6 incredible stories from Budapest a hundred years ago

Budapest is a city of adventure, with a history filled with many colorful stories of these adventures. The capital of Hungary has many stories to tell!

Budapest is a bustling city, serving as the country’s own beating heart. This heart has many memories: a lot of which are quite surprising. There are a dizzying array of stories taking place in it, and it has been like this way for a long time now. Budapest has a rich history and many colorful stories and we’re here to tell you six out of these to depict how life was going a hundred years ago in the capital.

1. Bullfighting at the zoo

Nowadays, when someone goes to the zoo hoping for an attraction, they think mostly of the feeding times and perhaps the seal show. However in 1904, the zoo had to offer something a bit more tangible. They had an arena set up and in a true Spanish fashion, where they held regular bull fighting events. They even had a toreador team at the ready in the staff. Of course, the bullfigthers took on the wild Spanish bulls and not the huge Hungarian grey cattle. Still, the tickets must have been sold in a minute!

2. Pig Slaughter on Margaret Island

When thinking of Margaret Island, the pig is not the first animal that comes to mind. If we mention an animal in relation to the island, it must be the rabbit: the place was named Rabbit Island in the past, before gaining its current name. The island’s namesake was actually Saint Margaret, the daughter of King Béla IV. She lived here on the island in the monastery, as she had vowed during the Mongol invasion, magyarorszagom.hu writes.

A couple of centuries later, another famous figure lived here between 1918 and 1930. This person was none other than Gyula Krúdy. With him, we’ve come full circle, since he was the one who held his notoriously famous pig slaughters on the island more than a hundred years ago.

3. Noon Shot Instead of Noon Bell

Everybody knows about the countrywide tradition that signals one of the most famous Hungarian victories every day: the bells tolling at exactly noon every single day. This has been done since 1456 to commemorate the victory at Nándorfehérvár, when the Hungarian army managed to hold back the Turks. The noon bell is an authentic way of remembering and honoring the past.