Two thousand years ago, in a land now known as Hungary, the Celts established a settlement on the western bank of the Danube River and called it home. In 106 A.D., the Romans showed up, kicked the Celts out, and called the place, Aquincum. Then Attila and his crazy Huns showed up, kicked the Romans out, and started their own little settlement next door to Aquincum. They named it, Buda, after Attila’s brother, Bleda.
I have no idea how you get “Buda” from “Bleda” but I’m not a Hun. Another of Attila’s brethren complained because he didn’t have a town named after him. To shut him up, Attila renamed Aquincum, Óbuda. There is some controversy over the name. Linguistic scholars have determined that “Óbuda” is an ancient Hunnic expression meaning, “Screw you, Bleda!”
The Huns were so busy fighting over naming rights they forgot about the Bulgarians who showed up and kicked the Huns out. Then the Hungarians rolled in.
Many folks confuse the Huns and the Hungarians. The Huns were a nomadic people from the Asian Steppe, more closely related to the Turks than the Hungarians. Hungarians are Magyars (pronounced “MAH-yarz) from the lands northwest of Moscow. Magyars are more closely related to the Finns than they are the Huns. But they are not as good at ski jumping.
How did the Magyars become known as Hungarians? Hell if I know.
The first King of Hungary was Stephen I who was crowned in the year 1000. Under Stephen and his successors, Buda and Óbuda became important commercial centers. People poured in, the rents rose, and people started moving across the Danube to find cheaper apartments. That was the beginning of the town of Pest (pronounced “PEH-scht”). Pest derives from a Slavic term meaning either “oven,” “cave,” or “cockroach.” Take your pick.
Pest was to Buda what Oakland is to San Francisco although caves in Oakland rent for a lot more. Even Hungarians became tired of the cross-river rivalry so, in 1873, the Magyars decided to combine Buda, Óbuda, and Pest into the beautiful burg we know as Budapest.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. In 1241, the Mongols dropped in and destroyed everything. (Why were the Mongols always so upset?) King Bela IV rebuilt everything and decided maybe a few more big walls and a castle might discourage the Mongols. So he ordered Buda Castle to be built and you can see it today.
Of course, the walls did not keep the Allied bombers and artillery from blowing the heck out of the place in 1945. To be fair, the Allies only destroyed the buildings. The Nazis dynamited all the bridges as part of their doomed defense.
King Matthias Corvinus turned Buda into quite a Renaissance center in the 15th century. During his 30-year reign, he founded the University of Buda and assembled the second-largest library in Europe, after the Vatican Library. He put up a lot of other buildings with other people’s money. Then he croaked.
Fifty years later, the Ottoman Turks assumed the management duties in Buda. They stayed for a 140 years until the Germans assembled a multi-national army and recaptured Buda. Then the Germans ran the town for another century or so. During that period, the Hungarians rebelled every decade or so until a compromise was struck with the Germans. In 1867, Austria and Hungary combined into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Buda was designated as co-capital, with Vienna, and that kept the Hungarians happy until World War I broke out.
In 1918, after losing the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken up into smaller kingdoms that resembled the countries we recognize today, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. (After the Soviet Union folded, Czechoslovakia became the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Yugoslavia exploded into Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia. Sheesh!)
Post World War I Europe (1981) and Today
In the 1930’s, Hungary made the unfortunate choice to ally itself with the Axis of Germany, Japan, and Italy. When Hitler blew off his non-aggression deal with Uncle Joe Stalin and attacked Russia, Hungary had second thoughts. The Hungarians tried to sign a secret Armistice with the Allies but the Germans got wise. Uh-oh. Hitler invaded Hungary in 1944 and things got ugly. Less than a year later, the Allies got payback.
It’s hard to imagine the carnage. In all, Hungary lost nearly 40% of its population to warfare and genocide. Budapest was virtually leveled. If that weren’t bad enough, the Soviet Union took control. Some liberation. The Soviet Communists were just vodka-drinking Nazis. The Hungarians revolted in 1956 but, as someone might have said, you can’t bring a knife to a gunfight. The Hungarians were slaughtered. Again.
It took the Hungarians 20 years to restore all the bridges the Nazis blew up in 1945, but they did it. It took longer to fix the buildings, but they did that, too. When the Soviet Union was wavering in 1989, Budapest was one of the first Eastern Bloc cities to break away from the Communist stranglehold.
Free at last.
Cool Places in Budapest
Fisherman’s Bastion Best view of the Danube and Oakland…uh, Pest across the river. It is a terrace on Castle Hill, adjacent to Matthias Cathedral. The Bastion features seven Romanesque towers which represent the seven Magyar tribes that originally settled Budapest, if you don’t count the Celts, Romans, Huns, and the Bulgars. The Bastion is named after the Fisherman’s Guild that was assigned to protect the castle rampart way back when.
Castle District Fisherman’s Bastion is in the Castle District of Budapest where you will see Buda Castle, the Royal Palace, a bunch of museums, and the usual winding, charming streets.
Vajdahunyad Castle in the City Park It contains a statue of the great Hungarian, Bela Lugosi, dressed as Count Dracula. As any Sesame Street viewer can tell you, The Count was actually a citizen of Transylvania before he emigrated to the Land of the Undead.
Churches O’Plenty You want churches? Budapest has them. Matthias Cathedral, St. Stephens Basilica, and Dohány Street Synagogue are the big ones. There are so many churches in Budapest you can convert religions just by crossing the street.
Caves of Budapest For the adventurous, there is an extensive cave system beneath Budapest. Spelunkers delight but claustrophobics take fright.
Andrássy Avenue Named for a former Prime Minster of Hungary whose wife like to shop, this boulevard put the booty in Bootypest. It is the Hungarian Fifth Avenue — boutiques, mansions, theaters, restaurants, museums.
Andrassy Boulevard in 1875, in 1896, and during tourist rush hour today