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BUDAPEST
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BUDAPEST , the See also:capital and largest See also:town of the See also:kingdom of See also:Hungary, and the second town of the Austro-Hungarian See also:monarchy, 163 m. S.E. of See also:Vienna by See also:rail. Budapest is situated on both See also:banks of the See also:Danube, and is formed of the former towns of Buda (Ger. Ofen) together with 0-Buda (Ger. Alt-Ofen) on the right See also:bank, and of Pest together with Kobanya (Ger. Steinbruch) on the See also:left bank, which were all incorporated into one See also:municipality in 1872. It lies at a point where the Danube has definitely taken its southward course, and just where the out-lying spurs of the See also:outer ramifications of the See also:Alps, namely, the Bakony Mountains, meet the Carpathians. Budapest is situated nearly in the centre of Hungary, and dominates by its strategical position the approach from the See also:west to the See also:great Hungarian See also:plain. The imposing See also:size of the Danube, 300 to 650 yds. broad, and the See also:sharp contrast of the two banks, See also:place Budapest among the most finely situated of the larger towns of See also:Europe. On the one See also:side is a See also:flat sandy plain, in which lies Pest, See also:modern of aspect, regularly laid out, and presenting a See also:long frontage of handsome buildings to the See also:river. On the other the See also:ancient town of Buda straggles capriciously over a See also:series of small and steep hills, commanded by the fortress and the Blocksberg (770 ft. high, 390 ft. above the Danube), and backed beyond by spurs of mountains, which rise in the See also:form of terraces one above the other. The hills are generally devoid of forests, while those near the towns were formerly covered with vineyards, which produced a See also:good red See also:wine. The vineyards have been almost completely destroyed by the See also:phylloxera.
Budapest covers an See also:area of 78 sq. m., and is divided into ten municipal districts, namely See also:Var (Festung), Vizivaros (Wasserstadt), 6-Buda (Alt-Ofen), all on the right bank, belonging to Buda, and Belvaros (Inner See also:City), Lipotvaros (Leopoldstadt), Terezvaros (Theresienstadt), Erzsebetvaros (Elisabethstadt), J6zsefvaros (Josephstadt), Ferenczvaros (Franzstadt), and Kobanya (Steinbruch), all on the left bank, belonging to Pest. Buda, with its royal See also:palace, the various ministries, and other See also:government offices, is the See also:official centre, while Pest is the commercial and See also:industrial See also:part, as well as the centre of the nationalistic and intellectual See also:life of the town. The two banks of the Danube are See also:united by six See also:bridges, including two See also:fine suspension bridges; the first of them, generally known as the Ketten-Briicke, constructed by the See also:brothers Tiernay and See also:Adam See also:Clark in 1842–1849, is one of the largest in Europe. It is 410 yds. long, 39 ft. broad, 36 ft. high above the mean level of the See also:water, and its chains See also:rest on two pillars 16o ft. high; its ends are ornamented with four See also:colossal See also: The inner ring is connected by the Vaczi Korut (Waitzner-Ring) with the See also:Grosse Ring-Strasse, a successionof boulevards, describing a semicircle beginning at the Margaret bridge and ending at the Boraros Platz, near the custom-house See also:quay, through about the See also:middle of the town. One of the most beautiful streets in the town is the See also:Andrassy Ut, 11 m. long, connecting Vaczi Korut with Varosliget (Stadtwdldchen), the favourite public See also:park of Budapest. It is a busy thoroughfare, lined in its first See also:half with magnificent new buildings, and in its second half, where it attains a width of 150 ft., with handsome villas See also:standing in their own gardens, which give the impression rather of a fashionable summer resort than the centre of a great city. Budapest possesses numerous squares, generally ornamented with monuments of prominent Hungarians, usually the See also:work of Hungarian artists.
Buildings.—Though of ancient origin, neither Buda nor Pest has much to show in the way of See also:venerable buildings. • The See also:oldest See also: By a See also:special See also:article in the treaty of See also:Karlowitz of 1699 the See also:emperor of See also:Austria undertook to preserve this See also:monument.
Among the See also:secular buildings the first place is taken by the royal palace in Buda, which, together with the old fortress, crowns the See also:summit of a hill, and forms the See also:nucleus of the town. The palace erected by Maria See also:Theresa in 1748–1771 was partly burned in 1849, but has been restored and largely extended since 1894. In the See also:court See also:chapel are preserved the See also:regalia of Hungary, namely, the See also:crown of St See also:Stephen, the See also:sceptre, See also:orb, See also:sword and the coronation See also:robes. It is surrounded by a magnificent See also:garden, which descends in steep terraces to the Danube, and which offers a splendid view of the town lying on the opposite bank. New and palatial buildings of the various ministries, several high and middle See also:schools, a few big hospitals, and the residences of several Hungarian magnates, are among the See also:principal edifices in this part of the town.
The long range of substantial buildings fronting the left bank of the Danube includes the Houses of See also:Parliament (see See also:ARCHITECTURE, See also:Plate IX. fig. 115), a huge See also:limestone edifice in the See also:late Gothic style, covering an area of 34 acres, erected in 1883–1902; the See also:Academy, in See also:Renaissance style, erected in 1862–1864, containing a lofty reception See also:room, a library, a historic picture See also:gallery, and a botanic collection; the Redoute buildings, a large structure in a mixed Romanesque and Moorish style, erected for balls and other social purposes; the extensive custom-house at the See also:lower end of the quays, and several fine hotels and See also:insurance offices. In the beautiful Andrassy Ut are the See also:opera-house (1875-1884), in the See also:Italian Renaissance style; the academy of See also:music; the old and new See also:exhibition building; the See also:national See also:drawing school; and the museum of fine arts (1900-1905), in which was installed in 1905 the national gallery, formed by See also:Prince Esterhazy, bought by the government in 1865 for £130,000, and formerly housed in the academy, and the collection of modern pictures from the national museum. At the end of the See also:street is one of the numerous monuments erected in various parts of the See also:country to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the See also:foundation of the kingdom of Hungary. Other buildings remarkable for their
size and See also:interest are: the national museum (1836–1844); the town-See also: There are also the See also:exchange (1905); the Austro-Hungarian bank (1904); the central See also:post and See also:telegraph See also:office; the See also:art-industrial museum (1893-1897), in See also:oriental style, with some characteristically Hungarian ornamentations; several handsome theatres; large See also:barracks; technical and secondary schools; two great railway termini and a central See also:market •(1897) to be mentioned. To the See also:south-See also:east of the town lies the vast slaughter-house (187o-1872), which, with the adjacent See also:cattle-market, covers nearly 30 acres of ground. The building activity of Budapest since 1867 has been extraordinary, and the town has undergone a thorough transformation. The removal of slums and the regulation of the older parts of the town, in connexion with the construction of the two new bridges across the Danube and of the railway termini, went See also:hand-in-hand with the See also:extension of the town, new quarters springing up on both banks of the Danube. This See also:process is still going on, and Budapest has become one of the handsomest capitals of Europe. See also:Education.—Budapest is the intellectual capital of Hungary. At the See also:head of its educational institutions stands the university, which was attended in 1900 by 4983 students—only about 2000 in 188o—and has a See also:staff of nearly 200 professors and lecturers. It has been completely transformed into a national Hungarian seat of learning since 1867, and great efforts have been made to keep at See also:home the Hungarian students, who before then frequented other See also:universities and specially that of Vienna. It is well provided with scientific laboratories, botanic garden, and various collections, and possesses a library with nearly a quarter of a million volumes. The university of Budapest, the only one in Hungary proper, was established at Tyrnau in 1635, removed to Buda in 1977, and transferred to Pest in 1783. Next to it comes the See also:polytechnic, attended by 1816 students in 1900, which is also thoroughly equipped for a scientific training. Other high schools are a veterinary academy, a See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:seminary, a See also:Protestant theological See also:college, a rabbinical See also:institute, a commercial academy, to which has been added in 1899 an academy for the study of oriental See also:languages, and military See also:academies for the training of Hungarian See also:officers. Budapest possesses an adequate number of elementary and secondary schools, as well as a great number of special and technical schools. At the head of the scientific See also:societies stands the academy of sciences, founded in 1825, for the encouragement of the study of the Hungarian See also:language and the various sciences except See also:theology. Next to it comes the national museum, founded in 1807 through the donations of See also:Count See also:Stephan See also:Szechenyi, which contains extensive collections of antiquities, natural See also:history and See also:ethnology, and a See also:rich library which, in its See also:manuscript See also:department of over 20,000 See also:MSS., contains the oldest specimens of the Hungarian language. Another society which has done great service for the cultivation of the Hungarian language is the See also:Kisfaludy society, founded in 1836. It began by distributing prizes for the best See also:literary productions of the See also:year, then it started the collection and publication of the Hungarian See also:folklore, and lastly undertook the See also:translation into the Hungarian language of the masterpieces of See also:foreign literatures. The See also:influence exercised by this society is very great, and it has attracted within its circle the best writers of Hungary. Another society similar in aim with this one is the See also:Petofi society, founded in 1875. Amongst the numerous scientific associations are the central statistical department, and the Budapest communal See also:bureau of See also:statistics, which under the directorship of Dr Joseph de Korosy has gained a See also:European reputation. The See also:artistic life in Budapest is fostered by the academy of music, which once had Franz See also:Liszt as its director, a See also:conservatoire of music, a dramatic school, and a school for See also:painting and for drawing, all maintained by the government. Budapest possesses,besides an opera house, eight theatres, of which two are subsidized by the government and one by the municipality. The performances are almost exclusively in Hungarian, the exceptions being the occasional See also:appearance of See also:French, Italian and other foreign artists. Performances in See also:German are under a popular See also:taboo, and they are never given in a See also:theatre at Budapest. See also:Trade.—In See also:commerce and See also:industry Budapest is by far the most important town in Hungary, and in the former, if not also in the latter, it is second to Vienna alone in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The principal See also:industries are See also:steam See also:flour-milling, distilling, and the manufacture of machinery, railway plant, carriages, See also:cutlery, See also:gold and See also:silver wares, chemicals, bricks, jute, and the usual articles produced in large towns for home See also:consumption. The trade of Budapest is mainly in See also:corn, flour, cattle, horses, pigs, wines, See also:spirits, See also:wool, See also:wood, hides, and in the articles manufactured in the town. The efforts of the Hungarian government to establish a great home industry, and the See also:measures taken to that effect, have benefited Budapest to a greater degree than any other Hungarian town, and the progress made is remarkable The increase in the number of See also:joint-stock companies, and the capital thus invested in industrial undertakings, furnish a valuable indication. In 1873 there were 28 such companies with a See also:total capital of £2,224,900; in 1890, 75 with a capital of £9,352,000; and in 1899 no fewer than 242 with a total capital of £31,378,655• Budapest owes its great commercial importance to its situation on the Danube, on which the greater part of its trade is carried. The introduction of steamboats on the Danube in 1830 was one of the earliest material causes of the progress of Budapest, and gave a great stimulus to its corn trade. This still continues to operate, having been promoted by the flour-milling industry; which was revolutionized by certain See also:local inventions. Budapest is actually one of the greatest milling centres in the See also:world, possessing a number of magnificent establishments, fitted with machinery invented and manufactured in the city. Budapest is, besides, connected with all the principal places in Austria and Hungary by a well-See also:developed See also:net of See also:railways, which all radiate from here. See also:Population.—Few European towns See also:grew so rapidly as Buda-pest generally, and Pest particularly, during the 19th century, and probably none has witnessed such a thorough transformation since 1867. In 1799 the joint population of Buda and Pest was 54,179, of which 24,306 belonged to Buda, and 29,870 belonged to Pest, being the first See also:time that the population of Pest exceeded that of Buda. By 184o, however, Buda had added but 14,000 to its population, while that of Pest had more than doubled; and of the joint population of 270,685 in 1869, fully 200,000 See also:fell to the See also:share of Pest. In 188o the See also:civil population of Budapest was 360,551, an increase since 1869 of 32 %; and in 1890 it was 491,938, an increase of 36.57 % in the See also:decade. In the See also:matter of the increase of its population alone, Budapest has only been slightly surpassed by one European town, namely, See also:Berlin. Both capitals multiplied their population by nine in the first nine decades of the century. According to an interesting and instructive comparison of the growth of twenty-eight European cities made by Dr Joseph de Korosy, Berlin in 1890 showed an increase, as compared with the beginning of the century, of 818 % and Budapest of 809 %. Within the same See also:period the increase of See also:Paris was 343 %, and of See also:London 340 %. In 1900 the civil population of Budapest was 716,476 inhabitants, showing an increase of 44.82 % in the decade. To this must be added a garrison of 15,846 men, making a total population of 732,322. Of the total population, civil and military, S78,458 were See also:Magyars, 104,520 were Germans, 25,168 were See also:Slovaks, and the See also:remainder was composed of Croatians, Servians, Rumanians, Russians, Greeks, Armenians, Gypsies, &c. According to See also:religion, there were 445,023 Roman Catholics, 58o6 See also:Greek Catholics, 4422 Greek Orthodox; 67,319 were Protestants of the Helvetic, and 38,811 were Protestants of the See also:Augsburg Confessions; 168,985 were See also:Jews, and the remainder belonged to various other See also:creeds. A striking feature in the progress of Budapest is the decline in the See also:death-See also:rate, which sank from 43.4 per thousand in 1874 to 2o•6 per thousand in 1900. In addition to the increased influx of persons in the See also:prime of life, this is due largely to the improved water-See also:supply and better sanitary conditions generally, including increased See also:hospital See also:accommodation. Social Position.--Budapest is the seat of the government of Hungary, of the parliament, and of all the highest official authorities—civil, military, judicial and See also:financial. It is the See also:meeting-place, alternately with Vienna, of the Austro-Hungarian delegations, and it was elected to an equality with Vienna as a royal See also:residence in 1892. It is the see of a Roman Catholic See also:archbishop. The town is administered by an elected municipal See also:council, which consists of 400 members. As Paris is sometimes said to be See also:France, so may Budapest with almost greater truth be said to be Hungary. Its composite population is a faithful reflection of the heterogeneous elements in the dominions of the Habsburgs, while the trade and industry of Hungary are centralized at Budapest in a way that can scarcely be affirmed of any other European capital. In virtue of its cultural institutions, it is also the intellectual and artistic centre of Hungary. The See also:movement in favour of Magyarizing all institutions has found its strongest development in Budapest, where the German names have all been removed from the buildings and streets. The wonderful progress of Budapest is undoubtedly due to the revival of the Hungarian national spirit in the first half of the 19th century, and to the energetic and systematic efforts of thegovernment and See also:people of Hungary since the restoration of the constitution. So far as Hungary was concerned, Budapest in 1867 at once became the favoured See also:rival of Vienna, with the important additional See also:advantage that it had no such competitors within its own See also:sphere as Vienna had in the See also:Austrian provincial capitals. The See also:political, intellectual, and social life of Hungary was centred in Budapest, and had largely been so since 1848, when it became the seat of the legislature, as it was that of the Austrian central See also:administration which followed the revolution. The ideal of a prosperous, brilliant and attractive Magyar capital, which would keep the nobles and the intellectual See also:flower of the country at home, uniting them in the service of the Fatherland, had received a powerful impetus from Count Stephan Szechenyi, the great Hungarian reformer of the pre-Revolutionary period. His work, continued by patriotic and able successors, was now taken up as the See also:common task of the government and the nation. Thus the promotion of the interests of the capital and the centralization of the public and commercial life of the country have formed an integral part of the policy of the See also:state since the restoration of the constitution. Budapest has profited largely by the encouragement of agriculture, trade and industry, by the nationalization of the railways, by the development of inland See also:navigation, and also by the neglect of similar measures in favour of Vienna. From that time to the See also:present See also:day the See also:record of the Hungarian capital has been one of uninterrupted advance, not merely in externals, such as the removal of slums, the reconstruction of the town, the development of communications, industry and trade, and the erection of important public buildings, but also in the See also:mental, moral and See also:physical See also:elevation of the inhabitants; besides another important gain from the point of view of the Hungarian statesman, namely, the progressive increase and improvement of status of the Magyar See also:element of the population. When it is remembered that the ideal of both the authorities and the people is the ultimate mdnopoly of the home market by Hungarian industry and trade, and the strengthening of the Magyar influence by centralization, it is easy to understand the progress of Budapest. Politically, this ambitious and progressive capital is the creation of the Magyar upper classes. Commercially and industrially, it may be said to be the work of the Jews. The See also:sound See also:judgment of the former led them to welcome and appreciate the co-operation of the latter. Indeed, a readiness to assimilate foreign elements is characteristic of Magyar patriotism, which has, particularly within the last See also:generation, made numerous converts among the other nationalities of Hungary, and—for .iational purposes—may be considered to have quite absorbed the Hungarian Jews. It has thus come te'pass that there is noanti-Semitism in Budapest, although the See also:Hebrew element is. proportionately much larger (21 % as compared with 9 %) than it is in Vienna, the See also:Mecca of the See also:Jew-See also:baiter. Budapest has long been celebrated for its See also:mineral springs and See also:baths, some of them having been already used during the Roman period. They rise at the See also:foot of the Blocksberg, and are powerful chalybeate and sulphureous hot springs, with a temperature of 8o°–15o° Fahr. The principal baths are the Bruckbad and the Kaiserbad, both dating from the Turkish period; the St Lucasbad; and the Raitzenbad, rebuilt in 186o, one of the most magnificent establishments of its See also:kind, which was connected through a gallery with the royal palace in the time of Matthias Corvin. There is an artesian well of sulphureous water with a temperature of 1530 Fahr. in the Stadtwaldchen; and another, yielding sulphureous water with a temperature of 11o° Fahr., which is used for both drinking and bathing, in the Margaret island. The mineral springs, which yield See also:bitter alkaline See also:waters, are situated in the plain south of the Blocksberg, and are over 4o in number. The principal are the See also:Hunyadi-Janos See also:spring, of which about 1,000,000 bottles are exported annually, the Arpad spring, and the Apenta spring. The largest and most popular of the parks in Budapest is the Varosliget, on the See also:north-east side of the town. It has an area of 286 acres, and contains the zoological garden. On an island in its large See also:pond are situated the agricultural (1902–1904) and the ethnographical museums. It was in this park that the See also:millennium exhibition of 1896 took place. A still more delightful resort is the Margaret island, a long narrow island in the Danube, the See also:property of the See also:archduke Joseph, which has been laid out in the style of an See also:English park, with fine trees, velvety See also:turf and a See also:group of villas and See also:bath-houses. The name of the island is derived from St Margaret, the daughter of King Bela IV. (13th century), who built here a See also:convent, the ruins of which are still in existence. To the west of Buda extends the hill (1463 ft.) of Svab-Hegy (Sckwabenberg) , with extensive view and numerous villas; it is ascended by a See also:rack-and-pinion railway. A favourite spot is the Zugliget (Auwinkel), a wooded See also:dale on the See also:northern slope of the hill. To the north of 6-Buda, about 4 M. from the Margaret island, on the right bank of the Danube, are the remains of the Roman See also:colony of Aquincum. They include the See also:foundations of an See also:amphitheatre, of a See also:temple, of an See also:aqueduct, of baths and of a castrum. The See also:objects found here are preserved in a small museum. To the north of Pest lies the historic Rakos See also: In 1241 Pest was destroyed by the See also:Tatars, after whose departure in 1244 it was created a royal See also:free city by Bela IV., and repeopled with colonists of various nationalities. The succeeding period seems to have been one of considerable prosperity, though Pest was completely eclipsed by the sister town of Buda with its fortress and palace. This fortress and palace were built by King Bela IV. in 1247, and were the nucleus See also:round which the town of Buda was built, which soon gained great importance, and became in 1361 the capital of Hungary. In 1526 Pest was taken and pillaged by the See also:Turks, and from 1541 to 1686 Buda was the seat of a Turkish See also:pasha. Pest in the mean-time entirely lost its importance, and on the departure of the Turks was left little more than a heap of ruins. Its favourable situation and the renewal of former privileges helped it to revive, and in 1723 it became the seat of the highest Hungarian officials. Maria Theresa and Joseph II. did much to increase its importance, but the rapid growth which enabled it completely to outstrip Buda belongs entirely to the 19th century. A See also:signal See also:proof of its vitality was given in 1838 by the See also:speed and ease with which it recovered from a disastrous inundation that destroyed 3000 houses. In 1848 Pest became the seat of the revolutionary See also:diet, but in the following year the insurgents had to retire before the Austrians under See also:Windischgratz. A little later the Austrians had to retire in their turn, leaving a garrison in the fortress of Buda, and, while the Hungarians endeavoured to See also:capture this position, See also:General Hentzi retaliated by bombarding Pest, doing great damage to the town. In 1872 both towns were united into one municipality. In 1896 took place here the millennium exhibition, in celebration of the thousandth anniversary of the foundation of the kingdom of Hungary. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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