General Information

History:

For centuries, Budapest was not one but two cities: Buda on one side of the Danube, on the hill, and Pest on the other side, on the plains. The area that is now Buda has been occupied by Celtic population since before Christ, and was then occupied by the Romans in the first century AD - the city was christened Aquincum, due to its many thermal springs, and became the capital of the Roman province called Pannonia; there are still several interesting Roman ruins all over the country.

The Magyars (a people coming from Asia and the ancestors of contemporary Hungarians), arrived in the area in the 9th century and first populated the flat areas along the Danube (what is now the Pest area). Soon, the attacks of other roaming tribes coming from Asia showed the necessity of reinforcing the defences of the town, and King Béla IV founded the royal palace on the hills of Buda. Thus, the nobles and the wealthy bourgeoisie ended up living on the Buda side, while the merchants and the poorer people lived mostly in Pest.

The Turks invaded Hungary in the 16th century, and occupied it for 140 years; they left their mark especially in the thermal resources of the town, creating pools and baths, some of which are still working today. The city was left heavily damaged by the invasion and the subsequent wars, and did not recover fully until the 19th century, when a lot of it was rebuilt from scratch, and the inhabited area expanded a lot, especially in the Pest area, since defence was not a paramount issue any more. The birth in 1867 of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy gave a great contribution to this process, and when the two cities were merged in 1873 and became the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom, Budapest started flourishing, rivalling with Vienna in terms of cultural offer, economic power and beauty.

This lasted until the World Wars, when first the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and then Hungary taking Germany’s side in the Second World War and being subsequently devastated when the tide turned against Germany, left the city heavily damaged in both buildings and economy. The city was rebuilt during the communist years, but few traces of that époque are left subsequent to the end of the communist regime, due to the Hungarians’ desire to obliterate that part of their history.

Language:

The Hungarian language belongs to the Finno-Ugric family, like Finnish and Estonian, and is probably one of the most difficult languages in Europe. So trying to learn bits of it is not a very likely option. A lot of people, especially within the tourist industry and young people in general, will understand German and/or English.