"150 years ago, with the establishment of Budapest, the heart of the Hungarian nation began to beat on both banks of the Danube"
The unification of the historical districts 150 years ago not only created a new city, but also set the heart of the Hungarian nation beating on both banks of the Danube, said President of Hungary Katalin Novák at the Budapest 150 gala evening at Vígszínház Theatre in Budapest.
The Head of State stressed that there is a 150-year-old heart beating in the body of our more than thousand-year-old state, and this heart gives strength to the nation to survive and prosper. Katalin Novák added: "From this perspective, we are talking about a young, almost adolescent city with a promising and long future ahead of it.
The President of Hungary recalled that the great figures of the Age of Reform, who fought for our national sovereignty and for a Hungary based on citizenship, cast their watchful eyes on Paris and London, and studied the two cities to create a Central European, but distinctively Hungarian, metropolis.
Katalin Novák recalled that Budapest has experienced the indirect devastation of World War I and the direct devastation of World War II, the siege and the ghetto, the fights of the 1956 revolution, the territorial enlargement and the population growth of the socialist period, the changes in the political system and the city's governance, and the rebirth of a Hungary predicated on the concept of citizenship.
Budapest has repeatedly proven its vitality, it can constantly renew itself, it can revive itself - emphasised Katalin Novák, stressing that the Hungarian capital is the city of freedom, which has always given space to alternative art movements and to thinking outside the mainstream, as well as to different ideas of a political nature.
According to the President, Budapest is a story told by its streets, squares, buildings and institutions. Budapest is about the people who have lived and live here, who are at home in Budapest, but Budapest can also be home to people of other ethnicities and cultures, who can become Hungarian without having to give up anything of their original identity, said Katalin Novák, who said that Budapest is a world city, but not a melting pot.
"Budapest is a source of pride for the Hungarian people, as it has hosted more than forty European and World Championships and international sporting finals over the past ten years, and the works of world-famous artists can be seen in our museums," she stressed.
She also pointed out that the past decade has seen the renewal of, among others, Matthias Church and the City Park, the creation of the House of Hungarian Music, the Millennium House and the iconic building of the Museum of Ethnography. The Parliament building, the Opera House, the Halls of Culture and Entertainment under the name „Vigadó” in both Pest and Buda, the Royal Gardens called Várkert Bazaar, the Museum of Fine Arts and Kossuth Square, where the Monument of National Unity was placed, are all shining in their former glory.
Budapest, she said, is a home and an island of peace and security, and this is a particularly great treasure in a world in turmoil, where millions of people are afraid to take to the streets.
Budapest, the country's capital, should be a place that can compete with other cities in the world in terms of security and opportunities, and therefore every citizen of the country should be justifiably proud of it, the President of Hungary said, stressing that Budapest will thus become the city of national freedom for all Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin and the world.