Men enjoying café society in Budapest

Budapest is located on the site of one of the oldest known settlements in Europe. Celts, Romans, Ostrogoths, Huns, Avars and the Franks all lived there before the strategically important location was conquered by the Magyar.

The origin of the Magyar people is wrapped in mystery and legend. One tale has them migrating from Mongolia, capturing slaves (and wives) en route, so that the people who settled in the Carpathian Basin were a unique mixture of East and West. It is true the Hungarian language bears no relation to any other European tongue, other than a slight similarity to Finnish. At its height, the Hungarian Empire stretched from the Baltic to the Adriatic.

By 1910, Budapest was in the throes of a true renaissance. It was by then the eighth largest city in Europe, experiencing an economic boom that has never been matched by any city, including during the reconstruction era after the second World War.

Gizella Square circa 1900

Fueled by prosperity, the citizens of Budapest enjoyed innovations in music, the decorative arts, architecture and technology more quickly than those living in the grand cities of more advanced countries.

All of this prosperity came to an end with the beginning of World War I.