In this article we describe ten wonderful places in Budapest where you can relax a little in the last month of 2022.

There was a time not too far off in the recent past when very few people in the Western world would have recognized words like ‘Copt’ or ‘Coptic Christian.’ By now the popular awareness of Copts in the Western consciousness has become more consolidated, and their identity more widely recognized.

Although the official Hungarian propaganda constantly portrayed the ‘dark figures’ of the leftist emigration as plotting from abroad against Hungary, the surviving primary sources show a picture of ineffectual losers fighting among themselves.

Altogether at least 700,000 Hungarians were taken to the Soviet Union by force to work in the infamous labour camps of the country. One third of these men and women never returned—and those who did, never received any compensation from Hungary’s Communist government.

While generational differences pushed one group of young men into the camp of the contemporary nationalist right, that did not necessarily determine their later life choices. Generational experiences did define men to some extent—but it was political and moral choices that had the final say.

According to an anti-Zionist pamphlet published during the Republic of Councils, Zionism ‘is nothing but a Jewish version of clerical reaction’ and was to be ‘fully eradicated.’

On 14 March 1876, the flood hit the Buda side of the Danube, then two days later, the river flooded Újpest, the Tabán and Lágymányos as well, and completely submerged Margaret Island. The streets of Buda looked like Venice—boats were the only feasible means of transportation.

Is heroism, self-sacrifice and risking one’s life for a noble cause indeed just a dream that flesh-and-blood people would not be capable of? Luckily, no.

Budapest was unified on 17 November 1873, and in the decades that followed the capital went through remarkable development, becoming the beautiful city that we know today.

When Arrow Cross dictator Ferenc Szálasi took over on 15 October 1944, the new authorities required all civil servants to pledge allegiance to them. It was then that Mindszenty prepared a document entitled ‘Juramentum non’ (‘no oath’ in Latin.) The motto of the document was: ‘One cannot serve the [Arrow Cross] revolution and the Church at the same time.’

In this article we will walk you through the history of the names of Budapest’s bridges and the historical events that influenced their evolution.

The building hosted performances for 56 years, but after experiencing two world wars and a revolution, its demolition was announced in 1964, citing the beginning of the construction of Budapest’s first metro line as a reason. 

Budaváry’s biography needs to be amended to also include his actions during the Holocaust, which distinguish him from other antisemitic politicians.

The death rate in the French camps was horribly high: historian Tamás Stark estimates that 10,000 of the 40,000 Hungarian POWs died.

178 years ago, Hungarian became the official language of the country.

The Grand Hotel Hungaria instantly became popular with aristocrats, inventors and actors, and it hosted many prestigious events, too: for example, the famous Golgotha of Mihály Munkácsy, the ‘Painter-Prince’, was also presented to the public here.

It is incorrect to believe that protests took place only in the final years of the USSR. Demonstrations and rebellions were an integral part of Soviet history from the very birth of the Empire.

Several edifices that were significant landmarks of pre-WWII Budapest disappeared during the 20th century—one of the most memorable of them was the Elevator House.

The scaremongering about the deterioration of US-Israeli relations is odd, since the relationship started to worsen first after Barack Obama threw the Middle East under the bus for Iran, and now Joe Biden wants to restore a nuclear deal whose only apparent purpose is to give Iran easy and quick access to nuclear weapons.

While Eastern and Western Germany do converge with the passing of time, as values are transmitted from generation to generation, the ‘shadow’ of Communism is here to stay for decades to come.

Hungary’s culinary delights are not limited to the capital. As the new Michelin Guide also attests, visitors and local residents alike can have a spectacular dining experience in practically every corner of the country now.

As a result of the discrimination by the Israeli authorities and because of Islamic oppression, the socio-cultural and spiritual connections that are the backbone of Palestinian Christians’ collective identity have been dramatically weakened.

The approach of Weis to welfare, an attitude that in fact prevailed under the Teleki government, was not only sensitive to social issues, but also subscribed to the idea of an ‘anti-capitalist democracy’, and also to ‘progress’ and ‘social justice’.

In the 1960s, the so-called mass housing programme was launched, with the objective of constructing 1 million apartments in 15 years, a quarter of which, 250,000 apartments, only in Budapest.

The renovation of the interior of Hungary’s iconic Parliament building is set to begin soon, to restore its original splendour worn out by long use.

The square had lots of famous hotels, infamous pubs and notable restaurants, but the Two Lions Inn has always stood out from them.

The reason for the creation of an underground railway was simple: the Budapest Public Works Council, which was partially responsible for the construction of the avenue, did not allow laying tram tracks on the surface, as they would have ‘spoiled’ the avenue’s elegance.

Radnóti’s memory was soon hijacked by the Communist Party’s unsolicited worshippers. In a certain sense, of course, the poet was a natural choice for Communist memory politics.

After Peter the Great, Alexander II is known to be the greatest reformer of the Russian Empire. What his rule teaches us is that historic development does not go in a straight line—usually, when a country takes two steps forward, it also takes a step back.

Today, on the Day of Hungarian Science, we not only celebrate the achievements of individual Hungarian scientists, but also the accomplishments of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences that was founded in 1825 at Count Széchenyi’s initiative.