.svg
- **shield alt**: Coat of arms of Budapest
- **nicknames**: Heart of Europe, Queen of the Danube, Pearl of the Danube, Capital of Freedom, Capital of Spas and Thermal Baths, Capital of Festivals
- **pushpin map**: Hungary#Europe
- **pushpin relief**: 1
- **pushpin map caption**: Location within Hungary##Location within Europe
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: Hungary
- **subdivision type2**: List of regions of Hungary, Region
- **subdivision name2**: Central Hungary
- **p2**: 2nd district of Budapest, II.
- **p3**: 3rd district of Budapest, III., Óbuda-Békásmegyer
- **p4**: Újpest, IV., Újpest
- **p5**: District V, Budapest, V., Belváros-Lipótváros
- **p6**: Terézváros, VI., Terézváros
- **p7**: Erzsébetváros, VII., Erzsébetváros
- **p8**: Józsefváros, VIII., Józsefváros
- **p9**: Ferencváros, IX., Ferencváros
- **p10**: Kőbánya, X., Kőbánya
- **p11**: Újbuda, XI., Újbuda
- **p12**: Hegyvidék, XII., Hegyvidék
- **p13**: 13th district of Budapest, XIII.
- **p14**: Zugló, XIV., Zugló
- **p15**: Rákospalota, XV., Rákospalota, Pestújhely, Újpalota
- **p16**: 16th district of Budapest, XVI.
- **p17**: Rákoskeresztúr, XVII., Rákosmente
- **p18**: Pestszentlőrinc, XVIII., Pestszentlőrinc-Pestszentimre
- **p19**: Kispest, XIX., Kispest
- **p20**: Pesterzsébet, XX., Pesterzsébet
- **p21**: Csepel, XXI., Csepel
- **p22**: Budafok, XXII., Budafok-Tétény
- **p23**: Soroksár, XXIII., Soroksár
- **established title**: Unification of Buda, Pest, Hungary, Pest and Óbuda
- **established date**: 17 November 1873
- **government type**: Mayor – Council
- **governing body**: General Assembly of Budapest
- **leader title**: Mayor of Budapest, Mayor
- **leader name**: Gergely Karácsony (Dialogue for Hungary, Dialogue)
- **unit pref**: Metric
- **area total km2**: 525.2
- **area urban km2**: 2538
- **area metro km2**: 7626
- **elevation m**: Lowest (Danube) 96 m
 Highest (János Hill) 527
- **elevation ft**: 315 to 1,729
- **population total**: 1,752,286
- **population rank**: List of cities and towns in Hungary, 1st (Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits, 9th in EU)
- **population urban**: 2,997,958
- **population metro**: 3,011,598
- **population as of**: 2017
- **population density km2**: 3388
- **population demonyms**: Budapester, budapesti <small>_(Hungarian)_</small>
- **blank3 name**: Human Development Index, HDI (2018)
- **blank3 info**: 0.901 – <span style="color:#090;">very high</span> · List of Hungarian regions by Human Development Index, 1st
- **timezone1**: Central European Time, CET
- **utc offset1**: +1
- **timezone1 dst**: Central European Summer Time, CEST
- **utc offset1 dst**: +2
- **postal code type**: Postal codes in Hungary, Postal code(s)
- **postal code**: 1011–1239
- **area code type**: Telephone numbers in Hungary, Area code
- **area code**: 1
- **iso code**: HU-BU
- **blank name sec1**: Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS code
- **blank info sec1**: HU101
- **website**: