Budapest, the capital of Hungary is divided to the hilly Buda and the plain Pest sides by river Danube. As you will see the city is rich in buildings built in the most different architectural styles, leaving behind the marks of foreign influences. Before we have a look at the most imposing and important buildings let's speak shortly about the history of the town.

According to numerous archeological evidences a settlement has existed in the area of today's Budapest from the 4th century B.C. Celtic and later on Roman people lived here. The Roman city of Acquincum served as the capital of the province of lower Pannonia. From the Roman time two amphitheatres have been remained, which ruins can be seen at Acquincum HÉV-station. A drainage system and baths were also excavated there. The settlement declined in the 4th century and by the time the Roman legions left the area in the 5th century, the number of inhabitants had also decreased. After Roman Empire had collapsed, the era of migration had begun and the Avar tribes settled down on that area and had lived there for two centuries.
The Magyars (Hungarians) conquered the Carpathian basin in the 9th century and began to establish a trade centre on both banks of the Danube. In the 13th century during the Mongol invasion a wall was constructed surrounding the city on the Castle Hill. A royal palace was also built at that time and Buda became a royal city, while Pest had been developing independently and became a centre of crafts and commerce. The golden age of the medieval city had been running under the rule of King Matthias in the 15th century when the Italian Renaissance style had been spreading rapidly. The royal palace was enlarged with a side wing in that style. Miniature workshops were working in Buda and Florence where the Codices were prepared. In 1473 the András Hess Press had already been operating. So by that time Buda became one of the cultural, commercial and political centres of Europe. The splendid development of Buda (and the whole country) was interrupted in the 16th century when the Turkish troops defeated the Hungarians and the city fell in 1541. For one and a half year the city lived under Turkish occupation until 1686, after a six week siege. During that period churches, palaces were destroyed. According to the Turkish bath culture, baths were the only buildings built at that time, which can be seen even today. The population had been reduced. After the country was completely liberated from Turkish rule, the three towns, Buda, pest and Óbuda were repopulated with Hungarian, German, Serbian and Slovak settlers. Slow reconstruction began under the rule of the Habsburgs.
In the 18th century trade has been flourishing, new churches and palaces were built in Baroque and later on in neo-Classical styles. By the end of the century Buda operated as the administrative and military centre of the city. The development of the city continued in the 19th century and several national institutes and public buildings had been established. Among others, the National Széchényi Library, Chain Bridge, the first permanent bridge connecting Buda and Pest were built and the Academy of Sciences was founded. The Revolution against the Habsburgs broke out in 15 March 1848 and that was the first time when the Parliament convened in Pest instead of Pozsony (Bratislava). After the revolution, during the anti-Habsburg War of Independence in 1848-49 the Austrian troops entered the city, but the Hungarians recaptured the castle. Finally the Hungarians were defeated by the Austrian and the allied Russian troops. In the second part of the century industrialization speeded up, breweries, mills and factories were established. The railway construction had also begun. The centre of the railway system was the capital.
The three cities, Buda, Pest and Óbuda were united in 1873 and so Budapest was founded. At the end of the century the millenary anniversary (1896) of the state founding was celebrated and for that event buildings and monuments (Millenium Monument) were planned and built throughout the city. The Parliament and the Museum of Ethnography standing at Kossuth square were also built at the turn of the century.
In the first part of the 20th century, in the thirties the population of Budapest exceeded one million. During the Second World War the capital has suffered serious damages, buildings were bombed and destroyed due to the siege of winter in 1944-45. Rebuilding the city buildings were reconstructed, excavations of ancient ruins were continued and a large modern city was established with underground system, big shopping centers, promenades and city parks.

The capital is famous of its bridges. Buda and Pest side is connected by 7 bridges, of which the Chain Bridge is the oldest one built in the middle of the 19th century. At that time it also served as a link not only between the two sides of the river but between the western and eastern parts of the country as well.