"W E L C O M E TO BUD ..." a Budapest Travel Page by cobrioc

"Make the strangers welcome in this land, let them keep their languages and customs, for weak and fragile is the realm which is based on a single language or on a single set of customs."
ST. Stephen in a letter shown in the remarkable quote.
Hungary's first Christian King in the year 1000.
The official language of Hungary remained Latin untill
1844.
Hungary also throughout the centuries gave asylum to many nationalities. Hungary would contain 14 distinct national minorities, each developing rich cultures and literary languages, ascending to nobility,and all contributing to the beauty and diversity of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Popes throughout the centuries have called Hungary the
"Savior of Europe," and the "Savior of Christianity," and ordered church bells around the world to ring at noon to remind of the Hungarian victory over Turks in 1456.

Did you know that Hungarians declared religious freedomin Torda, Transylvania, in 1557.
Kings were elected until the Habsburg takeover after the 150 year Turkish war and occupation of central Hungary that destroyed much of Hungary's wealth and population.
Transylvania, the cradle of Hungarian culture, was the only part of Hungary that remained largely untouched and unconquered.

The struggle with the Ottomans also forever changed.
Hungarians tried to break the Austrian yoke in the 18th
and again in the 19th century. Kossuth, the leader of the 1848 democratic revolution,came to the US for help,left empty handed.
In 1920, Treaty of Trianon,the reluctant participant in WWI was torn apart by the victors, losing territory.
The Hungarian tragedy at the signing of the Treaty of Trianon. In fact, the Soviets took a piece that was previously given to Czechoslovakia.

In 1956, thousand died and thousand more executed and jailed after the failed anti-communist revolution.
Following the collapse of Communism, the nation become the Rebuplic of Hungary in 1989.

In 1996, Hungary celebrated its 1100 th. anniversary.

Hungary has since joined NATO
and is set to become a member of the EU in 2003.

Situated on both banks of the Danube, Budapest unites the colorful hills of Buda and the wide
businesslike boulevards of Pest.
Budapest is divided into two parts by the Danube, Buda the hilly side and Pest the lively city center.

1873 when the towns of Obuda, Pest , and Buda were joined.
The Hungarian parliament building on the Pest side of Budapest.
Hungarian architect Imre Steidl planned the building, which was constructed between 1885 and 1906.
The building accommodates
the Hungarian parliament, and the offices of the Prime Minister and the
President.

Budapest has been the cultural, political, intellectual, and commercial heart of Hungary.
Budapest has suffered many ravages in the course of its long history.
Today, judging by the city's flourishing cafes and restaurants, markets and bars, the stagnation enforced by the Communist seems a thing of the very distant past.
The city consist of districts arranged in a spiral, and numbered in Roman numbers starting at the center.
Chain Bridge is the oldest bridge in Budapest.