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Overview of Budapest: History, Culture, and Geography

Budapest is the capital and largest city of Hungary, with an estimated population of 1.75 million over a land area of 525 square kilometers.
The city is both a city and county, forming the center of the Budapest metropolitan area with a population of 3.3 million.
Budapest has a rich history dating back to the Roman town of Aquincum and has been pillaged by the Mongols and ruled by the Ottomans and Habsburgs.
The city is a global hub for commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment.
Budapest is home to over 40 colleges and universities, including Eötvös Loránd University and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
The city's subway system, the Budapest Metro, serves 1.27 million, while the Budapest Tram Network serves 1.08 million passengers daily.
The central area of Budapest along the Danube River is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has several notable monuments of classical architecture, including the Hungarian Parliament and the Buda Castle.
Budapest has around 80 geothermal springs, the largest thermal water cave system, the second-largest synagogue, and the third-largest Parliament building in the world.
The city attracts around 12 million international tourists per year, making it a highly popular destination in Europe.
The name "Budapest" comes from the previously separate towns of Buda, Óbuda, and Pest, which were officially unified in 1873.
Budapest has a complex and diverse history, including the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Battle of Budapest in 1945, and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
The city has undergone significant changes in recent times, including the removal of monuments of the dictatorship and a decrease in population due to suburbanization.Overview of Budapest's Geography, Climate, and Architecture
Budapest is located in central Hungary, 216 kilometers southeast of Vienna, and surrounded by settlements in Pest county.
The city extends 25 and 29 kilometers in the north-south and east-west direction, respectively, and is separated by the 230-meter wide Danube river.
Pest lies on a flat sand plain, while Buda is hilly and built on higher river terraces and hills of the western side.
Budapest has marked topographical contrasts, with the highest point being János Hill at 527 meters above sea level and the lowest point being the Danube at 96 meters above sea level.
Budapest has a humid subtropical climate with warm summers and cold winters, frequent snowfall, and little sunshine in winter.
The city has 83 square kilometers of green areas, parks, and forests, with the Buda hills' forests environmentally protected.
Budapest is a central traffic hub with major European roads and railway lines leading to the city, and the Danube being an important waterway.
Budapest has 125 thermal springs producing 70 million liters of thermal water a day, claimed to have medicinal effects due to their high mineral content.
Budapest has architecturally noteworthy buildings in a wide range of styles, from ancient Roman architecture to the most modern contemporary arts museum and concert hall.
Budapest has relatively few high-rise buildings due to building legislation aimed at preserving the historic cityscape and the World Heritage Site.
Budapest is divided into 23 districts, 6 in Buda, 16 in Pest, and 1 on Csepel Island between them, with each district having its own distinctive character.
Budapest faces new challenges in architecture to balance the pressure towards high-rise buildings with preserving the city's unique cityscape, diverse architecture, and green areas.Overview of Budapest: Demographics, Economy, and Politics
Budapest is the most populous city in Hungary, with a population of 1.7 million in 2019, which is about 34% of Hungary's total population.
The population density of Budapest is the highest in Hungary, with Elisabethtown-District VII having the highest density in the world after Manhattan.
Budapest is the fourth most "dynamically growing city" by population in Europe, with a predicted population increase of almost 10% between 2005 and 2030.
The city is a significant economic hub, with a gross metropolitan product of more than $100 billion in 2015, making it one of the largest regional economies in the European Union.
Budapest is home to many national and international companies, and it is a major center for banking, finance, retail, trade, transportation, tourism, and the arts in Hungary and the region.
The unemployment rate in Budapest is the lowest in Hungary, at 2.7%, and many thousands of employed foreign citizens live in the city.
Budapest is among the top 25 most visited cities in the world, welcoming more than 4.4 million international visitors each year, and it is a major center for convention tourism.
The Budapest Stock Exchange is a key institution of publicly offered securities in Hungary and Central and Eastern Europe, and large Hungarian multinational corporations are listed on it.
Budapest is the seat of the country's national government, with the President of Hungary residing at the Sándor Palace in the Buda Castle District, and the office of the Hungarian Prime Minister in the Carmelite Monastery in the Castle District.
Hungary's highest courts, the Curia and the Constitutional Court, are located in Budapest, as well as the National Assembly, which is seated in the Hungarian Parliament.
Budapest hosts the main and regional headquarters of many international organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.
Environmental issues have a high priority among Budapest's politics, with institutions such as the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe being important assets, and the city has worked to improve public transportation to decrease the use of cars and greenhouse gas emissions.Overview of Budapest: Governance, Tourism, Sights, Parks, Islands, and Spas
Budapest is known as one of the "global epicenters" for illegal pornography, money laundering, and contraband tobacco, and also as a negotiation center for international crime group leaders.
Budapest has been a metropolitan municipality with a mayor-council form of government since its consolidation in 1873, and the Mayor is responsible for all city services, police and fire protection, enforcement of all city and state laws within the city, and administration of public property and most public agencies.
Budapest is widely known for its well-kept pre-war cityscape, with a great variety of streets and landmarks in classical architecture, and its most well-known sight is the neo-Gothic Parliament, the biggest building in Hungary with its 268 metres (879 ft) length.
The Castle Hill, the River Danube embankments, and the whole of Andrássy út have been officially recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the city is also home to the largest medicinal bath in Europe (Széchenyi Medicinal Bath) and the third largest Parliament building in the world.
Budapest has a complex park system, with various lands operated by the Budapest City Gardening Ltd., and the most notable and popular parks in Budapest are the City Park, the Margaret Island in the Danube, the People's Park, the Római Part, and the Kopaszi Dam.
A number of islands can be found on the Danube in Budapest, including the Szentendre Island and the much smaller Lupa Island, and there are still ruins visible today of the enormous baths that were built during the Roman period.
The new baths that were constructed during the Turkish period (1541–1686) served both bathing and medicinal purposes, and some of these are still in use to this day, and Budapest gained its reputation as a city of spas in the 1920s, following the first realization of the economic potential of the thermal waters in drawing in visitors.
Budapest is served by Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD), one of the busiest airports in Central and Eastern Europe, located 16 kilometers (9.9 miles) southeast of the city center.
The Budapest General Assembly is a unicameral body consisting of 33 members, which consist of the 23 mayors of the districts, 9 from the electoral lists of political parties, plus Mayor of Budapest, and each term for the mayor and assembly members lasts five years.
Budapest has many smaller and larger squares, the most significant of which are Heroes' Square, Kossuth Square, Liberty Square, St. Stephen's Square, Ferenc Deák Square, Vörösmarty Square, Erzsébet Square, St. George's Square, and Széchenyi István Square.
Tourists visiting Budapest can receive free maps and information from the nonprofit