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Budapest · History

Budapest from 1849 to 1989: the Pest Embankment

Packed into barely two kilometres of the Lipótváros district is the whole of modern Hungarian history: the 1848 revolution, Austrian reprisals, Nazi occupation, the terror of 1944, Soviet rule and the fall of communism. This route walks through it in order, from the Danube to the basilica.

  • 6 stops
  • 2.4 km
  • 2 h
  • Free
Start with GPS Read about this stop 1
Main entrance of the Hungarian Parliament with its stone lions

The route

Stop by stop

  1. 1 Hungarian Academy of SciencesA palace born of a single gesture: the day a young count gave a whole year's income so that Hungarian could have a science of its own.
  2. 2 Shoes on the Danube BankSixty pairs of iron shoes at the water's edge: Budapest's simplest and most harrowing memorial.
  3. 3 Parliament and Kossuth SquareHungary's largest building, conceived for the nation's millennium, and a square that ran with blood in 1956.
  4. 4 Batthyány Eternal FlameA flame that never goes out, on the corner where Hungary's first prime minister was shot.
  5. 5 Liberty SquareBudapest's most contradictory square: a Soviet obelisk, a bronze American president and a cardinal who lived fifteen years inside an embassy.
  6. 6 St Stephen's BasilicaHalf a century of building work, a dome that collapsed and a church exactly as tall as Parliament.

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Start with GPS

Guide mode

Walk it with GPS.

Open guide mode on your phone: you’ll see your position and the distance to each stop, and we’ll let you know when you arrive. Then read or listen.

Start with GPS

  1. Turn on your location

  2. Walk to the spot

  3. Check the photo and listen

What you’ll discover

Budapest from 1849 to 1989: the Pest Embankment

Memory at street level

A lamp that never goes out, sixty pairs of iron shoes and fake bullets set into a façade: here history is something you can see.

The big names

Széchenyi, Batthyány, Kossuth and Cardinal Mindszenty: the people who shaped modern Hungary, where they lived or died.

No backtracking

A flat, two-hour walk from the Chain Bridge to St Stephen's Basilica.

Keep exploring

More routes in Budapest

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