Budapest background

A bit of Budapest history and context

Budapest is one of those cities where the west meets strikingly with the east, reflecting a history on the battle lines between the Slavic and Teutonic peoples to the north and west, and the Turks from the southeast.

Though ethnically a mix of Ugric and (since the 9th century) Magyars, who came from beyond the Volga River, Hungary was largely ruled after the Middle Ages by a combination of Turks (until the 17th century) and Austrian Hapsburgs (who didn't give up the ghost until after World War I).

One strong legacy of the Turks is a taste for public bathhouses. The city of chock-a-bloc with baths, some actually dating back to the 16th century and the Turkish occupation, others built as recently as 1918.

Budapest itself didn't, technically, come into being until 1873, when the medieval town of Buda on the west side of the Danube was linked with the industrial flatlands of Pest across the river (fun Hungarian trivia: it was originally called Pest-Buda).

Budapest's attractions include historical museums, the largest functioning Jewish synagogue in Europe, the remains of the Roman city of Aquincum (well, an aqueduct and amphitheater at least) to the north outside the satellite town of Óbuda (Old Buda), and the neo-gothic Parliament House—sort of like London's Westminster, only pointer and with a dome.

In fact, much of monumental Budapest—the basilica and opera house, museums and monuments—dates from the last 150 years.