I'll see you in Budapest

“I know I shall return

Return, return

My wanderings will end

I'll be there again

In my beautiful country.

No faraway lands lure me

No glimmering cities

I am free of temptations.

Finally I am home I know

Finally, finally

My wanderings are over

At last I am here.”

-Ancient Magyar folk song

First named Aquincum, Budapest has been long been a Capital. One that has flourished through adversity with diversity, blossoming over 2300 years into a thriving metropolis embodying the rich mettle of community and family, tied intrinsically to one another. They have together weathered and prospered through the long tides of history and remained triumphant in spirit, demeanour and action becoming paramount symbols for the country that encloses them in its affectionate embrace. In 1849, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge was constructed. This created the first permanent link across the Danube. It was the longest in the world graced with a serene majesty and balance. It became a symbol of advancement national awakening and the joining of East to West, bridging the way for the unification of Buda and Pest in 1873 into Budapest.

From Budapest a superfluity of great thinkers, craftsmen, engineers and artists have courageously enriched our global family. It displays the rich tapestry of a cultural and creative expression that burnishes the tradition of the arts, so essential as a crucible for the realisation of new thoughts, ideas, feelings and opinions. It is from this splendid tradition that the extraordinary Ferenc or Franz Listz, or Bartỏk and Szell, embodied the national love for music, song and dance not only at special occasions but in daily life. There is an extensive standing tradition of a candid oral history divulged through live art performance. The Magyar traditional five tone pentatonic scale echoes their Oriental and Finno-Ugrian nomadic beginnings, indeed the Magyar language is linguistically very close to Japanese. Together the live arts are the ambassadors of a culture that still retains its deep heritage, drawing upon the wisdom of those who have gone before them, but in so doing still scouts progressively forward.

It is in gastronomy, that one can truly inhabit the perspective of another culture. Hungary’s cooking has a multitude of diverse influences, though well famed for its Hungarian Goulash a lavish thick soup that’s just the beginning. In summertime on Great Hungarian Plains the fields are awash with waving red peppers of Paprika. From the deep forests of North and rustic Erdély home to the infamous Count Dracula comes excellent flavoursome wild game and luscious lamb dishes. To the west of the Danube a remarkably appetizing goose liver, along with lip smacking scrumptious onion dumplings, sublime sorrel soups, delicate wild mushroom sauces and bold cottage cheese’s. Is a testament to a long and bountiful heritage that is acutely fixed in that extra spice, the warmth of caring affection based in family love and community. It is Hungarian fare that conspires from within, to envelope the heart and soul in the passionate sumptuousness of the cuisine and culture.

Reflecting these qualities of superb construction, is the Árpád Bridge, in north Budapest, Hungary’s longest bridge, some two kilometres. The name alone stretches to the very beginning of Budapest. The House of Árpád, were descendents of the first elected supreme chief, Árpád, of the seven tribes that settled in the Danube basin, in 895 BCE. No one truly knows what drove them to settle here from a previously, completely, nomadic existence. But they created the first dynastic civilisation in the area, ruling for over four hundred years. The seven tribes and Árpád himself are a common folk motif running through the arts and music, they are considered to be the founders of the Hungarian Nation.

From its very beginnings, evidenced by the way Árpád was elected not as a king but rather as a Leader, or Duke, the Hungarian people have kept the spark of personal freedom paramount. Even before they had reached the Danube basin, the Magyar tribes had assimilated an array of other cultures from Turkish to Iranian. They sought during their initial expansion into the basin, the integration of new cultures, rather than the outright massacre and enslavement so prevalent in those times. Though, they were well able to fight when necessary with brilliant tactics unknown by the west.

We can certainly learn from the legendary diplomacy of the ancient Magyar tribes, with their respect for the individual development of dreams, beliefs and ideas, integrated into a larger unbound, cooperative aspiration. I have mentioned the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, and for good reason. Named after Count István Széchenyi, even his chief political opponents were compelled by his achievements to call him ‘The Greatest Hungarian’. Son of a nobleman, he travelled much in his youth, particularly to France and England, soaking up the new industrial age.

At twenty five Széchenyi returned to his homeland, promptly forming a circle of like minded noblemen, together over the course of only twenty five years, they transformed Hungary from a conservative feudalistic country into highly contemporary progressive nation. By offering a year’s worth of his own income, The Academy of Sciences was founded. Their first action, in bridging the technological divide, was contacting The American Philosophical Society, founded by Benjamin Franklin. Both scientific communities began a vigorous correspondence that lead to exchanges of information, equipment and even scientists. It was through the Academy actively establishing scores of associations around the world, that Hungary was brought into the light, of the modern 19th Century.

There are many examples of Széchenyi’s active participation in Hungary’s Age of Reform. He was a person to be admired, a visionary of the impossible made possible through a practical understanding and willingness to transform the minds eye vision into a reality. We can learn strength of character from within the Magyar people, that of individuality an unshakable sense of humour and a propensity toward passionate hospitality. But behind the laid-back charm and easy grace there is a brisk and bright intelligence, that has a penchant to outwit ones opponent whilst sporting an apparent unfazed and cool demeanour. To quote a local savant “a person who gets in a revolving door behind you and gets out ahead of you”, without if I might add any ruffling with their pristine diplomacy. It is this deep river of quick minded citizens, that has seen them walk away with, eleven science Nobel awards, not to mention a surfeit of inventions, from the carburettor, helicopter, television, binary code, jet propulsion and even the contact lens, to name a few. This valiant swift temperament, has always quickly flourished in times of open peace, leading the way for a rapid embracement of new beliefs and technologies. Shining through people like Rubik creator of the Rubik’s Cube and Biro inventor of the Biro pen. They were all accompanied through life, by a muse that seems to favour, those born in the special golden light, which bathes the friendly rooftops and glitters, all knowingly, from the old Danube.

Before the advent of Christianity, which absorbed many of the native legends and mythologies, there was a general Magyar belief in three worlds. The first above was home to the gods and good souls, and all gods shared equal rank. Though, some were more important like Isten which means simply God singular. Isten was a wise and fair god; he ruled all mainly through observation and gentle guidance. But if the gods and people failed to head his subtle warnings they would be struck with lightning bolts. In our world the middle earth, humans live side by side with a whole host of supernatural beings. From giants in the mountains, Old lady Szélanya who controls the winds, Babá who grabbed children that got too close for dinner, and Ildikó, the mother goddess of moon and fertility who could administer both death and life. The underworld is home and castle to Ördög. He sadistically works in his dark and dreary workshop, to plague the world above, with harm and irritation from his many creations, among them the flea, fly and louse.

Intrinsic to traditional beliefs were the shamans or Táltos. It was they who could navigate the Világfa, or World Tree, which grew from the underworld to the heavens. It was through these journeys that they could heal, act as counsel talk to the ancestors and interpret dreams. They were doctors, psychologists, mediators and cultural symbolist’s selected at birth from auspicious signs present during pregnancy and birth. It was the Táltos who cemented Árpád as supreme chief, in a ceremony that saw some thirty chieftains add their own blood to a chalice, along with Árpád. A contract to serve his people boldly displayed in specific symbolic ritual that went back thousands of years.

In a voyage of cultural discovery one of the most important characters of Budapest, has the most profound effect on all European cultures, is an elder sister and sometime mother to another most distinguished lady, mother to millions who line up to be near her. She is the Queen Danube River her sister is the Rhine. Nearly three thousand kilometres long and home to forty three cities, she graces with her gentle laughter the elegant bridges of Budapest. Who themselves have come to symbolize their citizens in their quest to permanently span the Danube river bridging barriers of culture, race and politics.

I'll see you in Budapest was written By Ivor W. Hartmann.