Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/398

 392 BTJDA ft. in length, containing 203 apartments, par- tially destroyed during the bombardment of 1849, but since restored ; and the Gothic par- ish church, built in the 13th century, but much modernized ; during the Turkish supremacy it was converted into a mosque, and afterward into a stable. In this church the emperor Francis Joseph was crowned king of Hungary in 1867 ; adjoining the church are the govern- ment offices, treasury, and the palaces of sev- eral of the ministers. In the centre of the pal- ace square is the Hentzi memorial, a Gothic cross erected to the memory of Hentzi, the Austrian commander of Buda, who with 418 comrades, whose names are inscribed upon the monument, fell in the siege of 1849. In an adjacent chapel are preserved the Hungarian regalia, consisting of the sword, crown, sceptre, and mantle of St. Stephen. The crown, or rather its original part, was sent to St. Stepheu by Pope Sylvester II. in the year 1000,' the time of the establishment of Christianity in Hungary, and is called "the holy and apostoli- cal crown." It was always most sedulously guarded, and only exhibited in public for the three days preceding the crowning of a sove- reign; and when taken to Presburg for the coronation it was placed in an iron case, sealed with the royal seal. It was carried off by Kos- suth to Debreczin in 1849, after the surrender of Vilagos hidden in the ground near Orsova, on the Turkish frontier, and not recovered till 1853. Beyond the Schlossberg is the Blocks- berg, a still higher hill, formerly surmounted by an observatory, and now by a fort which commands both Buda and Pesth. From the Blocksberg and other eminences in the neigh- borhood the walled and then strongly fortified Buda. portion of Buda was shelled by Gorgey in 1849. A tunnel connects the Schlossberg and the Blocksberg. There are in Bnda 12 Roman Catholic churches, a Greek church, a syna- gogue, several monasteries and convents, a theatre, and important military, educational, and benevolent institutions. The principal trade is in red wines produced in the neigh- borhood. There are cannon founderies, ship yards in which many of the steamers naviga- ting the Danube are built, and some manufac- tories of silk, velvet, cotton, woollen, and leath- er. In the suburbs, especially at the foot of the Blocksberg, are numerous hot springs, with remains of Roman and Turkish baths. The which is supposed to occupy the site of the Aquincum of the Romans (pop. in 1870, 16,002). The suspension bridge over the Danube has taken the place of a bridge of boats. The width of the central waterway is 627 ft., and from cen- tre to centre of the towers 677 ft., exceeding by 117 ft. that between corresponding points in the Menai chain bridge ; each of the side open- ings is 271 ft. wide; the towers rise 117 ft. above water level. The bridge, begun in 1840, cost more than $3,000,000. It was first opened Jan. 5, 1849, to give passage for the Hunga- rian army under Gorgey in its retreat. The earliest part of modern Buda was built in the 13th century. It was the residence of the Hungarian kings; was taken by the Turks un- der Solyman the Magnificent in 1526, but re- covered in the following year ; was regained by the Turks in 1529, and retaken by Charles of Lorraine in 1686, after a protracted and memorable siege ; and in 1784 was again made the seat of the Hungarian government. The