Budapest [antikvár]

^ In 1873, the three cities, Buda Óbuda and Pest were united under the name Budapest, which turned into one of the most rapidly developing met-ropolises in Europe. Embankments, railway stations, theatres, schools and housing estates were built at a fast pace, as was the fine avenue called Adrássy Street under the wooden covered surface of which ran the first underground railway on the Continent. Brightly-lit cafés mushroomed up all over the city, the telephone network began to spread and the first automo -bile appeared in 1895. Holy Trinity Square, the centre of the Castle District Fishermen's Bastion with the statue of King Saint Stephen,founder of the state > Detail of statues on the Fishermen's Bastion [> The millennium of the Magyar Conquest saw the construction of many opulent buildings. Vajdahu-nyad Castle, the Art Gallery, the Museum of Applied Art, Francis Joseph Bridge were inaugurated at this period. Development continued at the same speed after the millennial celebrations. An elegant district with office buildings came into being in the Inner City. Neo-Classic houses flanked the Danube and the Parliament building was constructed. Development was first stopped by Worid War II and further hindered by the economic crisis that followed the collapse of the Austro-Hungar-ian Monarchy. During World War II all the Danube bridges were blown up and during the last-ditch fights the bulk of the buildings also perished. In the spring of 1945, reconstruction started without delay and with great enthusiasm. It is thus a city rebuilt and reborn after disaster that waits for and welcomes visitors from all over the world. Budapest is a world-famous health resort. The advantage of thermal waters was already known to prehistoric man. In the Roman period, and later, during the Middle Ages and the Turkish occupation, bathing and taking the waters was very popular in Buda and remains so today. In the 13th century, during the reign of King Béla IV the construction of Buda Castle began. The palace witnessed its Golden Age under King Matthias Corvinus, the great ruler of the Renaissance. The king extended and rebuilt the palace of his predecessors in an opulent style renowned all over Europe. Its li-