Buza Péter: Bridges of the Danube - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1999)

Budapest, the city of the Danube. The river had been writing the chronicle of the city for thousands of years while carving its bed, running unceasingly and forming its banks which later provided a dwelling place for man. Experts assert that it is the width of these river banks which creates the ideal setting for Buda, Óbuda and Pest to merge into a graceful composition. Thus framed, the river both separates and bonds its banks. This is the secret of its captivating harmony making for an unparalleled panorama.

It is not surprising that Aquincum, one of the most important border towns of the remote Roman province of Pannónia, had been prospering for some 400 years on the site of the present-day Óbuda. It was also a wise choice of the migrating Hungarians to settle here. The relatively slow current and numerous shallows of the river made it the easiest stretch for float crossing. Later, after the Mongol Invasion in the 13th century, when rafts and boats revolutionized river crossing, the center of the town shifted to the south for geographical reasons. The ferrymen searched for the narrowest point of the river which is somewhere between Castle Hill and what is now the Parish Church across the river. Béla IV, the great king praised as the second founder of the

Closely spaced bridges in the heart of the city

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