Óbuda was a town in
Hungary that was merged with
Buda and
Pest on 17 November 1873; it now forms part of District III-Óbuda-
Békásmegyer of
Budapest. The name means Old Buda in
Hungarian (in
German, Alt-Ofen). The name in
Serbo-Croatian for this city is Stari Budim, but the local
Croat minority calls it Obuda (the name Budim is used for the fortress in Buda). In
Czech and the
Slovak languages, it is called Starý Budín.
The island (
Óbuda Island) next to this part of the city today hosts the
Sziget Festival, a huge music and cultural festival.
Óbuda's centre is Fő tér (Main Square), connected to a small square with a sculpture of people waiting for the rain to stop. It is accessible by
HÉV (Szentlélek tér station).
History
Settlements dating from the
Stone Age have been found in Óbuda. The
Romans built there
Aquincum, the capital of
Pannonia province.
Hungarians arrived after 900 and it served as an important settlement of major tribal leaders, later kings. The site was the location of royal and ecclesiastic foundations.[1] King
Béla IV built a new capital after the 1241–42 catastrophic
Mongol invasion in Buda, somewhat south of Óbuda. In the fourteenth century, Óbuda featured a convent of the
Poor Clares.[2]
The obscured historical remains of Óbuda, together with the role it played in nineteenth-century poetry, has resulted it being subject to various historical disputes.[3]
A commemorative plaque appears on the building erected on the site of the former Jewish Elementary School in Óbuda (6 Óbuda St.) commemorating
victims of
the Holocaust.[citation needed]
István Bibó (1911–1979) – politician and political theorist
Museums
Aquincum Museum,[4] small museum displays jewels, glassware, metal tools, and wall paintings relating to the lives of ancient Romans living in Aquincum. The museum's outdoor site contains remnants of the town, including courtyards, baths, a market place, shrines, large columns, sculptures, and a stone sarcophagus. Roman ruins elsewhere in Óbuda include baths that served the Roman
legionnaires stationed in
Aquincum, the Hercules Villa, and two
amphitheatres, the
Aquincum Civil Amphitheater and the larger
Aquincum Military Amphitheatre.
Obudai Museum,[6] primary collection features local history; the museum also encompasses Hungary's only toy museum, and the Zsigmond Kun Flat Museum, which features folk furniture
^Altmann, Júlia; Bertalan, Herta (1991). "Óbuda vom 11. bis 13. Jahrhundert". Budapest im Mittelalter. Braunschweig: Braunschweig Landesmuseum. pp. 113–131.
^Bertalan, Herta (1982). "Das Klarissenkloster von Óbuda aus dem 14. Jahrhundert". Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 34: 151–171.