<body>It's no exaggeration to say that Budapest is one of the finest
capital cities in Europe, and also one of the best situated. Since 1985, Hungary
has become the proud owner of eight World Heritage Site. The first was Budapest,
including the Danube panorama (on the Buda side from the Gellért Hotel
all along Castle Hill to Margaret Bridge, and on the Pest side from the Parliament
back down to Petofi Bridge), and Andrássy út (along its entire
length from the centre of Pest to Heroes' Square, where the Millenary Monument
stands on the edge of the City Park).</p>
<p class="links2"><br>
This site has the remains of monuments such as the Roman city of Aquincum and
the Gothic castle of Buda, which have had a considerable influence on the architecture
of various periods. It is one of the world's outstanding urban landscapes and
illustrates the great periods in the history of the Hungarian capital. </p>
<p class="links2"><br>
Among the several places in Hungary that have been afforded the classification
of UNESCO World Heritage Site, Budapest was the home of such world class inventors
as Kálmán Kandó, the father of electric railways, and
János Irinyi, one of the early developers of matches. Hungary's two
most celebrated composers - Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály
- lived in Budapest, and Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian author Imre Kertész
was born here.<br>
</p><h3>Budapest<a name="top"></a>’s number one visitor attraction: Buda Castle Quarter and its
surroundings</h3>
<p><br>
In Buda, contrary to many other capitals, the royal castle really is at the
top of a hill, as it is in all the best old stories. Known as the Royal
Palace of
Buda, it is visible from virtually every point in the city. </p>
<h4>Unique sights behind the Gates of Buda <img src="pictures/royalpalace.jpg" alt="city gate" width="200" height="210" align="right"></h4>
<p><br>
When locals say Buda Castle they are usually referring not just to the Royal
Palace but to the whole of the medicval town built on Castle Hill, with its
charming squares, narrow twisting streets, and fantastic views over the city.
Some of the old houses sport Gothic decorated door and window frames. It
is worth looking into the courtyards and long gateways, for you can sometimes
see a Buda speciality, the medicval sedilia. In olden times the retinue accompanying
an important guest could rest awhile in these hollowed-out stone seats with
their Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance decorations.</p>
<h4><br>
<img src="pictures/matyas2.jpg" alt="matthias church" align="left">The church of royal weddings </h4>
<p><br>
One of the most beautiful Gothic churches in all Hungary stands next to the
Holy Trinity Column commemorating the plague of 1709 in Szentháromság
Square in Buda. The Church of Our Lady – more commonly known as the Matthias
Church – was founded at the same time as the first of the Buda Castles,
by King Béla IV. Later rulers left their mark on it, adding a tower
here and a door there, and generally enlarging the building, and for a while
it was also used as a coronation church. It came to be called the Matthias
Church in honour of King Matthias, Hungary’s illustrious monarch, who
held both his marriage ceremonies here. Its appearance today results largely
from nineteenth century reconstruction, and its excellent acoustics make it
a favourite venue for organ recitals and orchestral concerts.</p>
<h4><br>
A collection of Hungarian wines</h4>
<p><br>
A somewhat newer attraction on Szentháromság Square is the House
of Hungarian Wines (Magyar Borok Háza), where 450 wines from all 22
of Hungary’s historical wine-producing regions can be tried in the huge
cellars. Visitors receive a small cup on arrival and can begin their adventure,
for 70 to 80 different types can be tasted within the admission price.</p>
<h4><br>
The only bastion never to have seen a soldier <img src="pictures/halaszbastya.jpg" alt="halaszbastya" width="200" height="251" align="right"></h4>
<p><br>
If you walk up to the Castle District in the evening from the Danube embankment,
the illuminated, snow-white towers of the Fishermen’s Bastion (Halászbástya)
rise up ahead, like so many sugar-loaves. You are more likely to associate
the sight with fairy tales than with soldiers, although it is the latter who
are the rightful users of a bastion. The Fishermen’s Bastion has never
served as a defence; it was built in 1905 purely as a lookout terrace and to
augment the cityscape. It follows the line of the old city walls and is near
the site of a former fish market. And the connection with fishermen? Back in
the mists of time it was the Fishermen’s Guild who were responsible for
defending this section of the castle ramparts.</p>
<h4><br>
Labyrinths – a town under the town</h4>
<p><br>
On the northern and western slopes of Castle Hill it has been known for people
to go out into their garden and suddenly find a cave, sometimes with spring
water gushing up in it! The northern and central parts of Castle Hill have
more holes in them than an Emmental cheese! The caves are very old and were
formed by thermal springs. They were developed and enlarged in the Middle Ages
and, extending to over six miles, they really did become like an underground
town. In times of war they served both as somewhere to hide and as a place
where the defence forces could regroup in secret.<br>
A part of the system of natural and man-made passages, the Buda Castle Labyrinth,
is open to the public.</p>
<h4><br>
Special attraction – a cave tour in the Capital</h4>
<p><br>
Among the many ways in which Budapest can be summed up, one is as a City of
Caves. It is the only city in the world where there are surface openings to
cave systems in built-up residential districts. One such is the Pálvölgy
dripstone cave system; it is Hungary’s third longest, a protected site
and open to visitors for guided tours starting hourly and extending for 500
metres. A 300 metre-long, recently renovated section of the Szemlo-hegy cave
is also open to visitors. This is one of those rare instances where the entrance
is fully accessible to visitors with impaired mobility.</p>
<h4><br>
The first permanent bridge between Buda and Pest </h4>
<p><br>
The Lánchíd (Chain Bridge), the symbol of Budapest, was the first
permanent crossing over the Danube on <img src="pictures/lanchid.jpg" alt="chain bridge" align="left">Hungarian territory, and only the second
along its entire length. The river had long bisected an important trade route,
and in early times people were ferried across in boats. By the beginning of
the fifteenth century pontoon bridges were being used, and although in winter
when the river froze over people could cross on foot or with horse and cart,
when the ice started to thaw the two shores were completely cut off from each
other. In a particularly cold December in 1820, Count István Széchenyi
had to wait a whole week to cross, as there wasn’t a boatman willing
to take the chance of carrying him from Pest to Buda between the ice flows.
Széchenyi is a legend in Hungarian history for the things he did to
develop the capital and the country, and after this experience he declared
he would give a whole year’s income towards the building of a permanent
bridge. There had been plans earlier than <img src="pictures/libertybridge.jpg" alt="liberty bridge" width="200" height="235" align="right">this. One that originated from the
end of the 1700’s took the multiple buttressed Charles Bridge in Prague
as its model, but this was not adopted. In England Count Széchenyi saw
the bridges of William Tierney Clark and, on the basis of those, commissioned
him to design the first bridge over the Hungarian Danube. Construction was
entrusted to the Scottish engineer Adam Clark (no relation), and the Chain
Bridge was officially opened on 20th November, 1849. Traffic crossing the bridge
from Pest still had to wait a few more years, though, before it could continue
its journey westwards without diverting around Castle Hill. The Tunnel under
the hill was constructed in just 7? months in 1853; it is 32 feet wide and
32 feet tall, and, at 382 yards long, exactly the same length as its neighbour
the Chain Bridge. One of the many anecdotes about these landmarks says that
when it rains the Bridge can be pushed into the Tunnel to prevent it from getting
wet!</p>
<h4><br>
Budapest’s most meautiful park is an island </h4>
<p><br>
The seven-buttress Margaret Bridge, built to a French design, was Budapest’s
second permanent river crossing and opened in 1876. From the central buttress
a spur links to Margaret Island, unquestionably the city’s most beautiful
park. After the Mongol invasion it became home for several monastic orders;
it was at that time known as the Island of Hares, and only later assumed its
current name in honour of the pious daughter of King Béla IV. His <img src="pictures/margaretisland.jpg" alt="Margaret island" width="200" height="154" align="right">Margaret
joined the Dominican nuns in their new convent in 1252, and remained there
until her death.<br>
In its time Margaret Island has also been a royal hunting ground, and from
the nineteenth century, a 250-acre municipal park. Hidden behind its noble
trees are sports grounds, swimming pools, the capital’s largest open-air
leisure pool, an outdoor theatre, and two spa hotels. The island, which can
also be reached by small boat, is free from traffic, and a very popular way
of getting around it is by hiring a “bringóhintó” family
cycle car. The north end of the island is connected by Árpád
Bridge to both Buda and Pest.</p>
<h4><br>
<img src="pictures/romantown.jpg" alt="Roman town" width="200" height="167" align="left">Roman Town </h4>
<p><br>
The part of the city now known as Óbuda is the site of the principal
town of the Roman province of Pannonia. The frontier of the Empire ran along
the line of the Danube, and Budapest’s 2,000-year old forerunner was
called Aquincum. It was an important military centre, but a civilian town of
merchants and artisans also grew up around it. Remains of the military amphitheatre
can be seen at Óbuda and, a mile further on, ruins of the streets of
the civilian town and some of its houses.<br>
</p>
<h4>The<a name="top"></a> Parliament</h4>
<p><br>
Town planners and builders of the late nineteenth century were certainly fond
of grandeur and adornment – witness, for example, one of Europe’s
most splendid parliament buildings on the left bank of the Danube. The Eclectic
building is itself an example of the art of the period – with its Gothic
towers, intricate stonework and 88 <img src="pictures/parlament.jpg" alt="parliament" align="right">statues on the outside, and its baroque grand
staircase, frescoes, mosaic windows, Gobelin tapestry and paintings inside.<br>
The cooling system for the Parliament building was unique at the end of the 19th
century. Air ventilation tunnels were routed to the two fountains that were situated
in the square in front of the building, and the fresh air that was blown back
into the chambers was pleasantly cooled by water. When this system was later
superseded much of the tunnel work was bricked up, although some of the original
air passages are still in use today. In times of great heat, circulating air
can be cooled by huge quantities of ice.</p>
<h4><br>
On the trail of World Heritage – by tumber two tram</h4>
<p><br>
The number two tram can be boarded in Kossuth Square in front of the Parliament
building: it is an excellent means of sightseeing. From its windows the entire
World Heritage section of the Danube panorama of both Buda and Pest can be seen.
First stop is Roosevelt Square, by the Chain Bridge, where stands the 1860’s
neo-Renaissance edifice of the Hungarian Academy of Science. Next door is one
of the finest art nouveau buildings, the Gresham Palace. It was the city’s
largest residential structure (130,000 square feet) when it was built in 1907
for the English Gresham Life Assurance Company. After the First World War a coffee
house opened on the ground floor which became a favourite meeting place for progressive-
thinking intelligentsia and artists in the 1920s and 30s. The building has recently
undergone extensive restoration and now houses the city’s most elegant
luxury hotel.</p>
<h4><br>
The Continent’s first underground railway <img src="pictures/underground.jpg" alt="underground" align="right"></h4>
<p><br>
When Budapest’s first underground railway opened for service in 1896 it
was the first of its kind on the Continent, and only the second after London.
It conveyed passengers just below street level from the City Centre to the City
Park in around ten minutes. The twenty-foot wide tunnel is supported by riveted
iron pillars, and the restored stations with their wooden ticket kiosks and ceramic
tiled walls faithfully recall the atmosphere of a century ago. The first set
of coaches lasted in service for eighty years, and an example of one is preserved
in the Underground Museum. After Budapest’s second Underground line was
built, a deep-tunnel construction called the Metró, the original one affectionately
became known as the “Little Underground”.</p>
<h4><br>
The most beautiful example of city planning</h4>
<p><br>
The route of the original Little Underground follows that of Budapest’s
most elegant boulevard. Andrássy út <img src="pictures/kodalykorond.jpg" alt="kodaly korond" align="right">represents the pinnacle of
Budapest’s late nineteenth century city planning. It is also home to many
of Pest’s theatres, including the imposing Opera House, with its columns,
statues and terraces, as well as the Operetta Theatre and numerous others on
neighbouring side streets. Just before the Oktogon is Liszt Ferenc Square, a
place that has in a short time become one of the capital’s favourite pleasure
grounds – filled with coffee houses, international restaurants, club restaurants,
musical bars and jazz clubs. In summer it seems that half the city is here relaxing
and enjoying itself at the outdoor tables. </p>
<h4><br>
Champion Archangel</h4>
<p><br>
Andrássy út terminates opposite one of the best known groups of
statues in Hungary, the Millenary Monument at <img src="pictures/hosoktere.jpg" alt="hero`s square" width="300" height="223" align="right">Heroes’ Square. Construction
began in 1896, and the centrepiece is a 118-foot Corinthian column supporting
a 16-foot statue of the archangel Gabriel. In his right hand he is holding the
holy Hungarian crown, and in his left the double Apostolic cross – just
as he is supposed to have appeared in a dream to Hungary’s first king.<br>
The statue won the Grand Prix at the 1900 Paris World Exhibition. Around its
base are equestrian statues of the seven chiefs of the conquering Magyar tribes,
and within the arched colonnades to the sides stand bronze figures representing
the most illustrious rulers of Hungarian History.</p>
<h4><br>
Largest collection of fine arts</h4>
<p><br>
Two opposite sides of Heroes’ Square are taken up with fine neo-classical
buildings. The Palace of Arts (Mucsarnok) is Hungary’s largest fine arts
exhibition space, and displays the works of contemporary Hungarian and international
artists and designers. A separate room accommodating 80 people shows three-dimensional
films about treasures of Hungarian natural and architectural history.<br>
The Museum of Fine Arts (Szépmûvészeti Múzeum),
opposite,
is Hungary’s principal fine arts gallery, containing much to attract those
interested in European and also ancient art.<br>
</p>
<h4>The<a name="top"></a> Capital’s largest park</h4>
<p><br>
Budapest’s City Park is reputed to have been the world’s first public
park open to all. In 1808 the Emperor ordered <img src="pictures/citypark.jpg" alt="city park" width="200" height="158" align="right">a Hungarian “National Garden” to
be laid out, including the planting of seven thousand trees.<br>
Today’s City Park contains amusement areas, sports grounds, foot and cycle
paths, as well as the hundred-year old Széchenyi Thermal Baths (Pest’s
first), popular for swimming, relaxation and treatments. There is also the Transport
Museum, containing rare model locomotives, the Petofi Hall, home to rock concerts,
and at weekends one of the city’s most interesting flea markets, where
goods on sale range from interesting old books and antique painted plates to
valuable old toys.<br>
In summer there is boating on City Park Lake. In winter, it is transformed into
Central Europe’s largest artificial skating rink.</p>
<h4>Vajdahunyad Castle <img src="pictures/vajdahunyad2.jpg" alt="vajdahunyad castle" align="right"></h4>
<p><br>
On the shore of City Park Lake stands Vajdahunyad Castle. The first version
of this was a wooden edifice constructed for the 1896 Millennium celebrations
to
a mix of designs in order to show characteristic elements of architectural styles
from different parts of Hungary. This giant “model” was so successful
that after it was taken down it was rebuilt out of stone. It later became home
to the Agricultural Museum, which also contains one of the world’s largest
trophy collections.</p>
<h4><br>
One of Europe’s oldest zoos <img src="pictures/zoo.jpg" alt="zoo" width="200" height="142" align="right"></h4>
<p><br>
Budapest Zoo is a pleasant day out for all the family. It first opened in 1866
and has in the last decade undergone significant modernisation. Some of its buildings
are particularly fine examples of Hungarian art nouveau. Five hundred types of
animal and 4,000 different plants live within its 250 acres. The animal petting
area is especially popular with children – they can come into close contact
with and feed the goats, small cows and sheep.</p>
<h4><br>
Prize-winning Merry-go-Round</h4>
<p><br>
Spectacles and curios were already being paraded in the City Park in the middle
of the nineteenth century, and travelling circuses regularly set up their big
top here. Budapest’s own permanent circus settled here in 1891.<br>
The adjacent Fun Fair is a real meeting of antique and state of the art technology.
There are gentle rides on the Ferris wheels and, for the brave, there are fast,
spinning, hair-raising rides on the roller-coasters. The hundred year-old merry-go-round,
recently awarded the European Nostra Prize, and the two-thirds of a mile-long
wooden framed switchback with nine peaks (now a listed monument) have a charming
old-world atmosphere to them. There is an exhibition about the history of the
Fun Fair in the departure building.</p>
<h4><br>
Formula One <img src="pictures/forma1.jpg" alt="formula1" align="left"></h4>
<p><br>
There has been motor sport in Hungary since the early 1900s, when the first
automobile club was set up. In 1912 the first international car race took place.
Today,
at Mogyoród (C5) just to the east of Budapest, the Hungaroring circuit
is the only Formula One racetrack in Central Europe, and each year in August
it is tested to the limits by the world’s best racing drivers, attracting
crowds in their hundreds of thousands. On the other hand, the Hungarokart go-carting
centre is open all year to followers of that sport.</p>
<h4>The biggest church and the heaviest bell <img src="pictures/basilica.jpg" alt="church" width="200" height="208" align="right"></h4>
<p><br>
It’s only a short walk from the Western Station to Budapest’s largest
church, the 8,500 capacity Saint Stephen’s Basilica. With its principal
façade facing towards the Danube, the proximity of the river necessitated
digging extremely deep foundations; indeed the three levels of cellars go almost
as deep as the height of the imposing church. The ground plan is in the form
of a Greek cross, and the Basilica was consecrated in 1905. The right-hand
tower houses Hungary’s heaviest bell, weighing in at nine tons, while
Hungarian Christianity’s most important relic – the mummified right
hand of the founder of the Hungarian State and Church, King Saint Stephen – can
be seen in the chapel behind the sanctum.</p>
<h4><br>
Europe’s largest Synagogue</h4>
<p><br>
A short walk along the Inner Ring Road brings you to Dohány utca and
Europe’s largest working synagogue. The <img src="pictures/zsinagoga.jpg" alt="synagogue" align="left">first Jewish merchants settled
in Buda in the middle of the thirteenth century. In the eighteenth century
a Jewish community, along with craftshops and workshops, was established in Óbuda.
A gradual migration into Pest started a few years later and in the mid-nineteenth
century the period’s largest synagogue was built to a Romantic-Moorish
design on the edge of the new Jewish quarter. It can seat three thousand people,
and features cast iron columns and arches which at the time of its construction
were very much a new innovation.<br>
Concerts are regularly held in the Synagogue, and the adjacent building houses
the world renowned National Jewish Museum. This covers the history of Hungarian
Jewry, has displays of ritual artefacts and everyday objects, and commemorates
the Holocaust. There are kosher shops and restaurants in the neighbourhood.</p>
<p><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<h3>The<a name="top"></a> Capital with the World’s largest number of Thermal Springs</h3>
<p><br>
Budapest first gained the epithet City of Spas in 1934, and with it recognition
that there isn’t another capital city anywhere in the world that has more
hydrothermal and mineral springs. It is also a unique fact that the 118 natural
or specially drilled springs, with a temperature ranging from 21 to 78 °C
(70–172 °F), deliver 70 million litres (15.4 million gallons) per day.
Walking along the Danube embankment on the Buda side, you come across the <img src="pictures/rudas.jpg" alt="Rudas spa" width="200" height="214" align="right">famous
thermal baths one after the other. They have a wide appeal, suiting those engaged
in sports as well as those who would rather sweat it out in the steam room or
pass the time of day unwinding in the soothing thermal water. The particular
mineral content of the waters here marks them out as being efficacious in the
treatment of locomotor, circulatory and gynccological disorders. Close to the
baths you can find springs and pump rooms, offering the range of natural mineral
waters to drink. The most renowned pump room for taking curative drinks is at
the entrance to the Lukács Baths. It was opened in 1937 and is recommended,
amongst other things, for those suffering from gastric complaints. The building
dates from 1894, and the establishment’s fame spread quickly throughout
Europe, becoming one of Hungary’s best known attractions.<br>
In Buda there are also working thermal baths remaining from the Turkish period,
for example the Király and the Rác, both built towards the end
of the 1500’s. Another, the Rudas, is both the oldest and the most elaborately
decorated, and includes a fine octagonal main pool.</p>
<h4><img src="pictures/gellert.jpg" alt="Gellert spa" align="left"> Budapest’s Finest Art
Nouveau Thermal Spa</h4>
<p><br>
The foot of Gellért Hill was the site of a hospital in the Middle Ages;
by the Turkish period there was a bathing place there. On one of his travels,
the Turkish writer Evlia Cselebi advised that one should stay in the water
almost until one’s body turns red and then quickly get out but keep warm.
Today’s Gellért Hotel and Baths date from 1918, although the wave
pool and whirlpool bath are later additions. This is Budapest’s finest
thermal bathing complex, still displaying original art nouveau fittings, colourful
mosaics, marble columns and stained glass windows and statues.</p>
<h4>The Széchenyi Spa</h4>
<p>Széchenyi furdo is one of Europe's greatest spa complexes. A physiotherapeutical
department, run as part of an outpatient hospital, in addition to the medicinal
water and the lovely surroundings, ensure the healing for visitors. <img src="pictures/szechenyi3.jpg" alt="szechenyi spa" width="164" height="206" align="right"></p>
<p>This spa is not only extraordinary for its medicinal water and the large area
it occupies, but is also special for the care manifested in the architecture
of its facilities; the sculptures and glass mosaics decorating the spa were
made by Hungary's leading artists. </p>
<p>The spacious and sunny pool halls bear a touch of the Roman fondness for spas,
and the tub bath reflects the signs of the Greek and Scandinavian bath cultures.
These are shown in the saunas, baths and steam rooms available at the different
departments. The present building of the spa was completed in 1913. The Szecsenyi
swimming pool was built in 1927, and following that it was converted to the
winter season, it is open to visitors all year long. Also in 1927, a bath department
and a complete physiotherapeutical department were added as part of an outpatient
hospital. </p>
</body>