Memory of Centuries

The city is built on 2000 year-old Roman ruins. The Magyar tribes arrived in 896 from the East, as horse breeding warriors. Memories of the Eastern origin can be found on artistic monuments or in the Asian style old folk songs.

Budapest has been the Magyar national capital for eight centuries. Since the Middle Ages, Buda has had the royal palace, while Pest expanded in the 19th century. After the unification of the two towns, the quickest urban growth of the world took place!

A metropolis, "Paris of the East" was built with a million citizens, thousands of new palaces, 600 big cafes, splendid bridges and avenues. This progress was capped by the 1896 Millennary Exhibition with the continent's first metro and Heroes' Square. After the heavy distruction of World War II, the Soviet occupation resulted in a Communist regime. The courageous 1956 Revolution against that dictatorship gained wide international attention. Parliamentary democracy was restored in 1990.