BUDAPEST, boo'clAt-pest, Hunigag, the united towns of Buda or Ofen, and Fest or Pesth, the one on the right, the other on the left of the Danube, forming the capital of Hungary, the seat of the Hungarian Parliament and Supreme Courts, about 135 miles southeast from Vienna. Buda, which is the smaller of the two, and lies on the west bank of the river (here flowing south) consists of the fortified Upper Town on a hill, the Lower Town or Water Town at the foot of the hill, and sev eral other quarters, including Old Buda farther up the river. Among the chief buildings are the royal castle and several palaces, the arsenal, town hall, government offices, the church of Saint Mathew, dating from the 13th century, during the Turkish occupation a mosque for 150 years, and recently rebuilt; and the finest Jewish synagogue in the empire. Pest, or the portion of Budapest on the left or east bank of the river, consists of the inner town of Old Peat on the Danube, and a semi-circle of districts — Leopoldstadt, Theresienstadt, Elizabethstadt, etc.— which have grown up around it. The river is at this point somewhat wider than the Thames at London, and the broad quays of Pest extend along it from two to three miles. It is spanned by fine suspension and other bridges, the latest, the Schurplatz suspension bridge, completed in 1903 having a span of 320 yards and a width of 59 feet. Pest retains, on the whole, fewer signs of antiquity than many less venerable towns. Its fine frontage on the Danube is modern, and includes the new Houses of Parliament, opened in 1896, the Academy of Science, with a library of 180,000 volumes, ex change, custom house and other important buildings. The oldest church dates from 1500; the largest building is a huge pile used as bar racks and arsenal. Other buildings include the old and the new town house, National Museum, national theatre, university buildings, various palaces, the Royal opera house, etc.
Budapest contains the most important of the three universities of Hungary, attended by about 4,500 students, and having over 220 pro fessors, lecturers, etc. Another important edu cational institution is the technical high schools, with 60 teachers and 1,100 to 1,200 students, and a library of 60,000 volumes. In commerce and industry Budapest ranks next to Vienna in the empire. Its chief manufactures are ma chinery, gold, silver, copper and iron wares, chemicals, textile goods, leather, tobacco, etc. A large trade is done in grain, wine, wool, cattle, etc. At Budapest are the largest electri cal works in all Europe. Engineers employed there have brought to perfection the science of applying electricity to motors. They con structed there the first successful underground trolley lines. The city contains the important parks of the Stadtwildchen, about 1,000 acres in extent, and Margaret Island. It is divided into 10 municipal districts, three on the Buda side of the river, and seven on the Pest side. Budapest is strongly Magyar in character and sentiment, and as a factor in the national life may almost be regarded as equivalent to the rest of Hungary. Old Buda was founded by the Romans about 150 A.D., and was known as Aquinicum. Pest is of much later origin, first being heard of in the 13th century. The citadel of Buda was captured by the Turks after Mohacs in 1526. From 1541 to 1686 Buda was the seat of a Turkish pasha, the Turks being then driven out. The towns were united as one municipality in 1873. It was not until 1799 that the population of Pest began to out distance that of Buda but from that date its growth was very rapid and out of all propor tion to the increase of Buda. In 1799 the joint population of the two towns was little more than 50,000; in 1890 it was 506,384; in 1900, 732,322; in 1910, 880,371.