Budapest records: longest, biggest, highest…

Did you know that there is no higher than Janos Hill, lower than the Danube, older than the Voros Sun (Red Hedgehog), bigger than Dohany Street Synagogue and longer than Ulloi Road? Vs.hu walked through these places.

The highest point of Budapest

The highest point of Budapest is the Erzsebet Lookout on the top of the 527 m long Janos Hill. It was handed over in September 1910 and it was the highest lookout building in Europe.

From the tower, which was built according to the plans of Frigyes Schulek, panoramic view can be up to 80km on a clear day, vs.hu says.

The lowest natural point of Budapest

The lowest natural point of the capital is the Danube. It means 96 meters height above sea level at an average water level.

Underground

The shortest distance between two underground stations is located between Kodaly Korond and Bajza Street. The 190 m station is located in the Millennium subway line, which was the first continental European underground railway.

We can come to the surface with the city’s longest path escalator in the Szell Kalman Square subway station.

Buildings

The highest building of Budapest is the 154 m high Szava Street transmission tower, which was built in 1988.

The oldest building of the capital is located in the Buda Castle, the Voros Sun inn, which had long been the only inn of the castle.

The building was constructed around the 1260’s and was united with the other houses of the Gothic building in the 18th century, thus gaining its present appearance. In the 1760’s, a dance hall was built in the yard and later the first theater of Buda also opened here.

Arpad Bridge, which connects Angyalfold and Obuda is the busiest bridge of Budapest. It was also the longest one until the handover of Megyeri Bridge in 2008. Approximately 150 thousand vehicles passing by in the twice three lanes and the two tramway tracks each day.

According to vs.hu, Szolo Street town house of Obuda is the biggest residential house of not only Budapest, but Hungary too. The block-of flats was built in 1970 and it is longer than 300 m, living there approximately 3,000 people in 885 apartments.

The narrowest house of Budapest is located in the Varkert wharf. The building is only 6m 20cm wide on its façade facing to the Danube. The owner, Henrik Lajos Enderes sold the plot to Mano and Armin Mandl, who had built a two-facaded, three-story building with a patio by architects Weinreb and Spiegel in the end of the 1890’s. This is how the 22 m-long, neo-Gothic facade house became striking at the bank of the Danube.

Islamic holy place

In the 2nd disctrict, Tomb of Gul Baba is the world’s northernmost Islamic holy place, which is the only active Islamic pilgrimage site in the territory of the Christian Europe.

The first ruin pub

Szimpla is the creator of the capital’s ruin pub culture, opened in 2001. After the first garden, Szimpla kert opened in 2004, which made the first ruin pub using the spaces of a 7th-district tenement. Szimpla kert won the 3rd best bar of the world in the poll of Lonely Planet in 2001.

The oldest university

The oldest university of Pest is ELTE and its oldest faculty is the Faculty of Arts, which is located in the Museum korut (Boulevard). Initially, it was called University of Pest and then University of Sciences Budapest from 1872 until 1921. Between the two world wars, it was named after Royal Hungarian Péter Pázmány University. Currently, it is named after the physicist Lorand Eotvos 15 September 1950, vs.hu says.

The highest residential building is located in Nagyvarad ter, which is the part of the Semmelweis University array. The building was handed over in 1976, it has 23 floors and it is 88 meters high.

The longest road

The 15km-long Ulloi Road is the capital’s longest road, initially it was called “Szolnok Way”. The avenue touches 5 districts, beginning from Kalvin ter and ending in Vecses.

The tallest church

According to vs.hu, the tallest church of Budapest is St. Stephen’s Basilica, which is exactly 96m high, just like the Parliament.

The longest operating restaurant

Marvany Menyasszony (Marble Bride) is the longest operating restaurant of Budapest. The story of the restaurant, which was founded by Jozsef Bohm winemaker from Buda, can be traced back to the turn of the 17th century. According to the legend, he innkeeper’s daughter fainted at her wedding, by the time someone shouted: “The bride became marble!”

Several writers and poets were in the restaurant, such as Ady, Moricz or Kosztolanyi, even Jeno Heltai wrote a poem about the renowned restaurant, vs.hu says.

The biggest synagogue of Europe

The Dohany Street Synagogue is, in addition to the important symbol of Hungarian Jews in Budapest and a major tourist attraction, the biggest synagogue of Europe.

The first publicly visited museum

The first publicly visited museum is the National Museum. In 1802, Count Ferenc Szechenyi turned to Emperor Francis I for a permission to be able to give his Nagycenk collection to Hungary. The monarch gave consent, so this can be considered the date of the founding year of the Hungarian National Museum, but construction of the current building was only finished in 1847.

The geometric center of Budapest

And an odd one: in 1950, after the unifications, Tchaikovsky Park of the 10th district became the geometric center of Budapest.

based on the article of vs.hu
translated by BA