Ságvári Ágnes (szerk.): Budapest. The History of a Capital (Budapest, 1975)

Budapest—after the amalgamation of three separate and contiguous towns into what is now Budapest—celebrated its first centenary in 1972. But the capital of Hungary, growing younger and more beautiful every day, is far older than these one hundred years. We cannot truly commemorate the birthday of its foundation, since the origins of the city are lost in the mist of the past. Celts and Romans inhabited the land before its present possessors, the Hungarians—and it is for more than a thousand years that the Hungarian language has been spoken here.

The Castle Hill of Buda watches over the “blue” Danube, and if stones could speak, the palace proudly rising on its peak could tell of many a historical storm it has weathered. Mongols and Turks successively pillaged the town and left it desolate. It suffered again from the reprisals taken by the Austrians after the 1848 revolution, and in our century, from the ravages of the two world wars. How many times did it have to be rebuilt, how many generations shaped and changed it for the sake of how many ideas! Today—perhaps for the first time in the course of history—it is truly ours: it belongs to the Hungarian people. We love it, watch over its building, mould it into a metropolis—and yet cherish the memories of its past and its traditions. This centenary is a festive occasion to survey the past, learn from the mistakes which have been made, rejoice over its successes, and present a picture of its past, present and future to all who are not natives of this city