Happy Birthday Dear Budapest!

Budapest was declared the capital city of Hungary on the 17^th of November, 1873 after Pest, Buda and Óbuda were united. So let’s celebrate the birth of this beautiful city today! 🙂

According to szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, the idea of the unification of the three cities first arose in 1849, when Interior Minister Bertalan Szemere ordered the unification of Pest and Buda, and the annexation of Óbuda, the country town. But the political atmosphere that followed the 1848-49 war of independence didn’t allow the execution of Szemere’s idea.

Then, during the years of absolutism, nobody cared about the unification, it only became a case at issue after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. On the 17^th of October, 1867, the Mayor of Pest, Mór Szentmihályi attracted attention with the renegotiation of the idea. The administrative preparations and the negotiations lasted for four years.

Photo: Wiki Commons By Eliza0027

The law proposal concerning the unification was introduced to the parliament by Interior Minister Vilmos Tóth on the 9^th of November, 1871, but the hearing only started one year later.

The document of the unification was signed by Franz Joseph on the 22^nd of December, 1872 in Schönbrunn. This was the 1872/XXXVI article.

After finishing the organisational works, the general assembly of the capital city stated on the 30^th of November, 1873, that “the real date of the capital’s unification is the 17^th of November, because that was the day when the council of the capital city was formed, thus taking over the administrative works of the three city parts”.

However, today’s capital city, Great Budapest, only came into being in 1950, when the peripheral districts that grew into villages and small towns were annexed to Budapest.