-
Budapest
For other uses, see Budapest (disambiguation).
Budapest[8] (Hungarian: [budpt]; names in other lan-guages) is
the capital and the largest city of Hungary,[9]and one of the
largest cities in Central Europe. It isthe countrys principal
political, cultural, commercial,industrial, and transportation
centre,[10] sometimes de-scribed as the primate city of
Hungary.[11] In 2011,according to the census, Budapest had 1.74
millioninhabitants,[12] down from its 1989 peak of 2.1
million[13]due to suburbanisation.[14] The Budapest
MetropolitanArea is home to 3.3 million people.[15][16] The city
coversan area of 525 square kilometres (202.7 sq mi).[17] Bu-dapest
became a single city occupying both banks of theriver Danube with
its unication on 17 November 1873of Buda and buda, on the west
bank, with Pest, on theeast bank.[17][18]
The history of Budapest began with Aquincum, origi-nally a
Celtic settlement[19][20] that became the Romancapital of Pannonia
Inferior.[19] Hungarians arrived inthe territory[21] in the 9th
century. Their rst set-tlement was pillaged by the Mongols in
124142.[22]The re-established town became one of the centres
ofRenaissance humanist culture[23] by the 15th
century.[24]Following the Battle of Mohcs and nearly 150 years
ofOttoman rule,[25] the region entered a new age of prosper-ity in
the 18th and 19th centuries, and Budapest became aglobal city after
its unication in 1873.[26] It also becamethe second capital of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, agreat power that dissolved in 1918,
following World WarI. Budapest was the focal point of the Hungarian
Revo-lution of 1848, the Hungarian Republic of Councils of1919,
Operation Panzerfaust in 1944, the Battle of Bu-dapest in 1945, and
the Revolution of 1956.Cited as one of the most beautiful cities
inEurope,[9][27][28] Budapests extensive World Her-itage Site
includes the banks of the Danube, the BudaCastle Quarter, Andrssy
Avenue, Heroes Square andthe Millennium Underground Railway, the
second-oldest metro line in the world.[27][29] It has around
80geothermal springs,[30] the worlds largest thermal watercave
system,[31] second largest synagogue, and thirdlargest Parliament
building. The city attracts about 4.4million tourists a year,
making it the 25th most popularcity in the world, and the 6th in
Europe, according toEuromonitor.[32]
Considered a nancial hub in Central Europe,[33] thecity ranked
third on Mastercard's Emerging Markets In-
dex,[34] and ranked as the most liveable Central or East-ern
European city on EIU's quality of life index.[35][36]It is also
ranked as the worlds second best city byCond Nast Traveler,[37] and
Europes 7th most idyllicplace to live by Forbes,[38] It is the
highest ranked Cen-tral/Eastern European city on Innovation Cities
Top 100index.[39][40]
Budapest is home to the headquarters of the EuropeanInstitute of
Innovation and Technology (EIT),[41] andthe rst foreign oce of the
China Investment Promo-tion Agency (CIPA).[42] Eighteen
universities are situatedin Budapest, including the Central
European University,Etvs Lornd University and the Budapest
University ofTechnology and Economics.
1 EtymologyBudapest is the combination of the city names Budaand
Pest, which were (together with buda) united into asingle city in
1873.[43] One of the rst documented occur-rences of the combined
name Buda-Pest was in 1831 inthe book Vilg (World / Light), written
by CountIstvn Szchenyi.[44]
The origins of the names Buda and Pest are obscure. Ac-cording
to chronicles from the Middle Ages the nameBuda comes from the name
of its founder, Bleda (Buda),the brother of the Hunnic ruler
Attila. The theory thatBuda was named after a person is also
supported bymodern scholars.[45] An alternative explanation
suggeststhat Buda derives from the Slavic word , voda (wa-ter), a
translation of the Latin name Aquincum, whichwas the main Roman
settlement in the region.[46]
There are also several theories about the origin of thename
Pest. One of the theories[47] claims that theword Pest comes from
the Roman times, since therewas a fortress "Contra-Aquincum" in
this region whichwas referred to as Pession ("", iii.7.2)
byPtolemaios.[48] According to another theory, Pest origi-nates
from the Slavic word for cave ", peshchera"or from the word for
oven (, pech), in reference to acave where res burned or to a local
limekiln.[49]
2 HistoryMain articles: History of Budapest and Timeline
ofBudapest
1
-
2 2 HISTORY
2.1 Early history
The rst settlement on the territory of Budapest was builtby
Celts[19] before 1 AD. It was later occupied by theRomans. The
Roman settlement Aquincum becamethe main city of Pannonia Inferior
in 106 AD.[19] Atrst it was a military settlement and gradually the
cityraised around it becoming the focal point of the commer-cial
life. Today this area correspond to the buda dis-trict within
Budapest.[50] The Romans constructed roads,amphitheaters, baths and
houses with heated oors in thisfortied military camp.[51] Acquincum
is the foremostand best-conserved of the Roman sites in Hungary.
Thearchaeological site was turned into a museum with insideand
open-air section.
Buda during the Middle Ages, woodcut from the NurembergChronicle
(1493)
The peace treaty of 829 added Pannonia to Bulgariadue to the
victory of Bulgarian army of Omurtag overthe Holy Roman Empire of
Louis the Pious. Budapestarose out of two Bulgarian military
frontiers, fortressesBuda and Pest, situated on the two banks of
Danube.[52]Hungarians led by rpd settled in the territory at theend
of the 9th century,[21][53] and a century later ociallyfounded the
Kingdom of Hungary.[21] Research placesthe probable residence of
the rpds as an early place ofcentral power near what became
Budapest.[54] The Tatarinvasion in the 13th century quickly proved
that defence isdicult on a plain.[17][21] King Bla IV of Hungary
there-fore ordered the construction of reinforced stone wallsaround
the towns[21] and set his own royal palace[22] onthe top of the
protecting hills of Buda. In 1361[22] it be-came the capital of
Hungary.[17]
The cultural role of Buda was particularly signicant dur-ing the
reign of King Matthias Corvinus. The Italian Re-naissance had a
great inuence on the city. His library,the Bibliotheca Corviniana,
was Europe's greatest collec-tion of historical chronicles and
philosophic and scien-tic works in the 15th century, and second
only in sizeto the Vatican Library.[17] After the foundation of
therst Hungarian university in Pcs in 1367 (University ofPcs), the
second one was established in buda in 1395(University of buda).[55]
The rst Hungarian book wasprinted in Buda in 1473.[56] Buda had
about 5,000 inhab-
itants around 1500.[57]
Siege of Buda in 1686
The Ottomans pillaged Buda in 1526, besieged it in 1529,and
nally occupied it in 1541.[58] The Turkish occupa-tion lasted for
more than 140 years.[17] The Turks con-structed many ne bathing
facilities within the city.[21]Some of the baths that the Turks
erected during theiroccupation period are still in function after
500 years(Rudas Baths and Kirly Baths). Under Ottoman rulemany
Christians became Muslim. By 1547 the numberof Christians was down
to about a thousand, and by 1647it had fallen to only about
seventy.[57] The unoccupiedwestern part of the country became part
of the HabsburgEmpire as Royal Hungary.In 1686, two years after the
unsuccessful siege of Buda,a renewed campaign was started to enter
the Hungar-ian capital. This time, the Holy League's army wastwice
as large, containing over 74,000 men, includingGerman, Croat,
Dutch, Hungarian, English, Spanish,Czech, Italian, French,
Burgundian, Danish and Swedishsoldiers, along with other Europeans
as volunteers, ar-tillerymen, and ocers, the Christian forces
reconqueredBuda, and in the next few years, all of the former
Hungar-ian lands, except areas near Timioara (Temesvr), weretaken
from the Turks. In the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitzthese territorial
changes were ocially recognised, andin 1718 the entire Kingdom of
Hungary was removedfrom Ottoman rule. The city was destroyed during
thebattle.[17] Hungary was then incorporated into the Habs-burg
Empire.[17]
2.2 Contemporary history after Unica-tion
The 19th century was dominated by the Hungarian strug-gle for
independence[17] and modernisation. The nationalinsurrection
against the Habsburgs began in the Hungar-ian capital in 1848 and
was defeated a little more thana year later. 1867 was the year of
Reconciliation thatbrought about the birth of Austria-Hungary. This
madeBudapest the twin capital of a dual monarchy. It wasthis
compromise which opened the second great phaseof development in the
history of Budapest, lasting un-til World War I. In 1849 the Chain
Bridge linking Buda
-
2.2 Contemporary history after Unication 3
The Hungarian State Opera House, built in the time of
Austria-Hungary
Millennium Underground (18941896), the second oldest metroin the
world (after the Metropolitan Line of London Under-ground)
Buda Castle in the 1930s
with Pest was opened as the rst permanent bridge acrossthe
Danube[59] and in 1873 Buda and Pest were o-cially merged with the
third part, buda (Ancient Buda),thus creating the new metropolis of
Budapest. The dy-namic Pest grew into the countrys administrative,
politi-cal, economic, trade and cultural hub. Ethnic Hungarians
overtook Germans in the second half of the 19th cen-tury due to
mass migration from the overpopulated ru-ral Transdanubia and Great
Hungarian Plain. Between1851 and 1910 the proportion of Hungarians
increasedfrom 35.6% to 85.9%, Hungarian became the
dominantlanguage, and German was crowded out. The propor-tion of
Jews peaked in 1900 with 23.6%.[60][61][62] Dueto the prosperity
and the large Jewish community of thecity at the start of the 20th
century, Budapest was of-ten called the Jewish Mecca[63] or
Judapest.[64][65] In1918, Austria-Hungary lost the war and
collapsed; Hun-gary declared itself an independent republic
(Republicof Hungary). In 1920 the Treaty of Trianon partitionedthe
country, and as a result, Hungary lost over two-thirds of its
territory, and about two-thirds of its in-habitants, including 3.3
million out of 10 million ethnicHungarians.[66][67]
In 1944, about one year before the end of World War II,Budapest
was partly destroyed by British and Americanair raids (rst attack 4
April 1944,[68][69][70]). From 24December 1944 to 13 February 1945,
the city was be-sieged during the Battle of Budapest. Budapest
suf-fered major damage caused by the attacking Sovietand Romanian
troops and the defending German andHungarian troops. More than
38,000 civilians lost theirlives during the conict. All bridges
were destroyedby the Germans. The stone lions that have
decoratedthe Chain Bridge since 1852 survived the devastation ofthe
war. Between 20% and 40% of Greater Budapests250,000 Jewish
inhabitants died through Nazi and ArrowCross Party genocide during
1944 and early 1945.[71] TheSwedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg
managed to save thelives of tens of thousands of Jews in Budapest
by givingthem Swedish passports and taking them under his con-sular
protection[72] (also see Hungary during World WarII).In 1949,
Hungary was declared a communist PeoplesRepublic (Peoples Republic
of Hungary). The newCommunist government considered the buildings
like theBuda Castle symbols of the former regime, and duringthe
1950s the palace was gutted and all the interiors weredestroyed
(also see Stalin era). On 23 October 1956 citi-zens held a large
peaceful demonstration in Budapest de-manding democratic changes.
The demonstrators went tothe Budapest radio station and demanded to
publish theirdemands. The regime ordered troops to shoot into
thecrowd. Hungarian soldiers gave ries to the demonstra-tors who
were now able to capture the building. This wasthe beginning of the
Hungarian Revolution. The demon-strators demanded to appoint Imre
Nagy to be PrimeMinister of Hungary. To their surprise, the central
com-mittee of the "Hungarian Working Peoples Party" did sothat same
evening. This uprising was an anti-Soviet revoltthat lasted from 23
October until 11 November. AfterNagy had declared that Hungary was
to leave theWarsawPact and become neutral, Soviet tanks and troops
enteredthe country to crush the revolt. Fighting continued
until
-
4 3 GEOGRAPHY
Hungarian Jewish WWII Memorial
mid November, leaving more than 3000 dead. A monu-ment was
erected at the ftieth anniversary of the revolt in2006, at the edge
of the City Park. Its shape is a wedgewith a 56 angle degree made
in rusted iron that gradu-ally becomes shiny, ending in an
intersection to symboliseHungarian forces that temporarily
eradicated the Com-munist leadership.From the 1960s to the late
1980s Hungary was oftensatirically referred to as "the happiest
barrack" within theEastern bloc, and much of the wartime damage to
the citywas nally repaired. Work on Erzsbet Bridge, the lastto be
rebuilt, was nished in 1964. In the early 1970s,Budapest Metro's
East-West M2 line was rst opened,followed by the M3 line in 1976.
In 1987, Buda Cas-tle and the banks of the Danube were included in
theUNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Andrassy Avenue(including
the Millennium Underground Railway, Hsktere, and Vrosliget) was
added to the UNESCO list in2002. In the 1980s, the citys population
reached 2.1 mil-lion. In recent times a signicant decrease in
populationoccurred mainly due to a massive movement to the
neigh-bouring agglomeration in Pest county.In the last decades of
the 20th century the politicalchanges of 198990 (Fall of the Iron
Curtain) concealedchanges in civil society and along the streets of
Budapest.The monuments of the dictatorship were removed frompublic
places, into Memento Park. In the rst 20 yearsof the new democracy,
the development of the city was
managed by its mayor, Gbor Demszky.
2.3 Historical timeline
Aquincum Museum (Aquincum was the capital of the Romanprovince
of Pannonia.)
The tomb of the Turkish dervish Gl Baba in Budapest
The Recapture of Buda Castle (1686)
3 Geography
3.1 TopographyBudapest, strategically placed at the centre of
theCarpathian Basin, lies on an ancient route linking the hills
-
3.1 Topography 5
Andrssy Avenue (1875)
Gresham Palace
Gerbeaud Confectionery
of Transdanubia with the Great Plain. By road it is
216kilometres (134mi) south-east of Vienna, 545 kilometres(339 mi)
south of Warsaw, 1,565 kilometres (972 mi)south-west of Moscow,
1,122 kilometres (697 mi) northof Athens, 788 kilometres (490 mi)
north-east of Milan,and 443 kilometres (275 mi) south-east of
Prague.[75]
The 525 square kilometres (203 sq mi) area of Budapestlies in
Central Hungary surrounded by settlements of the
Duna sor - cca. 1930
Satellite imagery illustrating the core of the Budapest
Metropoli-tan Area
agglomeration in Pest county. The capital extends 25 and29 km
(16 and 18 mi) in the north-south, east-west di-rection
respectively. The Danube enters the city fromthe north; later it
encircles two islands, buda Island andMargaret Island.[17] The
third island Csepel Island is thelargest of the Budapest Danube
islands, however only itsnorthernmost tip is within city limits.
The river that sepa-rates the two parts of the city is 230 m (755
ft) wide at itsnarrowest point in Budapest. Pest lies on the at
terrainof the Great Plain while Buda is rather hilly.[17]
The wide Danube was always fordable at this point be-cause of a
small number of islands in the middle of theriver. The city has
marked topographical contrasts: Budais built on the higher river
terraces and hills of the west-ern side, while the considerably
larger Pest spreads outon a at and featureless sand plain on the
rivers oppositebank.[76] Pests terrain rises with a slight eastward
gradi-ent, so the easternmost parts of the city lie at the
samealtitude as Budas smallest hills, notably Gellrt Hill andCastle
Hill.The Buda hills consist mainly of limestone and dolomite,
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6 4 CITYSCAPE
the water created speleothems, the most famous onesbeing the
Plvlgyi cave (total length 7200 m) and theSzemlhegyi cave (total
length 2200 m). The hills wereformed in the Triassic Period. The
highest point of thehills and of Budapest is Jnos hill, at
527metres (1,729 ft)above sea level. The lowest point is the line
of the Danubewhich is 96 metres (315 ft) above sea level. Budapest
isalso rich in green areas. Of the 525 square kilometres(203 sq mi)
occupied by the city, 83 square kilometres(32 sq mi) is green area,
park and forest.[77] The forestsof Buda hills are environmentally
protected.The citys importance in terms of trac is very
central,because all major European roads and European rail-way
lines lead to Budapest.[78] The Danube was and isstill an important
water-way and this region in the centreof the Carpathian Basin lies
at the cross-roads of traderoutes.[79] Budapest is the only capital
city in the worldwhich has thermal springs. Some 125 springs
produce70 million litres of thermal water a day, with tempera-tures
ranging up to 58 Celsius. Some of these waters havemedicinal eects
due to their medically valuable mineralcontents.[78]
3.2 ClimateMain article: Climate of BudapestThe city centre has
an oceanic climate (Cfb), according
The City Park Ice Rink in City Park with Vajdahunyad Castle
inthe background in winter
to the Kppen climate classication system.[80] Due to itsposition
far from any moderating bodies of water, thereare still large
temperature dierences between seasons,but winters are too mild to
be classied as humid conti-nental. Winter (November until early
March) can be coldand the city receives little sunshine. Snowfall
is fairly fre-quent in most years, and nighttime temperatures of
10C (14 F) are not uncommon between mid-Decemberand mid-February.
The spring months (March and April)see variable conditions, with a
rapid increase in the aver-age temperature. The weather in late
March and Aprilis often very agreeable during the day and fresh at
night.Budapests long summer - lasting from May until mid-
September - is warm or very warm. Budapest has asmuchsummer
sunshine as many Mediterranean resorts. Sud-den heavy showers also
occur, particularly in May andJune. The autumn in Budapest
(mid-September until lateOctober) is characterised by little rain
and long sunnydays with moderate temperatures. Temperatures
oftenturn abruptly colder in late October.Mean annual precipitation
in Budapest is around 23.5inches (600 mm). On average, there are 78
days withprecipitation and 1988 hours of sunshine (of a
possible4383) each year.[2][81][82]
The city lies on the boundary between Zone 6 and Zone7 in terms
of the hardiness zone.[83][84]
4 Cityscape
Panorama of Budapest photographed from Gellrt Hill,showing from
left to right the Matthias Church, BudaCastle, Szchenyi Chain
Bridge, Danube Promenade andthe Parliament
The same panorama at night
-
4.1 Architecture 7
4.1 ArchitectureSee also: Category:Buildings and structures in
BudapestBudapest has architecturally noteworthy buildings in a
Buda Castle at night viewed from Danube Promenade
wide range of styles and from distinct time periods, fromthe
ancient times as Roman City of Aquincum in buda(District III),
which dates to around 89 AD, to the mostmodern Palace of Arts, the
contemporary arts museumand concert hall.[86][87][88]
Most buildings in Budapest are relatively low: in the early2010s
there were around 100 buildings higher than 45metres (148 ft). The
number of high-rise buildings is keptlow by building legislation,
which is aimed at preservingthe historic cityscape and to meet the
requirements of theWorld Heritage Site. Strong rules apply to the
planning,authorisation and construction of high-rise buildings
andconsequently much of the inner city does not have any.But
Budapest is planning to ease rules for the constructionof
skyscrapers and in the near future would like to buildskyscrapers
around the citys historic core.[89][90][91]
The ruins of the civil town of Aquincum and the Museum in
Bu-dapest
In the chronological order of architectural styles
Budapestrepresents on the entire timeline. Start with the RomanCity
of Aquincum represents the ancient architecture.The next
determinative style is the Gothic architecture inBudapest. The few
remaining ones can be found in theCastle District. Buildings to
look for are no. 18, 20 and22 on Orszghz Street, which date back to
the 14th cen-tury and No. 31 ri Street, which has a Gothic
faade
Matthias Church in Budapest, built in Gothic style
The worldwide best known building of Budapest, the
HungarianParliament, completed in 1904.
that dates back to the 15th century. Another buildingwith Gothic
remains is the Inner City Parish Church inPest, built in the 12th
century.[92] The most character-istic Gothic-style buildings are
actually Neo-Gothic, likethe most well-known Budapest landmarks,
the HungarianParliament Building and the Matthias Church, wheremuch
of the original material was used (originally builtin Romanesque
style in 1015).
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8 4 CITYSCAPE
The next chapter of the human architecture is theRenaissance
architecture and one of the earliest placesto be inuenced by the
Renaissance style of architecturewas Hungary and Budapest. The
style appeared follow-ing the marriage of King Matthias Corvinus
and Beatriceof Naples in 1476. Many Italian artists, craftsmen
andmasons came to Buda with the new queen. Today, manyof the
original renaissance buildings disappeared duringthe varied history
of Buda, but Budapest is still rich in re-naissance and
neo-renaissance buildings, like the famousHungarian State Opera
House, the St. Stephens Basilicaand the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences.During the Turkish occupation (1541-1686), multiplemosques
and baths were built in the city. These weregreat examples of
Ottoman architecture, which was in-uenced by Iranian, and to a
larger extent, Byzantine ar-chitecture as well as Islamic
traditions. Budapest is in factone of the few places in the world
with functioning orig-inal Turkish bathhouses dating back to the
16th century,like Rudas Baths or Kirly Baths. Another little
knownfact is that Budapest is home to the northernmost holyplace of
Islam, the Tomb of Gl Baba, tomb of a Turkishdervish. After 1686,
the Baroque architecture designatedthe dominant style of art in
catholic countries from the17th century to the 18th century.
University Church (Egyetemi templom), an excellent example
ofBaroque architecture in Budapest
There are many Baroque-style buildings in Budapest andone of the
nest examples of original Baroque-style archi-tecture is the Church
of St. Anna in Batthyhny square.An interesting part of Budapest is
the less touristy buda,the main square of which also has some
beautiful his-toric buildings with original Baroque faades. The
Cas-tle District is another place to visit where the
best-knownlandmark Buda Royal Palace and many other buildingswere
built in the Baroque style.The Classical architecture and
Neoclassical architectureare the next in the timeline. Budapest had
not one buttwo architects that were masters of the Classicist
style.Mihly Pollack (1773-1855) and Jzsef Hild (1789-1867), built
many beautiful Classicist-style buildings inthe city. Some of the
best examples are the Hungarian
The most famous Budapest bridge, the Chain Bridge, the icon
ofthe citys 19th century development, built in 1849.
NationalMuseum, the Lutheran Church of Budavr (bothdesigned by
Pollack) and the seat of the Hungarian pres-ident, the Sndor
Palace. The most iconic Classicist-style attraction in Budapest,
themost widely knownChainBridge. A bit of maverick in architectural
styles the Ro-manticism. Budapests two most beautiful Romantic
ar-chitecture buildings are the Great Synagogue in DohnyStreet and
the Vigad Concert Hall on the Danube Prom-enade, both designed by
architect Frigyes Feszl (1821-1884). Another noteworthy structure
is the BudapestWestern Railway Station, which was designed by
Augustde Serres and built by the Eiel Company of Paris in1877.Art
Nouveau came into fashion in Budapest by the ex-hibitions which
were held in and around 1896 and or-ganised in connection with the
Hungarian Millenniumcelebrations.[93] Art Nouveau in Hungary
(Szecesszi inHungarian) is a blend of several architectural styles,
witha focus on Hungarys specialities. One of the leading ArtNouveau
architects, dn Lechner (18451914), was in-spired by Indian and
Syrian architecture as well as tra-ditional Hungarian decorative
designs. One of his mostbeautiful buildings in Budapest is the
Museum of Ap-plied Arts. Another examples for Art Nouveau in
Bu-dapest is the GreshamPalace in front of the Chain Bridge,the
Hotel Gellrt, the Franz Liszt Academy of Music orBudapest Zoo and
Botanical Garden.[86]
In the 21st century, Budapest faces new challenges in
itsarchitecture. The pressure towards the high-rise build-ings is
unequivocal among todays world cities, but pre-serving Budapests
unique cityscape and its very diversearchitecture, along with green
areas, is force Budapestto balance between them. The Contemporary
architec-ture has wide margin in the city. Public spaces
attractheavy investment by business and government also, sothat the
city has gained entirely new (or renovated andredesigned) squares,
parks and monuments, for exam-ple the city central Kossuth Lajos
square, Dek Ferencsquare and Liberty Square. Budapests current
urbanlandscape is one of the modern and contemporary ar-chitecture.
Numerous landmarks are created in the lastdecade in Budapest, like
the National Theatre, Palace of
-
9Icons of 21st-century Budapest, the modern architecture
andhigh-end oces
Arts, Rkczi Bridge, Megyeri Bridge, Budapest AirportSky Court
among others, and millions of square metersof new oce buildings and
apartments. But there arestill large opportunities in real estate
development in thecity.[94][95][96]
4.2 Districts
Main article: List of districts in Budapest
Most of todays Budapest is the result of a
late-nineteenth-century renovation, but the wide boulevardslain
then only bordered and bisected much older quar-ters of activity
created by centuries of Budapests cityevolution. Budapests vast
urban area is often describedusing a set of district names. These
are either infor-mal designations, reect the names of villages that
havebeen absorbed by sprawl, or are superseded administra-tive
units of former boroughs.[98] Such names have re-mained in use
through tradition, each referring to a localarea with its own
distinctive character, but without o-cial boundaries.[99]
Originally Budapest had 10 districtsafter coming into existence
upon the unication of thethree cities in 1873. Since 1950, Greater
Budapest hasbeen divided into 22 boroughs (and 23 since 1994).
Atthat time there were changes both in the order of districtsand in
their sizes. The city now consists of 23 districts, 6in Buda, 16 in
Pest and 1 on Csepel Island between them.The city centre itself in
a broader sense comprises the
District V, VI, VII, VIII, IX[100] and XIII on the
Pestside,[101] and the I, II, XI and XII on the Buda side ofthe
city.District I is a small area in central Buda, including
thehistoric Buda Castle. District II is in Buda again, in
thenorthwest, and District III stretches along in the northern-most
part of Buda. To reach District IV, one must crossthe Danube to nd
it in Pest (the eastern side), also atnorth. With District V,
another circle begins, it is locatedin the absolute centre of Pest.
Districts VI, VII, VIII andIX are the neighbouring areas to the
east, going south-wards, one after the other. District X is
another, moreexternal circle also in Pest, while one must jump to
theBuda side again to nd Districts XI and XII, going north-wards.
No more districts remaining in Buda in this circle,we must turn our
steps to Pest again to nd Districts XIII,XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII,
XIX and XX (mostly ex-ternal city parts), almost regularly in a
semicircle, goingsouthwards again. District XXI is the extension of
theabove route over a branch of the Danube, the northerntip of a
long island south from Budapest. District XXII isstill on the same
route in southwest Buda, and nally Dis-trict XXIII is again in
southernmost Pest, irregular onlybecause it was part of District XX
until 1994.
5 DemographicsMain article: Demographics of Budapest
Budapest is the most populous city in Hungary andone of the
largest cities in the European Union, with agrowing number of
inhabitants, estimated at 1,742,000in 2014, whereby inward
migration exceeds outwardmigration.[9] These trends are also seen
throughout theBudapest metropolitan area, which is home to 3.3
millionpeople.[6][112] This amounts to about 34% of
Hungary'spopulation. In 2014, the city had a population density
-
10 6 ECONOMY
of 3,314 people per square kilometre (8,580/sq mi), ren-dering
it the most densely populated of all municipali-ties in Hungary.
The population density of District VII(Elisabethtown) is 30,989/km
(80,260/sq mi), which isthe highest population density gure in
Hungary and oneof the highest in the world (for comparison the
density inManhattan is 25,846/km[113]).Budapest is the fourth most
dynamically growing cityby population in Europe,[114] and the
Euromonitor pre-dicts a population increase of almost 10% between
2005and 2030.[115] The European Observation Network forTerritorial
Development and Cohesion says Budapestspopulation will increase by
10% to 30% only due to mi-gration by 2050.[116] A constant inow of
migrants inrecent years has fuelled population growth in
Budapest.Productivity gains and the relatively large
economicallyactive share of the population explain why household
in-comes have increased in Budapest to a greater extent thanin
other parts of Hungary. Higher incomes in Budapestare reected in
the lower share of expenditure the citysinhabitants allocate to
necessity spending such as foodand non-alcoholic drinks.[6]
At the 2011 census, there were 1,729,040 people with906,782
households living in Budapest.[117] Some 1.6million persons from
the metropolitan area may be withinBudapests boundaries during work
hours, and duringspecial events. This uctuation of people is caused
byhundreds of thousands of suburban residents who travelto the city
for work, education, health care, and spe-cial events. By ethnicity
there were 1,397,851 (80.8%)Hungarians, 19,530 (1.1%) Romani,
18,278 (1.0%)Germans, 6,189 (0.4%) Romanians, 4,692 (0.3%)Chinese
and 2,581 (0.1%) Slovaks. 301,943 people(17.5%) did not declare
their ethnicity. In Hungary peo-ple can declare more than one
ethnicity, so the sum ofethnicities is higher than the total
population.[108][118] Thecity is home to one of the largest Jewish
community inEurope.[119]
Sziget Festival Budapest. One of the largest music festivals
inEurope provides a multicultural, diverse meeting point for
localsand foreigners every year.
According to the same census, 1,600,585 people (92.6%)were born
in Hungary, 126,036 people (7.3%) outside
Hungary while the birthplace of 2,419 people (0.1%)was
unknown.[108] Although only 1.7% of the popula-tion of Hungary in
2009 were foreigners, 43% of themlived in Budapest, making them
4.4% of the citys pop-ulation (up from 2% in 2001).[109] Nearly
two-thirds offoreigners living in Hungary were under 40 years
old.The primary motivation for this age group living in Hun-gary
was employment.[109] According to the 2011 census,1,712,153 people
(99.0%) speak Hungarian, of whom1,692,815 people (97.9%) speak it
as a rst language,while 19,338 people (1.1%) speak it as a second
lan-guage. Other spoken (foreign) languages were: English(536,855
speakers, 31.0%), German (266,249 speakers,15.4%), French (56,208
speakers, 3.3%) and Russian(54,613 speakers, 3.2%).[108]
According to the 2011 census, there were 501,117(29.0%) Roman
Catholics, 146,756 (8.5%) Calvinists,30,293 (1.8%) Lutherans,
16,192 (0.9%) GreekCatholics, 7,925 (0.5%) Jews and 3,710
(0.2%)Orthodox in Budapest. 395,964 people (22.9%) wereirreligious
while 585,475 people (33.9%) did not declaretheir religion.[108] A
Hungarian Central Statistical Ocereport showed that also, the
proportion of Romaniin Budapest increased from 2% in 1990 to 4.6%
in2009.[14][109]
6 EconomyFurther information: List of companies based in
Bu-dapest and Economy of HungaryBudapest is a signicant economic
hub, classied as an
Danube Towers in Central Business District of Budapest. It
hostsheadquarters and oces of OTP Bank and Erste Bank
Alpha- World city (known as major world city) in thestudy of
Globalization and World Cities Research Net-work.[120] On the
national level Budapest is denitelythe primate city of Hungary
regarding the economy andbusiness, accounting for 39% of the
national income.[121]Budapest had a gross metropolitan product of
almost$100 billion in 2012,[122] making it one of the largest
re-gional economy in the European Union. According to
-
6.1 Finance and corporate location 11
the Eurostat GDP per capita in purchasing power parityis 147% of
the EU average in Budapest, which means37.632 ($52.770) per
capita.[7] Budapest is also amongthe Top 100 GDP performing cities
in the world, mea-sured by PricewaterhouseCoopers.[123]
WestEnd City Center is the largest mall in Central Europe
ING Bank Budapest headquarters and analyses centre
The city was named as the 52nd most important businesscentre in
the world in the MasterCard Worldwide Cen-tres of Commerce Index,
ahead of Beijing, Sao Paulo,Warsaw or Athens and ranking 3rd (out
of 65 cities) onMastercard Emerging Markets Index.[34][124] The
city is48th on the UBS The most expensive and richest citiesin the
world list, standing before cities such as Prague,Shanghai, Kuala
Lumpur or Buenos Aires.[125] In a globalcity competitiveness
ranking by EIU, Budapest is standsbefore Moscow, Tel Aviv, Lisbon,
Johannesburg among
others.[126] The city is a major centre for banking andnance,
retailing, trade, transportation, tourism, real es-tate, new media
as well as traditional media, advertising,legal services,
accountancy, insurance, fashion and thearts in Hungary and
regionally. Budapest is home not onlyto almost all national
institutions and government agen-cies, but also to many domestic
and international compa-nies, in 2014 there are 393.289 companies
registered inthe city.[127] Most of these entities are
headquartered inthe Budapests Central Business District, in the
District5 and 13. The retail market of the city (and the coun-try)
is also concentrated in the downtown, among othersthrough the two
largest shopping centre in Central andEastern Europe, the WestEnd
City Center (186,000sqmtotal) and the Arena Plaza (180,000sqm
total).[128][129]
Budapest has notable innovation capabilities as a technol-ogy
and start-up hub, many start-ups are headquarteredand begin its
business in the city, for instance deserve tomention the most
well-known Prezi, LogMeIn or Nav NGo. A good indicator of the citys
potential for innova-tion and research also, is that the European
Institute ofInnovation and Technology chose Budapest for its
head-quarters, along with the UN, which Regional Represen-tation
for Central Europe oce is in the city, responsi-ble for UN
operations in seven countries.[130] Moreover,the global aspect of
the citys research activity is shownthrough the establishment of
the European Chinese Re-search Institute in the city.[131] Other
important sectorsinclude also, as natural science research,
informationtechnology and medical research, non-prot
institutions,and universities. The leading business schools and
uni-versities in Budapest, the Budapest Business School, theCEU
Business School and Corvinus University of Bu-dapest oers a whole
range of courses in economics,nance and management in English,
French, German andHungarian.[132] The unemployment rate is far the
low-est in Budapest within Hungary, it was 2.7%, besides themany
thousands of employed foreign citizens.[133]
Budapest is among the 25th most visited places in theworld, the
city welcoming more than 4.3 million inter-national visitors each
year,[134] therefore the traditionaland the congress tourism
industry also deserve a mention,it contributes greatly to the citys
economy, the capitalbeing home to many convention centre and
thousands ofrestaurants, bars, coee houses and party places,
besidesthe full assortment of hotels. In restaurant oerings canbe
found the highest quality Michelin-starred restaurants,like Onyx,
Costes or Borkonyha. The city ranked as themost liveable city in
Central and Eastern Europe on EIU'squality of life index in
2010.[135]
6.1 Finance and corporate locationThe Budapest Stock Exchange,
key institution of the pub-licly oered securities in Hungary and
Central Europe issituated on Andrssy Avenue. Budapest is also a
mainbase for CEE Stock Exchange Group through Budapest
-
12 7 POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT
Gedeon Richter research and development seat in Budapest
Stock Exchange which is one of the most important mar-ket of the
group. Large Hungarian multinational corpo-rations headquartered in
Budapest are listed on BSE, e.g.the Fortune Global 500 rmMOL Group,
the OTP BankGroup, FHB Bank, Gedeon Richter, Magyar Telekom,CIG
Pannonia, Danubius Hotels Group and more.[136]
Nowadays nearly all branches of industry can be foundin
Budapest, there is no particularly special industryin the citys
economy, but the nancial centre role ofthe city is strong, nearly
40 major banks are presentedin the city,[137] also those like Bank
of China, KDBBank and Hanwha Bank, which is unique in the re-gion.
Also support the nancial industry of Budapest,the rms of
international banks and nancial serviceproviders, such as
Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, GE Cap-ital, Deutsche Bank, Sberbank,
ING Group, Allianz,KBC Group, UniCredit and MSCI among others.
An-other particularly strong industry in the capital city
isbiotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, these arealso
traditionally strong in Budapest, through domes-tic companies, as
Egis, Gedeon Richter, Chinoin andthrough international
biotechnology corporations, likePzer, Teva, Novartis, Sano, who are
also has R&Dand production division here. Further high-tech
indus-tries, such as software development, engineering notableas
well, the Nokia, Ericcson, Bosch, Microsoft, IBM em-ploys thousands
of engineers in research and develop-ment in the city. Game design
also highly representedthrough headquarters of Digital Reality,
Black Holeand studio of Crytek or Gameloft. Beyond the above,there
are regional headquarters of global rms, such asAlcoa, General
Motors, GE, ExxonMobil, British Petrol,Hudson Legal, British
Telecom, Flextronics, PanasonicCorp, Huawei, Knorr-Bremse, Liberty
Global, Tata Con-sultancy, Aegon, WizzAir, TriGrnit, MVM
Group,Graphisoft, there is a base for Nissan CEE, Volvo, Saab,Ford,
including but not limited to.[138]
United Nations conference in the assembly hall of House of
Mag-nates
The original and the future seat of The Curia, the highest
courtin Hungary
President George W. Bush meets with Hungarian PresidentLszl
Slyom at Sndor Palace in Budapest
7 Politics and governmentMain article: Politics of Hungary
As the capital of Hungary, Budapest is the seat of thecountrys
national government. For the executive, thetwo chief ocers each
have their own ocial resi-dences, which also serve as their oces.
The Presidentof Hungary resides at the Sndor Palace in the
Dis-trict I (Buda Castle District),[139] while the oce of
theHungarian Prime Minister is in the Hungarian Parlia-ment.
Government ministries are all located in variousparts of the city,
most of them are in the District V,
-
7.1 City governance 13
Leopoldtown. The National Assembly is seats in theHungarian
Parliament, which also located in the DistrictV.[140] The President
of the National Assembly, the third-highest public ocial in
Hungary, is also seats in thelargest building in the country, in
the Hungarian Parlia-ment.Hungarys highest courts are located in
Budapest. TheCuria (supreme court of Hungary), the highest court
inthe judicial order, which reviews criminal and civil cases,is
located in the District V, Leopoldtown. Under the au-thority of its
President it has three departments: criminal,civil and
administrative-labour law departments. Eachdepartment has various
chambers. The Curia guaran-tees the uniform application of law. The
decisions ofthe Curia on uniform jurisdiction are binding for
othercourts.[141] In order, the second most important
judicialauthority, the National Judicial Council is also seats
inthe District V, with the power of controlling the nan-cial
management of the judicial administration and thatof the courts and
giving an opinion on the practice ofthe president of the National
Oce for the Judiciaryand the Curia deciding about the applications
of judgesand court leaders, among others.[142] The
ConstitutionalCourt of Hungary is one of the highest level
indepen-dent actor of the politics in the country. The
Constitu-tional Court serves as the main body for the protectionof
the Constitution, its tasks being the review of the
con-stitutionality of statutes. The Constitutional Court per-forms
its tasks independently. With its own budget and itsjudges being
elected by Parliament it does not constitutea part of the ordinary
judicial system. The constitutionalcourt passes on the
constitutionality of laws, and there isno right of appeal on these
decisions.[143]
Budapest hosts the main and regional headquartersof many
international organisations as well, includ-ing United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees,Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Na-tions, European Institute of Innovation and Technol-ogy,
European Police Academy, International Centre forDemocratic
Transition, Institute of International Edu-cation, International
Labour Organization, InternationalOrganization for Migration,
International Red Cross,Regional Environmental Center for Central
and EasternEurope, Danube Commission and even others.[144] Thecity
is also home to more than 100 embassies and repre-sentative bodies
as an international political actor.[145]
Environmental issues has a high priority among Bu-dapests
politics. In this context, such institutions as theRegional
Environmental Center for Central and East-ern Europe, located in
Budapest, are very importantassets.[146] To decrease the usage of
cars individually andthe greenhouse gas emissions, the city
determined in thepast the improvement of the public transport, and
nowa-days the city has one of the highest mass transit usagein
Europe. Budapest has one of the best public trans-port systems in
Europe with an ecient network of buses,trolleys, trams and subway.
Budapest has a Europe above-
average proportion of people commuting on public trans-port or
walking and cycling.[147] Riding on bike paths,built in the last
few years, is one of the best ways tosee Budapest there are
currently about 180 kilome-tres of bicycle paths in the city, tting
into the EuroVelosystem.[148]
The crime in Budapest investigated by dierent bodies.United
Nations Oce on Drugs and Crime notes in their2011 Global Study on
Homicide that, according to crim-inal justice sources, the homicide
rate in Hungary, calcu-lated based on UN population estimates, was
1.4 in 2009,compared to Canadas rate of 1.8 that same year.[149]The
homicide rate in Budapest is below the EU capitalcities average
according to WHO also.[150] However, theorganised crime is
associated with the city, the Instituteof Defence in a UN study
named Budapest as the globalepicentres of illegal pornography,
money laundering andcontraband tobacco, and also the negotiation
center forinternational crime group leaders.[151]
7.1 City governance
Istvn Tarls, the re-elected Mayor on the 2014 local
elections.
Budapest has been a metropolitan municipality with
amayor-council form of government since its consolida-tion in 1873,
but Budapest also holds a special status asa county-level
government, and also special within that,as holds a capital-city
territory status.[152] In Budapest,the central government is
responsible for the urban plan-ning, statutory planning, public
transport, housing, wastemanagement, municipal taxes, correctional
institutions,libraries, public safety, recreational facilities,
among oth-ers. The Mayor is responsible for all city services,
policeand re protection, enforcement of all city and state
lawswithin the city, and administration of public property andmost
public agencies. Besides, each of Budapest' twenty-three districts
has its own town hall and a directly electedcouncil and the
directly elected mayor of district.Istvn Tarls, the current Mayor
was re-elected mayorfor another 5-year term on the 2014 local
elections, hereceived 49.06% of the votes.[153] He is an
independent(but supported by Fidesz) who assumed the oce rst on3
October 2010.[154] The composition of the 33 seats in
-
14 8 MAIN SIGHTS AND TOURISM
the Budapest General Assembly after the 2014 electionsis in the
table. The mayor and members of General As-sembly are elected to
ve-year terms.The Budapest General Assembly is a unicameral
bodyconsisting of 33 members, which consist of the 23 may-ors of
the districts, 9 from the electoral lists of politicalparties, plus
Mayor of Budapest (the Mayor is elected di-rectly). Each term for
the mayor and assembly memberslasts ve years.[155] Submitting the
budget of Budapest isthe responsibility of the Mayor and the
deputy-mayor incharge of nance. The latest, 2014 budget was
approvedwith 18 supporting votes from ruling Fidesz and 14
votesagainst by the opposition lawmakers.[156]
8 Main sights and tourismSee also: List of sights and historic
places in Budapestand Category:Visitor attractions in BudapestSee
also: Sights of Budapest by districtsThe neo-Gothic Parliament, the
biggest building in
Matthias Church and the Fishermans Bastion terrace over
thecity
Hungary with its 268 metres (879 ft) length, containingamongst
other things the Hungarian Crown Jewels. SaintStephens Basilica,
where the Holy Right Hand of thefounder of Hungary, King Saint
Stephen is on display.The Hungarian cuisine and caf culture: for
example,Gerbeaud Caf, and the Szzves, Biarritz, Fortuna, Al-abrdos,
Arany Szarvas, Krptia and the world famousMtys Pince Restaurants.
There are Roman remainsat the Aquincum Museum, and historic
furniture at theNagyttny Castle Museum, just 2 out of 223 museumsin
Budapest. Another historical museum is the House ofTerror, hosted
in the building that was the venue of theNazi Headquarters. The
Castle Hill, the River Danubeembankments and the whole of Andrssy t
have beenocially recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.Castle
Hill and the Castle District; there are threechurches here, six
museums, and a host of interestingbuildings, streets and squares.
The former Royal Palace isone of the symbols of Hungary and has
been the sceneof battles and wars ever since the 13th century.
Nowa-days it houses two impressive museums and the National
NewYork Palace, caf in the ground oor, named New York Cafand 107
room hotel above
Szchenyi Library. The nearby Sndor Palace containsthe oces and
ocial residence of the President ofHungary. The
seven-hundred-year-old Matthias Churchis one of the jewels of
Budapest, it is in neo-Gothicstyle, decorated with coloured
shingles and elegant pin-nacles. Next to it is an equestrian statue
of the rstking of Hungary, King Saint Stephen, and behind thatis
the Fishermans Bastion, built in 1905 by the architectFrigyes
Schulek, the Fishermens Bastions owes its nameto the namesake
corporation that during the Middle Ageswas responsible of the
defence of this part of ramparts,fromwhere opens out a panoramic
view of the whole city.Statues of the Turul, the mythical guardian
bird of Hun-gary, can be found in both the Castle District and
theTwelfth District.In Pest, arguably the most important sight is
Andrssy t.This Avenue is an elegant 2.5 km (2 mi) long
tree-linedstreet that covers the distance from Dek Ferenc tr tothe
Heroes Square. On this Avenue overlook many im-portant sites. It is
a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Asfar as Kodly krnd and Oktogon both
sides are linedwith large shops and ats built close together.
Betweenthere and Heroes Square the houses are detached
andaltogether grander. Under the whole runs continentalEurope's
oldest Underground railway, most of whose sta-tions retain their
original appearance. Heroes Square isdominated by the Millenary
Monument, with the Tombof the Unknown Soldier in front. To the
sides are theMuseum of Fine Arts and the Kunsthalle Budapest,
andbehind City Park opens out, with Vajdahunyad Castle.
-
8.1 Parks and gardening 15
Dohny Street Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Europe
One of the jewels of Andrssy t is the Hungarian StateOpera
House. Statue Park, a theme park with strikingstatues of the
Communist era, is located just outside themain city and is
accessible by public transport.The Dohny Street Synagogue is the
largest synagogue inEurope, and the second largest active synagogue
in theworld.[157] The synagogue is located in the Jewish
districttaking up several blocks in central Budapest bordered
byKirly utca, Wesselnyi utca, Grand Boulevard and Ba-jcsy
Zsilinszky road. It was built in moorish revival stylein 1859 and
has a capacity of 3000 people. Adjacentto it is a sculpture
reproducing a weeping willow treein steel to commemorate the
Hungarian victims of theHolocaust. The city is also home to the
largest medicinalbath in Europe (Szchenyi Medicinal Bath) and the
thirdlargest Parliament building in the world, once the largestin
the world. Other attractions are the bridges of the cap-ital. Seven
bridges provide crossings over the Danube,and from north to south
are: the rpd Bridge (builtin 1950 at the north of Margaret Island);
the MargaretBridge (built in 1901, destroyed during the war by an
ex-plosion and then rebuilt in 1948); the Chain Bridge (builtin
1849, destroyed during the II World War and the re-built in 1949);
the Elisabeth Bridge (completed in 1903and dedicated to the
murdered Queen Elisabeth, it wasdestroyed by the Germans during the
war and rebuilt in1964); the Liberty Bridge (opened in 1896 and
rebuiltin 1989 in Art Nouveau style); the Pet Bridge (com-pleted in
1937, destroyed during the war and rebuilt in1952); the Rkczi
Bridge (completed in 1995). Mostremarkable for their beauty are the
Margaret bridge, the
Chain bridge and the Liberty bridge. The worlds largestpanorama
photograph was created in (and of) Budapestin 2010.[158]
Tourists visiting Budapest can receive free maps andinformation
from the nonprot Budapest Festival andTourism Center at its
info-points.[159] The info centersalso oer the Budapest Card which
allows free publictransit and discounts for several museums,
restaurantsand other places of interest. Cards are available for
24,48 or 72-hour durations.[160] The city is also well knownfor its
ruin bars both day and night.[161]
City Park Lake, largest in the city
Park on Margaret Island
8.1 Parks and gardeningSee also: Category:Parks in Budapest
Budapest has many municipal parks and most have play-grounds for
children and seasonal activities like skatingin the winter and
boating in the summer. Access fromthe city center is quick and easy
with the MillenniumUnderground. Budapest has a complex park
system,with various lands operated by the Budapest City Gar-dening
Ltd.[162] The wealth of greenspace aorded byBudapests parks is
further augmented, a network ofopen spaces containing forest,
streams, and lakes that are
-
16 8 MAIN SIGHTS AND TOURISM
set aside as natural areas which lie along not for frominner
city, among others the Budapest Zoo and BotanicalGarden
(established in 1866) in the City Park.[163] Themost notably and
popular parks in Budapest are the CityPark which were established
in 1751 (302 acres) along-side with Andrassy Avenue,[164] the
Margaret Island inthe Danube (238 acres),[165] the Peoples Park and
theKopaszi Dam.[166][167]
The BudaHills also oer a variety of adventurous
outdooractivities, along with some spectacular views. A
popularplace frequented by locals is Normafa, oering activitiesfor
all seasons. With a modest ski run, it is also a winterfavorite for
skiers and snow boarders if there is enoughsnowfall.
8.2 Islands
Aerial panorama with the Margaret Island
Seven islands can be found on the Danube: Shipyard Is-land,
Margaret Island, Csepel Island, Palotai-sziget (nowa peninsula),
Npsziget, Hros-sziget, and Molnr-sziget.Notable islands
include:
Margaret Island is a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) long island and0.965 square
kilometres (238 acres) in area. Theisland mostly consists of a park
and is a popularrecreational area for tourists and locals alike.
Theisland lies between bridges Margaret Bridge (south)and rpd
Bridge (north). Dance clubs, swimmingpools, an aqua park, athletic
and tness centres, bi-cycle and running tracks can be found around
theIsland. During the day the island is occupied by peo-ple doing
sports, or just resting. In the summer (gen-erally on the weekends)
mostly young people go tothe island at night to party on its
terraces, or to recre-ate with a bottle of alcohol on a bench or on
the grass(this form of entertainment is sometimes referred toas
bench-partying).
Csepel Island (Hungarian pronunciation: [tplsit])is the largest
island of the River Danube in Hungary.It is 48 km (30 mi) long; its
width is 6 to 8 km (4to 5 mi) and its area comprises 257 km2 (99 sq
mi),whereas only the northern tip is inside the city limits.
Hajgyri-sziget ([hjoari sit], or budai-sziget) is a man-made
island located in the thirddistrict. This island hosts many
activities such as:wake-boarding, jet-skiing during the day, and
danceclubs during the night. This is the island where thefamous
Sziget Festival takes place, hosting hundredsof performances per
year and now around 400,000visitors in its last edition. Many
building projectsare taking place to make this island into one of
thebiggest entertainment centres of Europe. The planis to build
apartment buildings, hotels, casinos and amarina.
Luppa-sziget is the smallest island of Budapest andis located in
the northern region of the city.
Rock of nsg can be found in the river Danube un-der the Gellrt
mountain. It can be seen only duringa drought period when the river
level is very low.
8.3 Spas
Szchenyi Thermal Bath in City Park
One of the reasons the Romans rst colonised the areaimmediately
to the west of the River Danube and estab-lished their regional
capital at Aquincum (now part ofbuda, in northern Budapest) is so
that they could utiliseand enjoy the thermal springs. There are
still ruins vis-ible today of the enormous baths that were built
duringthat period. The new baths that were constructed duringthe
Turkish period (15411686) served both bathing andmedicinal
purposes, and some of these are still in use tothis day. Budapest
gained its reputation as a city of spasin the 1920s, following the
rst realisation of the eco-nomic potential of the thermal waters in
drawing in visi-tors. Indeed, in 1934 Budapest was ocially ranked
as aCity of Spas. Today, the baths are mostly frequented bythe
older generation, as, with the exception of the MagicBath and
Cinetrip water discos, young people tend toprefer the lidos which
are open in the summer. Construc-tion of the Kirly Baths started in
1565, and most of thepresent-day building dates from the Turkish
period, in-cluding most notably the ne cupola-topped pool. TheRudas
Baths are centrally placed in the narrow strip of
-
9.1 Airport 17
land betweenGellrt Hill and the River Danube and alsoan
outstanding example of architecture dating from theTurkish period.
The central feature is an octagonal poolover which light shines
from a 10 metres (33 ft) diametercupola, supported by eight
pillars. The Gellrt Baths andHotel were built in 1918, although
there had once beenTurkish baths on the site, and in the Middle
Ages a hos-pital. In 1927, the Baths were extended to include
thewave pool, and the eervescent bath was added in 1934.The
well-preserved Art Nouveau interior includes colour-ful mosaics,
marble columns, stained glass windows andstatues. The Lukcs Baths
are also in Buda and are alsoTurkish in origin, although they were
only revived at theend of the 19th century. This was also when the
spa andtreatment centre were founded. There is still somethingof an
atmosphere of n-de-sicle about the place, and allaround the inner
courtyard there are marble tablets recall-ing the thanks of patrons
who were cured there. Since the1950s it has been regarded as a
centre for intellectuals andartists.The Szchenyi Baths are one of
the largest bathing com-plexes in all Europe, and the only old
medicinal baths tobe found in the Pest side of the city. The
indoormedicinalbaths date from 1913 and the outdoor pools from
1927.There is an atmosphere of grandeur about the whole placewith
the bright, largest pools resembling aspects associ-ated with Roman
baths, the smaller bath tubs remindingone of the bathing culture of
the Greeks, and the saunasand diving pools borrowed from traditions
emanating innorthern Europe. The three outdoor pools (one of
whichis a fun pool) are open all year, including winter.
Indoorsthere are over ten separate pools, and a whole host
ofmedical treatments is also available. The Szcheny Bathsare built
in modern Renaissance style.
9 Infrastructure and transporta-tion
Budapest International Airport arrivals and departures
loungebetween terminal 2A and 2B, named SkyCourt
Terminal 2B international check-in area
9.1 Airport
Main article: Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport
Budapest is served by Budapest Ferenc Liszt Interna-tional
Airport(BUD) (named after Franz Liszt, the no-table Hungarian
composer), one of the busiest airportin Central and Eastern Europe,
located 16 kilometres(9.9 mi) east-southeast of the centre of
Budapest, in theDistrict XVIII. The airport oers international
connec-tions among all major European cities, and also to
NorthAmerica, Africa and the Middle East. As Hungary's bus-iest
airport, handles nearly all of the countrys air passen-ger trac.
Budapest Liszt Ferenc handled around 250scheduled ights daily in
2013, and an ever rising num-ber of charters. London, Brussels,
Frankfurt, Munich,Paris, and Amsterdam are the busiest
international con-nections respectively, while Toronto, Montreal,
Dubai,Doha and Alicante are the most unique in the
region.[168]Today the airport serves as a base for Ryanair, Wizz
Air,Budapest Aircraft Service, CityLine Hungary, FarnairHungary and
Travel Service Hungary among others. Theairport accessible via
public transportation from the citycentre by the Metro line 3 and
then the airport bus No.200E.[169]
As part of a strategic development plan, 561 millionhave spent
to expanding and modernising the airport in-frastructure until
December 2012. Most of these im-provements are already
completed,[170] the postponedones are the new cargo area and new
piers for terminal 2Aand 2B, but these development are on standby
also, andwill start immediately, when the airport trac will
reachthe appropriate level. SkyCourt, the newest, state-of-the-art
building between the 2A and 2B terminals with 5 lev-els. Passenger
safety checks were moved here along withnew baggage classiers and
the new Malv and SkyTeambusiness lounges, as well as the rst
MasterCard loungein Europe.[171]
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18 9 INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORTATION
9.2 Public transportation
Budapest metro and rapid transit network within the city and
tosuburbs
Green Line 4, a driverless metro line with real-time PIDS
systemat Klvin square, a transfer station to Blue Line 3
Alstom Metropolis on the Red Line 2 at Keleti Railway Station,an
intermodal transfer hub to Green Line 4 and railways
The Centre for Budapest Transport (BKK), thetransportation
authority of Budapest,[172] operates
one of the largest public transportation systems inEurope, which
covers the city of Budapest and 80surrounding suburbs. Budapests
public transport systemconsists of four metro lines, with Line 1
(Yellow) constructed 1896, being the second oldest in the world;
5suburban railway lines; 33 city tram lines; 15 trolleybuslines;
264 bus lines, with 40 routes providing nightbus services; 4 city
boat services plus the BuBi, thesmart bicycle sharing network with
bikes monitored bycomputer and GPS. On an average weekday, BKK
linestransports 3.9 million riders. In 2011, it handled a totalof
1.4 billion passengers.[173] In 2014, the 65% of thepassenger trac
in Budapest was by public transportand 35% by car. The aim is
80%20% by 2030 inaccordance with the strategy of BKK.[174]
The development of complex Intelligent transportationsystem in
the city is rapidly advancing, the application ofsmart trac lights
is widespread, they are GPS and com-puter controlled and give
priority to the GPS connectedpublic transport vehicles
automatically, as well as the traf-c is measured and analyzed on
the roads and car driversinformed about the expected travel time
and trac by in-telligent displays (EasyWay project).[175] Public
transportusers are immediately notied of any changes in
publictransport online, on smartphones and on PIDS displays,as well
car drivers can keep track of changes in trac androad management in
real-time online and on smartphonesthrough the BKK Info.[176][177]
As well all vehicles can befollowed online and on smartphones in
real-time through-out the city with the Futr PIDS system,[178]
while thecontinuous introducing of integrated e-ticket system
willhelp the measurement of passenger numbers on each lineand the
intelligent control of service frequency.The development of Futr,
the citywide real-timepassenger information system and real-time
route plan-ner is nished already and now all of the public
trans-port vehicle is connected via satellite system. The real-time
information of trams, buses and trolleybuses areavailable for both
the operators in the control room andfor all the passengers in all
stops on smartphone andon city street displays.[179] The
implementation of latestgeneration automated fare collection and
e-ticket systemwith NFC compatibility and reusable contactless
smartcards for making electronic payments in online and of-ine
systems in Budapest is started in 2014, the projectis implemented
and operated by the operator of HongKong Octopus card jointly with
one of the leading Eu-ropean companies of e-ticket and automated
fare collec-tion, Scheidt & Bachmann.[180] The deployment of
300new digital contactless ticket vending machine will be n-ished
by the end of 2014 in harmonization with the e-ticket
system.[181]
The tram lines no. 4 and 6 are the busiest city tramlines in the
world,[182] with one of the worlds longesttrams (54-metre long
Siemens Combino) running at 2-3minute intervals at peak time and 45
minutes o-peak.Day services are usually from 4am until
23pm-0.30am.
-
9.3 Roads and railways 19
Solaris electric bus heading to downtown. Budapest has an
ex-tensive, sustainable 15-line trolleybus network
New Siemens Desiro, a commuter city rail at Nyugati Station
withcity center in the background
The night service has a reputation for being
excellent.[147]Hungarian State Railways operates an extensive
networkof commuter rail services, their importance in the sub-urban
commuter passenger trac is signicant, but intravel within the city
is limited. The organiser of publictransport in Budapest is the
municipal corporation Centrefor Budapest Transport (Budapesti
Kzlekedsi Kzpont- BKK), that is responsible for planning and
organisingnetwork and services, planning and developing tari
con-cepts, attending to public service procurer duties, man-aging
public service contracts, operating controlling andmonitoring
systems, setting and monitoring service levelagreements related to
public transport, attending to cus-tomer service duties, selling
and monitoring tickets andpasses, attending to integrated passenger
information du-ties, unied Budapest-centric trac control within
pub-lic transport, attending to duties related to river
naviga-tion, plus the management of Budapest roads, operatingtaxi
stations, unied control of bicycle trac develop-ment in the
capital, preparing parking strategy and devel-oping an operational
concept, preparation of road tracmanagement, developing an optimal
trac managementsystem, organising and co-ordinating road
reconstructionand even more, in short, everything which is related
totransport in the city.[183]
Megyeri Bridge on M0 highway ring road around Budapest
9.3 Roads and railways
Main articles: Hungarian State Railways and Motorwaysin
Hungary
Budapest is the most important Hungarian road terminus,all of
themajor highways and railways ends within the citylimits. The road
system in the city is designed in a similarmanner to that of Paris,
with several ring roads, and av-enues radiating out from the
center. Ring roadM0 aroundBudapest is nearly completed, with only
one section miss-ing on the west side due to local disputes.
Currently thebeltway is 80 kilometres (50 miles) in length, and
oncenished it will be 107 kilometres (66 mi) of highway inlength.
The citys importance in terms of trac is verycentral, because all
major European roads and Europeanrailway lines lead to
Budapest.[78] The Danube was and isstill today an important
water-way and this region in thecentre of the Carpathian Basin lies
at the cross-roads oftrade routes.[79] Hungarian main line railways
are oper-ated by Hungarian State Railways. There are three
mainrailway station in Budapest, the Budapest Eastern rail-way
station, the Budapest Western railway station andBudapest Southern
railway station, operating both do-mestic and international rail
services. Budapest is one ofthe main stops of the Orient Express on
its Central andEastern European route.[184] There is also a
suburban railservice in and around Budapest, operated under the
nameHV.
-
20 10 CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LIFE
9.4 Ports and shipping
The river Danube ows through Budapest on its way fromGermany to
the Black Sea. The river is easily navigableand so Budapest
historically has a major commercial portat Csepel District and at
New Pest District also. The Pestside is also a famous port place
with international ship-ping ports for cargo[185] and for passenger
ships.[186] Inthe summer months, a scheduled hydrofoil service
oper-ates on the Danube connecting the city to Vienna.BKK (through
the operator BKV) also provides publictransport with boat service
within the borders of the city.Four routes, marked D11-14, connect
the 2 banks withMargaret Island and Hajgyri-island, from Rmai
frd(Buda side, North to budai island) or rpd Bridge(Pest side) to
Rkczi Bridge, with a total of 15 stops.In addition, several
companies provides sightseeing boattrips and also an amphibious
vehicle (bus and boat) oper-ates constantly.Water quality in
Budapest harbours improved dramati-cally in the recent years,
treatment facilities processed100% of generated sewage in 2010.
Budapesters regu-larly kayak, canoe, jet-ski and sail on the
Danube, whichhas continuously become a major recreational site for
thecity.Special vehicles there are in Budapest besidemetros,
likesuburban rails, trams and boats, there are a couple of
lessusual vehicles in Budapest, like the trolleybus on severallines
in Pest, the Castle Hill Funicular between the ChainBridge and Buda
Castle, the cyclecar for rent in MargaretIsland, the chairlift, the
Budapest Cog-wheel Railway andchildrens railway. The latter three
vehicles runs amongBuda hills.
10 Culture and contemporary life
Main pages: Category:Culture in Budapest and Cultureof
HungaryThe culture of Budapest is reected by Budapests size
Hungarian Academy of Sciences seat in Budapest, founded in1825
by Count Istvn Szchenyi
and variety. Most Hungarian cultural movements rstemerged in the
city. Budapest is an important center formusic, lm, theatre, dance
and visual art. Artists havebeen drawn into the city by
opportunity, as the city gov-ernment funds the arts with adequate
nancial resources.
10.1 Museums and galleriesFurther information: Category:Museums
in BudapestBudapest is packed with museums and galleries, and
Museum of Fine Arts Budapest in the Heroes Square
there are plenty of temporary exhibitions in the most un-likely
of settings, particularly in summer. The city glo-ries in 223
museums and galleries, which presents sev-eral memories, not only
the Hungarian historical, art andscience ones, but also the
memories of universal and Eu-ropean culture and science. Here are
the greatest exam-ples among them: the Hungarian National Museum,
theHungarian National Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts(where can
see the pictures of Hungarian painters, likeVictor Vasarely, Mihly
Munkcsy and a great collec-tion about Italian art, Dutch art,
Spanish art and Britishart from before the 19th century and French
art, Britishart, German art, Austrian art after the 19th century),
theHouse of Terror, the Budapest Historical Museum,
theAquincumMuseum, the Memento Park, Museum of Ap-plied Arts and
the contemporary arts exhibition Palaceof Arts Budapest.[187] In
Budapest there are currently837 dierent monuments, which represent
the most ofthe European artistic style. The classical and
uniqueHungarian Art Nouveau buildings are prominent.A lot of
libraries have unique collections in Budapest,such as the National
Szchenyi Library, which keeps his-
-
10.2 Opera and theatres 21
The Museum of Applied Arts, an Art Nouveau building designedby
dn Lechner
Vigad Concert Hall, built in 1859
Hungarian State Opera House
torical relics from the age before the printing of
books.TheMetropolitan Szab Ervin Library plays an importantrole in
the general education of the capitals population.Other libraries:
The Library of the Hungarian Academyof Sciences, Etvs University
Library, the Parliamen-tary Library and the National Library of
Foreign Litera-
ture.
10.2 Opera and theatres
In Budapest there are forty theatres, seven concert hallsand an
opera house.[188] Outdoor festivals, concerts andlectures enrich
the cultural oer of summer, which areoften held in historical
buildings. The largest theatrefacilities are the Budapest Operetta
and Musical The-atre, the Jzsef Attila Theatre, the Katona Jzsef
Theatre,the Madch Theatre, the Hungarian State Opera House,the
National Theatre, the Vigad Concert Hall, RadntiMikls Theatre and
the Comedy Theatre. The BudapestOpera Ball is an annual Hungarian
society event takingplace in the building of the Budapest Opera
(Operahz)on the last Saturday of the carnival season, usually
lateFebruary.[189]
10.3 Performing arts and festivals
Further information: Music of Budapest
Several annual festivals take place in Budapest, such asSziget
Festival, one of the largest outdoor music festi-val in Europe, the
Budapest Spring Festival presents onconcerts at several venues
across the city. The BudapestAutumn Festival brings free music,
dance, art, and othercultural events to the streets of the city.
Budapest WineFestival and Budapest Plinka Festival occurs each
Mayand gastronomy festivals focus on culinary pleasures.Budapest
Pride (or Budapest Pride Film andCultural Fes-tival) occurs
annually across the city, and usually involvesa parade on the
Andrssy Avenue. Other festivals includethe Budapest Fringe
Festival, which brings more than 500artists in about 50 shows to
produce a wide range of in-teresting works in alternative theatre,
dance, music andcomedy outside the mainstream. The LOW Festival
wasa multidisciplinary contemporary cultural festival held
inHungary in the cities Budapest and Pcs from Februarytill March.
The name of the festival alludes to the LowCountries, the region
encompassing the Netherlands andFlanders. Budapest Jewish Summer
Festival, in late Au-gust, is also one of the largest in
Europe.There are many symphony orchestras in Budapest withthe
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra being preeminentorchestras. It was
founded in 1853 by Ferenc Erkeland still presents regular concerts
in the Hungarian StateOpera House and National Theatre.The dance
tradition of the Carpathian Basin is a uniquearea of the European
dance culture, which is also a spe-cial transition between the
Balkans and Western Europeregions. The city is home to several
authentic Hungarianfolk dance ensembles which range from small
ensemblesto professional troupes. Budapest is one of the few
citiesin the world where a high school for folk dance learning
-
22 10 CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LIFE
Budapest Fashion Street along with the likewise famous
VciStreet
exists.
TONI&GUY Fashion Week Budapest in Palazzo Dorottya, 2013
10.4 FashionBudapest is home to a fashion week twice a year,
wherethe citys fashion designers and houses present their
col-lections and provide ameeting place for the fashion indus-try
representatives. Budapest Fashion Week additionallya place for
designers from other countries may presenttheir collections in
Budapest. Hungarian models, likeBarbara Palvin, EnikMihalik,
DinaMszros, ViktriaVmosi usually appearing at these events along
inter-national participants. Fashion brands like Zara,
H&M,Mango, ESPRIT, Douglas AG, Lacoste, Nike and all re-tail
fashion brand is common across the citys shoppingmalls and on the
streets.Major luxury fashion brands such as Roberto Cav-alli, Dolce
& Gabbana, Gucci, Versace, Ferragamo,Moschino, Prada and Hugo
Boss, can be found amongthe citys most prestigious shopping
streets, the FashionStreet, Vci Street and Andrssy Avenue in
Budapestsmain upscale fashion district, the Leopoldtown, DistrictV.
Budapests newest fashion and design mall, the il Ba-cio di Stile,
opened in 2013 and houses most major fash-ion houses and brands
from around the world including
Bottega Veneta, Giorgio Armani, Saint Laurent, Lanvin,Valentino,
Oscar de la Renta.[190]
Hungarian Television seat in 2009 at Liberty square in District
V
10.5 Media
Further information: Category:Media in Budapest andList of lms
shot in Budapest
Budapest is a prominent location for the Hungarian
en-tertainment industry, with many lms, television series,books,
and other media set there. Budapest is the largestcentre for lm and
television production in Hungary. In2011, it employed more than
50,000 people and gen-erated 63.9% of revenues of the media
industry in thecountry.[191] Budapest is the media centre of
Hungary,and the location of the main headquarters of
HungarianTelevision and other numerous local and national TV
andradio stations, such as M1, M2, Duna TV, Duna World,RTL Klub,
TV2 (Hungary), EuroNews, Comedy Cen-tral, MTV Hungary, VIVA
Hungary, Viasat 3, Cool TV,Pro4 and politics and news channels such
as, Hr TV,ATV, Echo TV, furthermore documentary channels suchas,
Discovery Channel, Discovery Science, DiscoveryWorld, National
Geographic Channel, Nat Geo Wild,Spektrum, BBCEntertainment and it
is less than a quarterof the channels broadcast from Budapest, for
the wholepicture see the Television in Hungary. In 2012, there
-
10.7 In ction 23
were 7.2 million internet users in Hungary (72% of
thepopulation).[192] and there were 2.3 million subscriptionsfor
mobile broadband,[193]
Foie gras pt with mustard seeds and green onions in duck
(Hun-garian speciality, called Libamjpsttom)
10.6 Cuisine
Further information: Hungarian cuisineIn the modern age,
Budapest developed its own pecu-
Interior of Gundel Restaurant
liar cuisine, based on products of the nearby region, aslamb,
pork and vegetables special in the region. ModernHungarian cuisine
is a synthesis of ancient Asiatic com-ponents mixed with French,
Germanic, Italian, and Slavicelements. The food of Hungary can be
considered a melt-ing pot of the continent, with a culinary base
formed fromits own, original Magyar cuisine. Considerable numbersof
Saxons, Armenians, Italians, Jews and Serbs settled inthe Hungarian
basin and in Transylvania, also contribut-ing with dierent new
dishes. Elements of ancient Turk-ish cuisine were adopted during
the Ottoman era, in theform of sweets (for example dierent nougats,
like whitenougat called trkmz, quince (birsalma), Turkish
de-light), Turkish coee or rice dishes like pilaf, meat and
vegetable dishes like the eggplant, used in eggplant sal-ads and
appetizers, stued peppers and stued cabbagecalled tlttt kposzta.
Hungarian cuisine was inuencedby Austrian cuisine under the
Austro-Hungarian Empire,dishes and methods of food preparation have
often beenborrowed from Austrian cuisine, and vice versa.[194]
Budapest restaurants reect diversity, with menus carry-ing
traditional regional cuisine, fusions of various culi-nary
inuences, or innovating in the leading edge of newtechniques.
Budapest' food shops also have a solid rep-utation for supplying
quality specialised culinary prod-ucts and supplies, reputations
that are often built upover generations. These include many shops,
such asCaf Gerbeaud, one of the greatest and most
traditionalcoeehouses in Europe, or the Gundel restaurant and
gas-tro shop in the City Park. Diners can also nd the
highestquality foods served in several Michelin-starred
restau-rants, like Onyx, Costes or Borkonyha.
10.7 In ction
The 1906 novel The Paul Street Boys, the 1937 novelJourney by
Moonlight, the 1957 book The Bridge at An-dau, the 1975 novel
Fateless, the 1977 novel The Endof a Family Story, the 1986 book
Between the Woodsand the Water, the 1992 novel Under the Frog, the
1987novel The Door, the 2002 novel Prague, the 2003 bookBudapeste,
the 2004 novel Ballad of the Whisky Robber,the 2005 novels Parallel
Stories and The Historian, the2012 novel Budapest Noir are set,
amongst others, partlyor entirely in Budapest. Some of the better
known fea-ture lms set in Budapest are Kontroll, The District!,
EinLied von Liebe und Tod, Sunshine, An American Rhap-sody, As You
Desire Me, The Good Fairy, Hannas War,The Journey, Ladies in Love,
Mehbooba, Music Box, TheShop Around the Corner, Zoo in Budapest,
Underworld,and Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol. The
GrandBudapest Hotel (2014) is a Wes Anderson lm. It waslmed in
Germany and set in the ctional Republic ofZubrowka which is in the
alpine mountains of Hungary.
11 SportsSee also: Football in Budapest and Category:Sport
inBudapest
Budapest has seven professional football teams:Ferencvros, MTK
Budapest, jpest, Budapest Honvd,Vasas, Csepel, Budapesti TC, six of
them have won theHungarian 1st division.City Park (Vrosliget) and
Margit Island are perfectplaces to nd some green area in the city.
In the City Parkin winter you can enjoy ice skating on one of the
largestarticial ice surfaces in the world. Bandy is played
here.
-
24 12 EDUCATION
Lszl Papp Budapest Sports Arena
Budapest had the worlds rst articially frozen bandyeld, built in
1923.[195]
Margaret Island oers a wide range of sports at the Al-frd Hajs
Swimming Centre, where Budapest hostedthe LEN European Aquatics
Championships in 2006 and2010. Budapest was the host for the ITU
TriathlonWorldChampionships 2010, too. The 2011 IIHF World
Cham-pionship (Division I, Group A) and Athletics - 2012 Eu-ropean
Cross Country Championships was held there.The 2014 World Masters
Athletics Championships willbe held in Budapest.The city is the
proud home for many Olympic, World,and Europen Championship winners
and medalists. Thecitys largest football stadium is named after the
worldfamous Ferenc Pusks; top class player of Real Madridand the
Hungarian National Team, who was recognisedas the top scorer of the
20th century and who the FIFA'sPusks Award (Ballon d'Or) was named
after.[196]
The city is also home to Hungarian bandy. The BandyWorld
Championship for women 2007[197] and the BandyWorld Championship
2004 /B-group/ were held here.[198]
The Hungarian Grand Prix in Formula 1 is a recurringevent since
1986, being held at the Hungaroring just out-side the city.
12 Education
See also: Education in HungaryAnnually there are 400,000
students in the higher ed-ucation system. Hungary has 70 operating
higher edu-cation institutions (more than half in Budapest).
Hun-garian institutions of higher education have started
thetransformation toward the regulations of the Bologna sys-tem. In
the new system, both colleges and universitiesmay launch bachelor,
master and PhD programmes pro-vided that the necessary requirements
are fullled. Thisalso means that all awarded degrees are equivalent
andtransferrable throughout the EU and many other coun-tries.
Budapest is Hungarys main centre of educationand home to numerous
notable universities:
Main Building of the Budapest University of Technology
andEconomics in 1909. It is one of the oldest Institutes of
Technologyin the world (founded in 1782)
Main Building of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music (founded
in1875)
Etvs Lornd University (1635) Budapest Business School (1857)
Central European University (1991) Budapest University of
Technology and Economics(1782)
Corvinus University of Budapest (1920) National University of
Public Service (2011) Semmelweis University (medical
university,1769) Szent Istvn University (2000) buda University
(2000) Pzmny Pter Catholic University (1635) Kroli Gspr University
of the Hungarian Re-formed Church (1855)
Evangelical-Lutheran Theological University(1557)
Budapest University of Jewish Studies (1877) International
Business School, Budapest (1991)
-
25
Andrssy Gyula German Language University ofBudapest (2002)
Hungarian University of Fine Arts (1871) Moholy-Nagy University
of Art and Design (1870) Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music (1875)
Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest (1865)
13 Notable peopleMain article: List of people from Budapest
14 International relationsBudapest has quite a few sister cities
and many partnercities around the world.[199] Like Budapest, many
of themare the most inuential and largest cities of their coun-try
and region, most of them are the primate city andpolitical,
economical, cultural capital of their country.The Mayor of Budapest
says the aim with improving sis-ter city relationships is to allow
and encourage a mutualexchange of information and experiences, as
well as co-operation, in the areas of city management,
education,culture, tourism, media and communication, trade
andbusiness development.[200]
14.1 Historic sister cities
14.2 Partnerships around the worldSome of the citys districts
are also twinned to small citiesor districts of other big cities,
for details see the articleList of districts and towns in
Budapest.
15 Gallery Buda Castle Hungarian Parliament Building Museum of
Fine Arts Saint Stephens Basilica Matthias Church Szchenyi Chain
Bridge Heroes Square with the Millenary Monument Budai Vigad
Vajdahunyad Castle
Hungarian National Museum Saint Elisabeth Church The Great
Synagogue Museum of Applied Arts Fishermans Bastion Andrssy Avenue
was recognised as a World Her-itage Site
King Saint Stephens sculpture in Buda Castle Castle Theatre
National Theatre Liberty Bridge Liberty Statue
16 See also Budapest metropolitan area Fort Budapest List of
cemeteries in Budapest List of famous people of Budapest List of
lms shot in Budapest List of historical capitals of Hungary Music
of Budapest Outline of Hungary Spas in Budapest Urban and Suburban
Transit Association (most ofits activity is centred on
Budapest)
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Ungvary, Krisztian (2006). The Siege of Budapest:One Hundred
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978-0-300-11985-5.
Molnar, Miklos (2001). A Concise History of Hun-gary. Cambridge
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9780521667364.
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[39] Innovati