There is no other city in Hungary like Budapest.  With just under two million inhabitants, the metropolis is home to almost a fifth of the national population.  As Hungary's capital, Budapest is the administrative, business and the cultural centre of the country; virtually everything in this amazing country starts, finishes or is taking place in Budapest.  Strictly speaking, the story of Budapest begins only in 1873 when hilly, residential Buda and historic Obuda on the western bank of the Danube merged with flat, industrial Pest on the eastern side to form what was at first the eastern side to form what was at first called Pest-Buda.  But like so much in Hungary it's not that simple.
  The Romans had an important colony here called Aquincum until the fifth century, when they were forced to flee the settlement by the Huns.  The Magyars arrived nearly half a millennium later, but Buda and Pest were no more than villages until the twelfth century, when foreign merchants and trades people settled here.  In the late thirteenth century King Bela IV built a fortress in Buda, but it was King Charles Robert (Karoly Robert) who moved the court from Visegrad to Buda 50 years later.  His son Louis the Great (Nagy Lajos) began the construction of a royal palace.
  The Mongols had burned Buda and Pest to the ground in 1241-42, and thus began a pattern of destruction and rebuilding that would last until the twentieth century.  Under the Turks, the two towns lost most of their populations, and when the Turks were defeated by the Habsburgs in the late seventeenth century Buda Cattle was in ruins.  The 1848 Revolution, World War II and the 1956 Uprising all took their toll.
  Budapest is on the mend in a big way, with new buildings erected, old ones refaced and streets pedestrainized.  Before long it will again rank as one of Europe's most elegant cities.  (Cf. Steve Fallon & Neal Bedford, Hungary, 79-80.)
  

  Connection with Joyce: Budapest is one of the three Hungarian cities which are concerned with the fictional Jewish family Virag: see the following parts of Ulysses:

(1)
17.0532.  What, the enclosures of reticence removed, were their respective
17.0533.  parentages?

17.0534.  Bloom, only born male transubstantial heir of Rudolf Virag (subsequently
17.0535.  Rudolph Bloom) of Szombathely, Vienna, Budapest, Milan, London and
17.0536.  Dublin and of Ellen Higgins, second daughter of Julius Higgins (born
17.0537.  Karoly) and Fanny Higgins (born Hegarty). Stephen, eldest surviving male
17.0538.  consubstantial heir of Simon Dedalus of Cork and Dublin and of Mary,
17.0539.  daughter of Richard and Christina Goulding (born Grier).


(2)
17.1905.  What first reminiscence had he of Rudolph Bloom (deceased)?

17.1906.  Rudolph Bloom (deceased) narrated to his son Leopold Bloom (aged 6) a
17.1907.  retrospective arrangement of migrations and settlements in and between
17.1908.  Dublin, London, Florence, Milan, Vienna, Budapest, Szombathely with
17.1909.  statements of satisfaction (his grandfather having seen Maria Theresia,
17.1910.  empress of Austria, queen of Hungary), with commercial advice (having
17.1911.  taken care of pence, the pounds having taken care of themselves). Leopold
17.1912.  Bloom (aged 6) had accompanied these narrations by constant consultation
17.1913.  of a geographical map of Europe (political) and by suggestions for the
17.1914.  establishment of affiliated business premises in the various centres
17.1915.  mentioned.

IMAGE	IMAGE NO.	DATA
Pest and The Danube		Pest and The Danube, viewed from the Halaszbastya (Fishermen's Bastion), Holy Trinity Square
	bud2003-015	(Tuesday 15 July) Pest and The Danube, viewed from the Halaszbastya (Fishermen's Bastion), Holy Trinity Square
	bud2003-016	(Tuesday 15 July) Pest and The Danube, viewed from the Halaszbastya (Fishermen's Bastion), Holy Trinity Square
	bud2003-017	(Tuesday 15 July) Pest and The Danube, viewed from the Halaszbastya (Fishermen's Bastion), Holy Trinity Square
	bud2003-018	(Tuesday 15 July) Pest and The Danube, viewed from the Halaszbastya (Fishermen's Bastion), Holy Trinity Square
	bud2003-019	(Tuesday 15 July) Pest and The Danube, viewed from the Halaszbastya (Fishermen's Bastion), Holy Trinity Square
A Budai Varnegyed		Map of the A Budai Varnegyed (Buda's Castle Quarter)
	bud2003-022	(Tuesday 15 July) Map of the A Budai Varnegyed (Buda's Castle Quarter)
Szentharomsag ter		Statue of Holy Trinity at the Szentharomsag ter
	bud2003-010	(Tuesday 15 July) Statue of Holy Trinity at the Szentharomsag ter
	bud2003-014	(Tuesday 15 July) Szt. Istvan-szobor (Statue of St. Stephen) on the east side of Matyas templom (Matthias Church)
Halaszbastya		Halaszbastya (Fishermen's Bastion)
	bud2003-020	(Tuesday 15 July) Halaszbastya (Fishermen's Bastion), viewed from Holy Trinity Square
	bud2003-021	(Tuesday 15 July) Me at the Halaszbastya (Fishermen's Bastion), Holy Trinity Square
Matyas templom		Matyas templom (Matthias Church) and Szentharomsag ter
	bud2003-008	(Tuesday 15 July) Matyas templom (Matthias Church) and Szentharomsag ter
	bud2003-009	(Tuesday 15 July) Matyas templom (Matthias Church) and (Holy Trinity Square)
	bud2003-011	(Tuesday 15 July) Matyas templom (Matthias Church).  It dates back some 500 years, notably the carvings above the southern entrance.  But basically the church (so named because the 15th century Renaissance king Matthias Corvinus married Beatrix here in 1474) is a neo-Gothic creation designed by the architect Frigyes Schulek in 1896.  The church has a colorful tiled roof and a lovely tower.
	bud2003-012	(Tuesday 15 July) Matyas templom (Matthias Church)
	bud2003-013	(Tuesday 15 July) Matyas templom (Matthias Church).  The interior is remarkable for its stained-glass windows, frescoes and wall decorations by the Romantic painters Karoly Lotz and Bertalan Szekely.  There are organ concerts in the church on certain evenings, continuing a tradition that began in 1876 when Franz Liszt's Hungarian Coronation Mass was first played here for the coronation of Franz Joseph and Elizabeth as king and queen of Hungary.
Hosok tere		Millenary Monument, Hosok tere (Heroes' Square)
	bud2003-082	(Wednesday 16 July) Millenary Monument, Hosok tere (Heroes' Square)
	bud2003-083	(Wednesday 16 July) Millenary Monument, Hosok tere
Mucsarnok		Mucsarnok Exhibition Hall of the Mucsarnok (Palace of Art), Hosok tere (Heroes' Square).  It was built for the Millenary Exhibition of 1896.  It is the city's largest exhibition hall and hosts temporary exhibits of works by Hungarian and foreign artists in fine and applied art, photography and design.
	bud2003-023	(Tuesday 15 July) Mucsarnok Exhibition Hall of the Mucsarnok (Palace of Art), Hosok tere (Heroes' Square).  It was built for the Millenary Exhibition of 1896.  It is the city's largest exhibition hall and hosts temporary exhibits of works by Hungarian and foreign artists in fine and applied art, photography and design.
Szepmuveszeti Museum		Szepmuveszeti Museum (Museum of Fine Arts), Hosok tere (Heroes' Square).   Thousands of works from the Dutch and Flemish, Spanish, Italian, German, French and British schools between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries, including seven paintings by El Greco.
	bud2003-024	(Tuesday 15 July) Szepmuveszeti Museum (Museum of Fine Arts), Hosok tere (Heroes' Square).   Thousands of works from the Dutch and Flemish, Spanish, Italian, German, French and British schools between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries, including seven paintings by El Greco.
	bud2003-084	(Wednesday 16 July) Szepmuveszeti Muzeum (Museum of Fine Arts), Hosok tere
	bud2003-085	(Wednesday 16 July) Statue of Maria Theresia (1717-1780), Szepmuveszeti Muzeum
Nagy zsinagoga		Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8.  It is the largest Jewish house of worship in the world outside New York (or "Jew York") and can seat 3000 of the faithful.  Built in 1859 with Romantic and Moorish elements, the copper-domed synagogue was renovated with funds raised by the Hungarian government and a New York-based charity headed by the actor Tony Curtis, whose parents emigrated from Hungary in the 1920s.  In an annex of the synagogue is the Jewish Museum, famous for the Holocaust Memorial Room.
	bud2003-025	(Tuesday 15 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8.  It is the largest Jewish house of worship in the world outside New York (or "Jew York") and can seat 3000 of the faithful.  Built in 1859 with Romantic and Moorish elements, the copper-domed synagogue was renovated with funds raised by the Hungarian government and a New York-based charity headed by the actor Tony Curtis, whose parents emigrated from Hungary in the 1920s.  In an annex of the synagogue is the Jewish Museum, famous for the Holocaust Memorial Room.
	bud2003-039	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8.
	bud2003-040	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-041	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-042	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-045	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-043	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-044	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-046	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-047	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-048	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-051	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-049	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-050	(Wednesday 16 July) Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue), Dohany u. 2-8
	bud2003-052	(Wednesday 16 July) Some Jewish building on the opposite side of Nagy zsinagoga (Great Synagogue)
Ortodox zsinagoga		Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue), VII Kazinczy utca 29-31.  It was built in 1913 for Budapest's Orthodox community.
	bud2003-062	(Wednesday 16 July) Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue)
	bud2003-063	(Wednesday 16 July) Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue)
	bud2003-053	(Wednesday 16 July) The gate for the Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue) and Hanna Restaurant (orthodox koser)
	bud2003-054	(Wednesday 16 July) Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue), VII Kazinczy utca 29-31.  It was built in 1913 for Budapest's Orthodox community.
	bud2003-055	(Wednesday 16 July) Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue)
	bud2003-056	(Wednesday 16 July) Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue)
	bud2003-057	(Wednesday 16 July) Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue)
	bud2003-058	(Wednesday 16 July) Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue)
	bud2003-060	(Wednesday 16 July) Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue)
	bud2003-059	(Wednesday 16 July) Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue)
	bud2003-061	(Wednesday 16 July) Ortodox zsinagoga (Orthodox Synagogue)
Rumbach Sebestyen utca Synagogue		Rumbach Sebestyen utca Synagogue, VII Rumbach Sebestyen utca 11.  This Moorish house was erected in 1872 by Austrian Secessionist architect Otto Wagner for the conservatives.
	bud2003-078	(Wednesday 16 July) Rumbach Sebestyen utca Synagogue
	bud2003-081	(Wednesday 16 July) Rumbach Sebestyen utca Synagogue
	bud2003-076	(Wednesday 16 July) Rumbach Sebestyen utca Synagogue, VII Rumbach Sebestyen utca 11.  This Moorish house was erected in 1872 by Austrian Secessionist architect Otto Wagner for the conservatives.
	bud2003-077	(Wednesday 16 July) Rumbach Sebestyen utca Synagogue
	bud2003-079	(Wednesday 16 July) Rumbach Sebestyen utca Synagogue
	bud2003-080	(Wednesday 16 July) Rumbach Sebestyen utca Synagogue
Hanna Restaurant		Hanna Restaurant (orthodox kosher), VII. Dob u. 35, VII in the Jewish Quarter.
	bud2003-064	(Wednesday 16 July) Hanna Restaurant (orthodox kosher), VII. Dob u. 35, VII in the Jewish Quarter
	bud2003-069	(Wednesday 16 July) Hanna Restaurant (orthodox kosher), VII. Dob u. 35, VII in the Jewish Quarter
	bud2003-067	(Wednesday 16 July) Hanna Restaurant (orthodox kosher), VII. Dob u. 35, VII in the Jewish Quarter
	bud2003-068	(Wednesday 16 July) Hanna Restaurant (orthodox kosher), VII. Dob u. 35, VII in the Jewish Quarter
	bud2003-065	(Wednesday 16 July) Hanna Restaurant (orthodox kosher), VII. Dob u. 35, VII in the Jewish Quarter
	bud2003-066	(Wednesday 16 July) Hanna Restaurant (orthodox kosher), VII. Dob u. 35, VII in the Jewish Quarter
Dob u.		Dob u. in the Jewish Quarter
	bud2003-070	(Wednesday 16 July) Dob u. in the Jewish Quarter
	bud2003-071	(Wednesday 16 July) Dob u. in the Jewish Quarter
	bud2003-075	(Wednesday 16 July) Some monument, Dob u. in the Jewish Quarter
	bud2003-074	(Wednesday 16 July) Frohlich Cukraszda (cafe & cakeshop), Dob u. in the Jewish Quarter
Kazinczy u.		Carmel Restaurant (kosher restaurant), Kazinczy u. in the Jewish Quarter
	bud2003-072	(Wednesday 16 July) Carmel Restaurant (kosher restaurant), Kazinczy u. in the Jewish Quarter
	bud2003-073	(Wednesday 16 July) Carmel Restaurant (kosher restaurant), Kazinczy u. in the Jewish Quarter
"Fuggony Centrum"		"Fuggony Centrum" (Interior decoration center), Rakoczi ut.
	bud2003-003	(Saturday 5 July) "Fuggony Centrum" (Interior decoration center), Rakoczi ut.
Disz ter		?A statue, Disz ter
	bud2003-007	(Tuesday 15 July) ?A statue, Disz ter
"Virag"		The Hungarian word "Virag" generally indicates a flower shop.
	bud2003-028	(Tuesday 15 July) "Virag" (flower shop), Raday u.
	bud2003-038	(Wednesday 16 July) "Virag" (flower stall), Karoly krt
Nyugati pu		Nyugati pu (West Station)
	bud2003-029	(Tuesday 15 July) Nyugati pu (West Station)
Margitkert Etterem		Special farewell dinner at Margitkert Etterem (restaurant), Margit u.15.
	bud2003-037	(Tuesday 15 July) Margitkert Etterem (restaurant), Margit u.15
	bud2003-030	(Tuesday 15 July) Special farewell dinner at Margitkert Etterem (restaurant), Margit u.15
	bud2003-031	(Tuesday 15 July) Special farewell dinner at Margitkert Etterem (restaurant), Margit u.15
	bud2003-032	(Tuesday 15 July) Special farewell dinner at Margitkert Etterem (restaurant), Margit u.15
	bud2003-033	(Tuesday 15 July) Special farewell dinner at Margitkert Etterem (restaurant), Margit u.15
	bud2003-034	(Tuesday 15 July) Special farewell dinner at Margitkert Etterem (restaurant), Margit u.15
	bud2003-035	(Tuesday 15 July) Special farewell dinner at Margitkert Etterem (restaurant), Margit u.15
	bud2003-036	(Tuesday 15 July) Special farewell dinner at Margitkert Etterem (restaurant), Margit u.15
McDonald's Drive-through		McDonald's Drive-through in the suburbs of Budapest (on the way to Visegrad)
	bud2003-006	(Tuesday 15 July) McDonald's Drive-through in the suburbs of Budapest (on the way to Visegrad)
	bud2003-005	(Tuesday 15 July) McDonald's Drive-through in the suburbs of Budapest (on the way to Visegrad)
Grand Hotel Hungaria		Grand Hotel Hungaria, Rakoczi ut 90, near the Keleti pu (East Station).
	bud2003-001	(Saturday 5 July) Grand Hotel Hungaria, Rakoczi ut 90, near the Keleti pu (East Station).
	bud2003-002	(Saturday 5 July) Grand Hotel Hungaria, Rakoczi ut 90, near the Keleti pu (East Station).
	bud2003-004	(Saturday 5 July) Backward of the Keleti pu. near Grand Hotel Hungaria, Rakoczi ut 90
Hotel Ibis		Hotel Ibis, Rday u.6
	bud2003-026	(Tuesday 15 July) Hotel Ibis, Rday u.6
	bud2003-027	(Tuesday 15 July) Viewed from my room of Hotel Ibis, Rday u.6
	bud2003-086	(Wednesday 16 July) Agnes K. Kis, a tour counductor of Debrecen, at Hotel Ibis, Rday u.6