Budapest History

Budapest has always been of great importance to all conquerors throughout history. The area where it lays is of great strategic significance.

Buda already was the center of the territory a thousand years ago, when the first king, Stephen I established the country around 1000 AD. The Buda Castle remained the center of all kings and their court and minions throughout Hungarian history.

It gave place to the Hungarians, then to the Turks in the 16 th -17 th century, as they reigned a part of Hungary for 150 years. After its deliberation in 1686, Buda was in Hungarian hands again, while the country was divided between Hungary and Austria, as the countries have a common history throughout centuries, ending with World War I in 1918.

Buda and its castle became symbols, since, as the saying goes ‘who rules Buda, rules the country'. While Buda remained the crown of the country, Pest, its twin town on the other side of the river became the center of intellectuals. Its theatres, museums and cafés hosted sparkling social events and social life, and were the bases of some great people in Hungarian history, such as the so-called greatest Hungarian, István Széchenyi, the founder of Hungary's first bridge (Chain Bridge) or the young intellectuals, Sándor Petofi and his friends, who's work and ideas led finally to the March revolution against the Habsburgs in 1848.

Buda, Pest and Óbuda joined together in 1872 to form the great Budapest, which expended continuously till the 1960s. Budapest became a modern city in the 19 th century and has kept this characteristic ever since. Visitors who come here expect a post-socialist, rigid, gray city, a description which couldn't be further from the truth. Budapest is a joyful, bright metropolis with unique architecture, Roman ruins, Turkish baths, caves, Hungarian traditions and six islands on its magnificent river, the Danube.