Budapest

I

Introduction

Budapest, capital and by far the largest city of Hungary, located in northern Hungary on both banks of the Danube River. Home to about 20 percent of Hungary’s population, Budapest is the country’s cultural and industrial center. Three towns—Pest, Buda, and Óbuda—combined in 1873 to form the capital of newly autonomous Hungary. Hungarians use the nickname “Pest” to refer to the city.

Budapest has a temperate climate. Spring usually arrives in early April, followed by hot, humid summers. The temperature in July averages 22° C (72° F). It is often cloudy and damp during the short winters; the average January temperature is -2° C (29° F). Snowfall can be heavy.

II

Budapest and Its Metropolitan Area

Budapest, within city limits, covers 525 sq km (203 sq mi). Buda, now a section of Budapest located on the western side of the Danube, occupies one-third of the city’s area, while Pest, the city section on the eastern side of the river, occupies the remaining two-thirds. The metropolitan area, which spans 2,250 sq km (869 sq mi), encompasses eight other cities and 70 villages, some of which have recently become popular suburbs for affluent people moving out of Budapest. The most prominent suburbs include Vác and Gödöllõ on the east side of the Danube, and Budaörs and Budakeszi on the west side.

The Danube is nearly 1 km (0.6 mi) wide at Budapest’s northern limit. A little farther south, the river encircles two islands, Óbuda Island and Margaret Island. At its narrowest point in the city, the river is only 230 m (750 ft) wide. The two sections of the city separated by the river are markedly different. Pest sprawls across flat terrain while Buda is very hilly. The hills of Buda are between 150 and 500 m (500 and 1,600 ft) high. Historically the seat of government, Buda has an elegance derived from its beautiful Gothic churches and public buildings and its exclusive residential neighborhoods. Pest possesses monumental government buildings and the city’s most popular shopping thoroughfare, Váci Avenue. Pest is generally more industrial than Buda. Residential and industrial neighborhoods sprawl beyond the historic central areas of Buda and Pest in all directions.

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The grand monuments that distinguish Buda are concentrated on Castle Hill, in central Buda, and on Gellért Hill, to the south. The Royal Palace atop Castle Hill, restored as a museum complex after World War II (1939-1945), still has fortifications that date to the 13th century, when the first fortress was built there. Over the centuries a series of palaces were built and destroyed on the site. The much-admired neo-Gothic Matthias Church, also on Castle Hill, was constructed at the end of the 19th century, based on a much simpler original dating to the 15th century. The Citadel was built on top of Gellért Hill in 1851 by the Austrians, who then ruled Hungary, but it was never used for military purposes. Liberation Monument, also atop Gellért Hill, was erected by the army of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1947 but was left in place even after Hungary’s Communist regime collapsed in 1990.

Eight bridges connect Buda and Pest, seven of which date from before World War II. All of these were damaged in the war and had to be rebuilt. The older bridges are considered marvels of civic engineering, particularly the Chain Bridge (built in 1849) and Liberty Bridge (1896). The Elizabeth Bridge (completed in 1903) was not rebuilt in its original form, but rather a new, contemporary design was substituted in 1964.

Pest’s layout is determined by two concentric semicircular boulevards. The Small Boulevard (Kis körút) encircles the historic inner city of Pest, and the Great Boulevard (Nagy körút), is located farther out. Wide avenues, including Váci and Andrássy, radiate out from the boulevards. Outside the Great Boulevard, Pest is densely populated and has a great deal of industry. Remarkable buildings in the inner city include Town Hall (originally Old Soldiers’ Home, built in 1749), the Hungarian National Museum (1802), the Basilica of Saint Stephen (completed in 1905), the neo-Renaissance State Opera House (1884), the Hungarian Academy of Sciences building (completed in 1865), and the Parliament building (completed in 1904). City Park, located in northeastern Pest beyond the Great Boulevard, is home to several beautiful museums, including the architecturally varied Vajdahunyad Castle. Constructed out of canvas for an exhibition in 1896, then built in stone in 1904, the castle has Gothic, Romanesque, and Baroque wings.

III

Population

In 1996 the population of the 79 communities that make up Budapest’s metropolitan area was 2,494,000, one-fourth of Hungary’s entire population. From 1970 to 1993 the population of the city proper was consistently a little more than 2 million, but it gradually declined during the rest of the 1990s. The population of Budapest in 2002 was 1,739,569. Among the reasons for the decline was improvement in water, sewage, and other services in rural areas during the 1990s, which made rural Hungarians less compelled to move to the capital. Meanwhile, many city residents chose to flee Budapest’s smog and congestion for the suburbs. Another contributing factor was the government’s crackdown on immigration of unskilled, uneducated people from less economically developed nations.

Hungarians represent the largest ethnic group in Budapest. Although the government maintains no statistics on ethnic minorities, the Roma (Gypsy) minority is estimated to represent 8 percent of the city’s population. Ethnic Chinese have become a visible minority since the early 1990s, especially in the area south of City Park. The advent of democracy beginning in the late 1980s made Budapest a more segregated city. Many skilled and educated native Hungarians became wealthy and moved out of the city, while ethnic minorities remained, concentrated in specific neighborhoods. For example, the district of Jozsefvaros, in Pest, evolved into something of a ghetto for poor Roma.

Budapest is an almost exclusively Hungarian (Magyar)-speaking city. Roma residents, who speak one of three major Romani dialects, speak Hungarian as well. As in the rest of Hungary, Roman Catholics represent the majority of the population; Protestants are a significant minority. About 100,000 Jews are estimated to live in Budapest.

IV

Education and Culture

Budapest is a major cultural center in Europe, with many universities, libraries, theaters, and museums. In the 1970s and 1980s the Communist government led by János Kádár devoted great sums of money to arts and culture.

There are 11 universities and 21 colleges in Budapest. The most prestigious schools include Loránd Eötvös University, with campuses throughout the city, and the Budapest Institute of Technology, located on the Buda riverfront, south of Gellért Hill. Another important educational institution is Central European University (CEU), founded in 1991 by George Soros, a Hungarian American philanthropist born in Budapest.

During the 1990s the number of university and college students in Budapest doubled, taxing the city’s large but technologically outdated library system. The best libraries in Budapest include National Széchényi Library, University Library, the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Parliament Library, and Ervin Szabó Library (the Budapest public library).

Budapest has three opera houses, 16 publicly funded repertory theaters, and two small private theaters, in addition to more than 20 alternative theaters. Most tickets are heavily subsidized by the federal government, so spectators may purchase them for only a fraction of the real cost. The center of musical life in Budapest is the Franz Liszt Music Academy, with its art nouveau Great Hall (1907).

Budapest has nearly 100 museums, featuring a wide variety of collections. The best known and largest museums are the Hungarian National Museum, the Hungarian National Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Budapest History Museum, the Museum of Applied Arts, and the Hungarian Natural History Museum. The historical relics at the Hungarian National Museum include Saint Stephen’s crown; the Museum of Applied Arts celebrates the development of glass, ceramics, textiles, and other materials. Other significant museums include the Ethnographical Museum, which focuses on folk arts, and the Museum of Jewish Religion and History. Privately-run Statue Park is a socialist theme park with busts and statues of Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, and other socialist heroes.

The most prestigious festivals in Budapest are the Budapest Spring Festival (held the last two weeks of March), the Farewell Festival (held each year in June to commemorate the departure of Soviet troops in 1991), and the Budapest Autumn Arts Festival (held the first two weeks of October). A wide variety of music, dance, and drama are featured at each of these festivals.

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