Budapest [antikvár]

r>: mjqt iiainafifiyniiiAn old ferry, an old port, an old royal free borough-that was Budapest, Budapest's past dates back to the Roman Empire. This pearl of the Danube lies on both banks of the river, and, although it lies in the heart of the Continent, the far reaching Danube delta connects it with the sea. Originally it was three different towns-Obuda (Old Buda), Buda and Pest, united in 1872 by the buoyant nineteenth century, a period fraught with Utopias and hardship. Then subsequent decades imbued it with life and it grew into a metropolis: the capital, Budapest. As early as times preceding the Roman civilization the caves of Buda, the forests, so rich in timber and game, as well as the hot springs of the Buda hills attracted man to their gentle slopes near the bank of the river, and settlements were built. In to-day's Őbuda, on the bank of the Danube Roman legions were stationed and it was there that Aquincum, the capital of the province of Pannonia Inferior, was built near their camps. The strong walls of Aquincum were finally demolished by the repeated attacks of the Great Migrations. In time the floods of the Danube covered the ruins with mud but archaeologists have unearthed the old paths, the buried atriums, the foundations of ancient castrums and now Roman Aquincum on the bank of the Danube is like a poem of archaeology in twentieth century Budapest. The ruins of amphitheatres-belonging to the most important establishments of Roman life-like robust mementoes of the culture of Antiquity stand even today in Obuda. The tents of the Magyar chieftains who conquered the