Tabán usually refers to an area within the

1st district The Innere Stadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Innare Stod'') is the 1st municipal district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Inn ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, the capital of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. It lies on the

Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...

(i.e. Western) side of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

, to the south of

György Dózsa György Dózsa (or ''György Székely'',appears as "Georgius Zekel" in old texts ro, Gheorghe Doja; 1470 – 20 July 1514) was a Székely man-at-arms (and by some accounts, a nobleman) from Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary who led a peasa ...

Square, on the northern side of

Elisabeth Bridge Elisabeth Bridge ( hu, Erzsébet híd) is the third newest bridge of Budapest, Hungary, connecting Buda and Pest across the River Danube. The bridge is situated at the narrowest part of the Danube in the Budapest area, spanning only 290 m. ...

and to the east of

Naphegy Naphegy (german: Sonnenberg, meaning "Sun Hill") is a hill and neighbourhood in Budapest, Hungary. It is part of Krisztinaváros and administratively belongs to the 1st District. Location Naphegy rises south of the center of Krisztinaváros, be ...

. Several other Hungarian cities and towns also have districts called Tabán.

History

The Tabán has been inhabited since Neolithic times, due to its location in a protected valley, the thermal waters at the bottom of the Gellért Hill and the ford over the Danube. In the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

, it was inhabited by a tribe of

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

, who were replaced by the Romans in the 1st century BC. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, the Tabán was a village right under the Buda Castle.

Remains Remains or The Remains may refer to: Music *The Remains (band), a 1960s American rock band *The Ramainz, originally The Remains, a Ramones tribute band Albums * ''Remains'' (Alkaline Trio album), 2007 * ''Remains'' (Annihilator album), 1997 * ' ...

of significant medieval structures were discovered by archaeologists in 1936, and the 12th-century relief of the

Tabán Christ The Tabán Christ ( hu, Tabáni Krisztus) is a 12th-century Maiestas Domini relief from Budapest. Originally part of a larger composition, the fragment is an important work of Romanesque sculpture from the territory of the medieval Kingdom of Hung ...

might have belonged to a church located in the area. The Turks developed the thermal medicinal baths in the area and brought immigrants from the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. The population increased after the 1686 liberation of

from the Ottomans as refugees came from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. The

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

from Bosnia established the Tabán parish church

St. Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria (also spelled Katherine); grc-gre, ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς ; ar, سانت كاترين; la, Catharina Alexandrina). is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, w ...

in the 17th century; the church was rebuilt in Baroque style between 1728 and 1777 and reconstructed several times. The

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the population in ...

inhabitants established their own parish. The Church of St. Demetrius was built in 1742-51 in Baroque style; it was the largest church building in the

Metropolitanate of Karlovci The Metropolitanate of Karlovci ( sr, Карловачка митрополија, Karlovačka mitropolija) was a metropolitanate of the Eastern Orthodox Church that existed in the Habsburg monarchy between 1708 and 1848. Between 1708 and 1713 ...

. In the 18th century, the town was inhabited by

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

Vlachs "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...

Slovaks The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak. In Slovakia, 4.4 mi ...

and Gypsies. The history of Tabán is inseparable from that of the neighboring

and Gellérthegy districts. In the 19th century, the Tabán became known as a

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

quarter of Budapest with many restaurants, bars and bordellos. Its narrow streets on the hillsides echoed a

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

atmosphere. Kereszt Street was the center of old Tabán. In the 1930s, the Tabán was demolished in order to facilitate

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

. Today, it is a park popular with the population of the capital.

Topography

After the 1930

in Budapest, only a few old Tabán houses were left in the

district; one of them was the Tabán school, which was destroyed in January 1945, during the battle of Budapest. Today a sports field can be found where the school once stood. The original streets remaining are Orom Street in Gellérthegy and Tabán Czakó Street in

. Taban's historic and cultural attractions include a Memorial of the

1956 Hungarian Revolution The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

near Naphegy Street and Kereszt Street and the Semmelweiss Orvostörténeti Múzeum near Apród Street.

Tabán in literature

The poet

Dezső Kosztolányi Dezső Kosztolányi (; March 29, 1885 – November 3, 1936) was a Hungarian writer, journalist, translator and also a speaker of Esperanto. He wrote in all literary genres, from poetry to essays to theatre plays. Building his own style, he used ...

wrote: ''"Köröttem - esős akvarell - Tabán.
''Nyugodt lennék itt s boldog is talán..."'' ''"I crossed Tabán - a rainy watercolour.
''I would be at peace here and maybe happy too..."''

Sights

Major sights include *

Rác Thermal Bath The Rác Thermal Bath, located in Budapest, Hungary, is an 8000-square metre bath and is renowned for its Turkish bath dating back to the 16th century, and its imperial pools and shower corridor built in the age of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. T ...

Rudas Baths Rudas Bath or Rudas fürdő is a thermal bath in Budapest, Hungary which is claimed to have medicinal properties. It was first built in 1550, during the time of Ottoman rule. To date, it retains many of the key elements of a Hammam, exemplified by ...

* Semmelweis Museum of Medical History *

Tabán ruins The Tabán ruins ( hu, tabáni romok) are a group of medieval ruins in Budapest, Hungary. They are located in Várkerület, District I, in the Tabán neighbourhood, between Szarvas tér and Krisztina körút. The scattered ruins officially belong ...

Gallery

File:Sportpálya a Naphegyen (Budapest).jpg, The old Tabán school was here, today sports field

near Czakó Street, Tabán's historic places 1945 - 2003 File:Tabáni ház a Czakó utca és az Aladár utca sarkán (Budapest).jpg, The last Tabán house; Czakó Street–Aladár Street in 2003, Tabán's historic places 1945 - 2003 Image:Taban-2003-tavasz-aprilis-16.jpg, Tabán Springtime 2003, Tabán park today 2003 - 2004 Image:Taban-2003-Majus-1.jpg, May 1. 2003, Tabán park today 2003 - 2004 Image:Taban-1956-emlekmu.jpg, Memorial 1956 -

, Tabán park today 2003 - 2004 Image:Tabán-Jatszoter.jpg, Playground, Naphegy utca - Hadnagy utca, Tabán park today 2003 - 2004

Sources