Magyar Posta is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the coming into being of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, by issuing a special numbered souvenir sheet. Fifty thousand copies of the souvenir sheet designed by the graphic artist Orsolya Kara were produced by the banknote printing company Pénzjegynyomda Zrt. The new issue goes on sale at Filaposta in Hungary, philately specialist services, designated post offices and www.posta.hu from 18 August 2023.
A law passed on 22 December 1872 provided for the unification of the free royal cities of Buda (54,000 inhabitants) and Pest (200,000 inhabitants) together with Óbuda (16,000 inhabitants) and Margaret Island. The unification process was concluded by a ceremonial assembly on 17 November 1873, when the Metropolitan Council commenced operation. The unification opened the way for the capital city to become a metropolis and promoted the growth of industry and commerce as well as the development of public institutions. By 1890, the civilian population had increased to 492,000. While in 1870 Pest-Buda ranked 17th among the cities of Europe, it had jumped to being the 8th largest by 1900.
The first lord mayor of the city, a government position, was Károly Ráth, and Károly Kammermayer was the elected mayor in charge of the day-to-day running of the city. Around the same time, Baron Frigyes
Podmaniczky became president of the Metropolitan Public Works Council overseeing the development of the capital city. A tender was invited for urban planning in 1870, which was won by the architect Lajos Lechner, who was then appointed director of the capital’s public works. From then onwards, the city became a site for constant building developments. In parallel with the continuous urban planning, the construction of Andrássy Avenue started in 1871 and in the same year a law was passed to build the Grand Boulevard. It was in this period that a second permanent bridge across the Danube, Margaret Bridge, was built. Soon after the Compromise of 1867 between Austria and Hungary, public transport began to develop, a process that continued in subsequent years. In 1887, the predecessor of today’s tram entered service on the Grand Boulevard. In 1870, the Funicular Railway to Castle Hill was launched and, four years later, the Cogwheel Railway began carrying passengers to Szabadság (Liberty) Hill. In the second half of the 1880s, the HÉV suburban railway started running between Cinkota and Soroksár as well as to Szentendre. In 1874, the Central Telegraph Office opened and the installation of the telephone network commenced five years later.
The growth of the middle class in Hungary pervaded everything by the end of the 19th century. Hitherto, the language of the city’s craftsmen and working population had been mainly German but it switched to Hungarian within barely a generation. The districts and streets were given Hungarian names. By the turn of the century, Budapest had evolved into a metropolis of 700,000 inhabitants. The Hungarian capital was renowned throughout Europe for its vibrant cultural life, cafés, spas, clubs and nightlife. Source: budapest.hu, mult-kor.hu
The commemorative souvenir sheet shows a combination of the current and a bygone view of Budapest’s Danube embankments. The commemorative first day cover shows the Chain Bridge and the imprint of the special postmark depicts the centenary logo of the capital city.
