47°29N 19°05E, pop (2000e) 1 966 000. Capital and largest city of Hungary, on R Danube where it enters the Great Plain; old-world Buda on W bank hills, modern Pest on E bank, unified in 1873; Buda on site of Roman colony of Aquincum; major cultural and trading centre in the 15th-c; scene of popular uprising, crushed by Soviet troops, 1956; Eötvös Loránd University (1635); universities of medicine (1769), economic science (1948), horticulture (1853); Hungarian Academy of Sciences; airport (Ferihegy); railway; underground; iron, steel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles; St Matthias Church (13th-c), Royal Palace, Parliament Building, museum of fine arts, national theatre, opera house, thermal baths; Buda castle and banks of the Danube are a world heritage site; location for World Fair (Expo) in 1996.
text-align: center;">| Flag | Seal |
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Nickname: "Paris of the East", "Pearl of the Danube" or "Queen of the Danube" |
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| Location of Budapest in Hungary | |
| Country | Hungary |
|---|---|
| County | Pest |
| Mayor | Gábor Demszky (SZDSZ) |
| Area | |
| - City | 525,16 km² |
| - Land | n/a km² |
| - Water | n/a km² |
| Population | |
| - City (2006) | 1,695,000 |
| - Density | 3570/km² |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) |
| - Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) |
| Website: budapest.hu | |
| Budapest Portal |
Budapest (pronounced [ˈbʊdɑpɛʃt]) is the capital city of Hungary and the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial and transportation center.
History
Budapest's recorded history begins with the Roman town of Aquincum, founded around 89 AD on the site of an earlier Celtic settlement near what was to become Óbuda, and from 106 until the end of the 4th century the capital of the province of lower Pannonia.
On January 1, 1950, the area of Budapest was significantly expanded: new districts were formed from the neighbouring cities and towns (see Greater Budapest).
Demographic history
Population:
1800: 54,200 1830: 102,700 1850: 178,000 1880: 370,800 1900: 733,400 1910: 882,000 1925: 957,800 1990: 2,016,100 2003: 1,719,343Politics
Budapest is the center of all political affairs, with most countries' embassies located in the city.
Districts
Originally Budapest had 10 districts after coming into existence upon the unification of the three cities in 1873.
Islands
Seven islands can be found on the Danube: Hajógyári sziget (literal translation: Shipyard Island), Margitsziget (Margaret Island), and Csepel sziget (this island is a separate district of Budapest, the XXI., while the other islands are parts of other districts, the III.
Landmarks and monuments
Andrássy Avenue with its several sights including the State Opera House, the Pest Broadway and the House of Terror Buda Castle with the Royal Palace, the Funicular, Hungarian National Gallery and National Széchényi Library, Matthias Church, Holy Trinity Column (a plague column) and Fisherman's Bastion City Park with Széchenyi Medicinal Bath, Vajdahunyad Castle, the Timewheel, the Zoo, the Municipal Grand Circus and the Amusement Park Danube Promenade (Duna-korzó) with Vigadó Concert Hall Ferenciek tere with Paris Courtyard and Erzsébet Bridge with Inner City Parish Church nearby Franz Liszt Academy of Music Gellért Baths, Gellért Hill with Gellért Statue, Cave Church and Citadel with Liberty Statue Geological Museum Great Market Hall and Liberty Bridge Heroes' Square with the Millenary Monument, the Palace of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Margaret Island with the Centennial Memorial, a Japanese garden, a Musical Fountain, several recreation facilities and Franciscan, Dominican and Premonstratensian ruins from the Middle Ages Museum of Applied Arts National Museum New York Café Dohány Street Synagogue with the Holocaust Memorial (weeping willow statue) Óbuda Palace of Arts and National Theatre Parliament Building with King Stephen's crown and sceptre, Kossuth Memorial, Ethnographical Museum, Attila József statue, Imre Nagy statue Saint Stephen's Basilica Statue Park Széchenyi Chain Bridge, Academy of Sciences and Gresham Palace Tomb of Gül Baba Váci Street and Vörösmarty Square Western Railway Station
Tourism
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Budapest Market Hall |
A cow at the 2006 Cow Parade |
Heroes' Square |
The Parliament |
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St. Stephen Basilica |
House of Terror |
Széchenyi Chain Bridge |
Shopping
Budapest has the most shopping centers in Europe, including WestEnd City Center, the largest shopping centre in Central and Eastern Europe, and the biggest Tesco and Auchan hypermarkets in the world.
Transport
Airport
Budapest Ferihegy International Airport, which has 3 different passenger terminals: Ferihegy 1, which tends to serve the many discount airlines now flying to and from Budapest, Ferihegy 2/A and Ferihegy 2/B.
Special vehicles
Beside metros, suburban rails, buses, trams and boats, there are a couple of less usual vehicles in Budapest:
trolleybus (trolibusz) on several lines in Pest funicular (sikló) between the Chain Bridge and Buda Castle cyclecar (bringóhintó) for rent in Margaret Island chairlift (libegő) cog-wheel railway (fogaskerekű vasút) children's railway (gyermekvasút)The latter three vehicles run among Buda hills.
List of international schools:
American International School of Budapest - Homepage International School of Budapest - Homepage International Christian School of Budapest - Homepage Greater Grace International School - Homepage British International School, Budapest - Homepage Budapest University of Technology and Economy International Secondary School - Homepage Britannica International School - Homepage SEK International School Budapest - Homepage McDaniel College Budapest - Homepage Lauder Javne Jewish Community School and Kindergarten - Homepage Budapest French School (Lycée Gustave Eiffel) - Homepage Austrian-Hungarian European School - Homepage Thomas Mann Gymnasium / Deutsche Schule Budapest - Homepage Japanese School of Budapest - HomepageNotable people from Budapest
Franz Xaver von Zach 1754 born in Pest, astronomer Ignaz Semmelweis (Semmelweis, Ignác Fülöp) born 1818 in Buda, physician Árpád Doppler born in 1857 in Budapest, composer Theodor Herzl born in 1860 in Budapest, journalist and founder of modern political Zionism Theodore von Karman born in 1881 in Budapest, pioneer of modern aerodynamics and fluid dynamics George de Hevesy (Hevesy, György) born in 1885 in Budapest, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry (1943) Georg Lukács (Lukács, György) born in 1885 in Budapest, philosopher Michael Curtiz (Kaminer, Manó Kertész) born in 1886 in Budapest, film director Fritz Reiner born in 1888 in Budapest, conductor Albert von Szent-Györgyi Nagyrapolt born in 1893 in Budapest, Nobel Prize winner biologist, first isolated and described the vitamin C Karl Mannheim (Mannheim, Károly) in 1893 in Budapest, philosopher George Szell (Széll, György) born in 1897 in Budapest, conductor Leó Szilárd born in 1898 in Budapest, developed the nuclear bomb Béla Bartók lived from 1899 to 1940 in Budapest, composer László József Bíró born in 1899 in Budapest, developed the biro Edward Teller (Teller, Ede) born in 1908 in Budapest, "father of the hydrogen bomb" nuclear physicist Sir Georg Solti (Stern, György) born in 1912 in Budapest, conductor Amrita Sher-Gil born in 1913 in Budapest, painter László Papp born in 1926 in Budapest, boxer Ferenc Puskás born in 1927 in Budapest, football player Tom Lantos (Lantos, Tamás Péter) born in 1928 in Budapest, US Congressman Imre Kertész born in 1929 in Budapest, author, Nobel Prize 2002 István Kertész born in 1929 in Budapest, conductor George Soros (Soros György) born in 1930 in Budapest Andy Grove (Gróf, András István) born in 1936 in Budapest, founder of Intel Corporation Ernő Rubik born in 1944 in Budapest, developed Rubik's Cube Péter Esterházy born in 1950 in Budapest, author János Sebestyén born in 1931 in Budapest, organist and harpsichordist Zoltán Kocsis born in 1952 in Budapest, pianist Zoltán Kodály lived and died 1967 in Budapest, composer Pál Erdős born in 1913 in Budapest, mathematician Robert Capa born 1913, grew up in Budapest, reporter, photographer Eugene Wigner "the silent genius" born and raised in Budapest, was a Hungarian physicist and mathematician who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 John von Neumann Hungarian mathematician and polymath who made contributions to quantum physics, functional analysis, set theory, economics, computer science, topology, numerical analysis, hydrodynamics (of explosions), statistics and many other mathematical fields as one of world history's outstanding mathematicians.Sister cities
| Berlin, Germany (1992) Fort Worth, United States (1990) Frankfurt, Germany (1990) Košice, Slovakia Lisbon, Portugal (1992) New York City, United States (1991) | Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995) Tel Aviv, Israel (1989) Vienna, Austria (1990) Vilnius, Lithuania Zagreb, Croatia (1994) Dublin, Ireland (2006) Istanbul, Turkey |
General information
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Budapest Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about: Budapest pictures of Budapest/photos de Budapest Official Budapest Portal Budapest Transport plc Public transport in Budapest Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 47.499° 19.044° Mapping from Multimap or GlobalGuide or Google Maps Aerial image from TerraServer Satellite image from WikiMapiaInformation for tourists
Budapest Tourism Office Budapest Tourism Office - Budapest Calendar of Events Budapest travel guide from Wikitravel Foreign Embassies in Budapest Budapest public transport map Map of Metro lines, suburban railway and tramway network in Budapest Tram-hiker's guide to Budapest (The unofficial guide to Budapest tramways) World Heritage Sites in HungaryBudapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue | Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape
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