The story behind the city

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, was created in 1873 by the merger of three cities: Buda, Óbuda and Pest. It is the administrative, cultural, scientific, economic, trade and transportation center with about 2 million inhabitants. The town spreads on the banks of the river Danube, and is administratively divided into 23 districts, 16 of which are located on the Pest side, 6 in Buda and 1 on Csepel Island in Danube. Buda extends to the hills on the west bank of the Danube and Pest on the left bank of the river in the lowlands. In Buda, the 235 m high hill (Gellért-hegy) rises from the river bank and offers a remarkable view of the whole city. There are 7 bridges and 2 railway bridges In Budapest. Except for one bridge (Erzsébet híd), all bridges were destroyed during the Second World War were restored to the original style.

Traces of the first settlements in the area of the city of Budapest today date back to the Stone Age, but many nations alternated throughout history in longer or shorter periods. However, known history of Budapest begins with the Roman town of Aquincum, founded around 89 AD on the site of an old Celtic settlement, near Obuda. Aquincum was the capital of the province of lower Pannonia from 106 AD until the end of the 4th century. Contra Aquincum (or Trans Aquincum) was in place of today’s Pest. Under the leadership of the famous Attila, Huns advanced in the Pannonian Plain in the 5th century.

In 896 Ugrians, today’s Hungarians, led by Arpad from the area of ​​the Lower Dnieper and the Danube, crossed the Carpathians and settled in the area of today’s Pannonia between the Danube and the Tisa and established the state. These skilled horsemen reached Central Europe, where they were stopped by Otto I the Great, at the Battle of Lehfeld, near present-day Augsburg, in 955 AD. Very soon, during the reign of Saint Stephen, Hungarians accepted Christianity in 1001, while receiving the crown from the Pope. Hungary was ruled Arpads from 1001 until 1301 when rulers came from foreign dynasties. In 1241, at the time of King Bela IV, who was considered the second founder of Hungary, the Tatars devastated Pannonian area, so the king Bela started fortification and construction of the king’s palace in Buda.

In the First World War (1914 – 1918), the Austro Hungarian Empire, along with Germany, Bulgaria and Turkey was a member of the defeated Central Powers. After the war and the collapse of the Austro Hungarian Empire, Hungary became an independent state. In the postwar period Trianon agreement defined the boundaries of the new state; Hungary remained without two-thirds of its territory. After a brief life of the Hungarian Soviet Republic under the leadership of Bela Kun, the Hungarian monarchy was restored but before the determination of the crowns successor, the role of regent was performed by Miklos Horthy.