Hungarian Jewish Travel Site
70 year ago on this day the beautiful Liberty bridge of Budapest was distroyed by the army of Hitler to stop the crossing of the Allies on the Danube.
This is what the bridge looked before the war (pictures from photo gallery of Fortepan):
After the war:
And today…
We are crazy about the pre-WW2 Budapest. No wonder, almost 70% of it was destroyed between 1944-45. So come back often for more videos.
Before WW2…
In this one we see a dangerous checking of the Chain bridge in Budapest, with the Royal Palace in the background. May 1914.
And after WW2…
The reconstruction of the Chain bridge. November 1948.
The reconstruction of the Chain bridge. March 1949. See the famous lions get back to life 🙂
In a previous post we’ve shown you some commercials presenting our beautiful capital while advertising various products. Here is another one. A Chinese girl dreams about the perfect city to be in. And that is Budapest. This video is without voice. Here you can watch the original in Chinese.
Hey everyone in Budapest this weekend. This information is useful only to you, I’m afraid.
This Sunday (February 26th) on the occasion of the International Guides Day the Budapest Chamber of Commerce organizes lots of excellent programs, mostly in Hungarian :-(.
However there is a city tour available in English.
Location: City Park – Heroes’ Square, departure from the parking area next to the Art Gallery (right from Heroes’ Square)
Activities: in the parking area Hungarian craft masters’ fair
Program: 90 minutes bus tour of Budapest departing at 2 pm in English (10 am. Russian, 11 am. German, between 9 am.-4 pm every hour in Hungarian)
This is a free program, so to ensure you get on board send an email to: szepesi.valeria@bkik.hu (with your name, number of participants and the time you would like to depart at) until 22 February 12pm. No confirmation is sent. The free tickets will be handed to the participants at the departure location.
January 18th 1945. The ghetto in Budapest is liberated.
67 years ago… Commemoration in the Dohany street synagogue 10:00 – 11:30 am.
Speaks: Robert Frolich rabbi, sings Gabor Szilagyi cantor.
Event open to the public.
On January 17th in the Hungarian National Museum the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Year was launched. Hosts of the event: minister for Foreign Affairs in Hungary Janos Martonyi and in Sweden Carl Bildt, guest of honor Yoseph Peled minister from Israel.
Calendar of events:
– January 17: ‘To me there’s no other choice – Raoul Wallenberg 1912 – 2012’ Swedish photo exhibition opened (this is the day he was last seen on in Hungary)
– January 27: UN Holocaust remembrance day
– 14 February: Seminar on Raoul Wallenberg´s activities in Budapest. Seminar organised by Living History Forum and City of Lidingö, Stockholm
– April 15th: Wallenberg commemorative concert in front of the House of Terror Museum (www.terrorhaza.hu). March of the Living, a march along the streets of Budapest down to the Danube embankment to remember the victims of the Holocaust (www.eletmenete.hu).
– April 16th: Hungarian Holocaust remembrance day
– April 17th: 25th Auschwitz – Birkenau Pilgrimage
– May 10th: Wallenberg stamp issued by the Hungarian and the Swedish Post
– May 15th: research conference: “Can we say no?” in the Holocaust Documentation Center (www.hdke.hu).
– June 16th: planned conference on democracy and human rights
– August 4th (Wallenberg’s birthday): “Righteous among the Nation´s award” meeting for Hungarian citizens who have been presented the “Righteous among the Nations” award in the Holocaust Memorial Center
– August 5th: memorial evening in the Dohany street synagogue
– September 9th: Raoul Wallenberg 100 – evening
– November 18th: charity concert in the Dohany street synagogue
For more details and events connected to the Raoul Wallenberg 2012 memorial year please visit : http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/15418
This is the best known landmark of Budapest, the Chain bridge. In the background we see Buda’s Castle Hill. The picture was taken in a very special moment of the Budapest evenings, the first few seconds of the illumination that was just turned on and the color of the lights is green! After this it becomes yellow.
Picture from 