(, ''Rákóczi Avenue'') is one of the busiest

arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights o ...

s in

Budapest, Hungary Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. It runs in an east-west direction through the city.

Location

It starts at the Astoria, the intersection with Little Boulevard in the

Inner City The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...

and runs to east between VII. and VIII. districts, crossing the Grand Boulevard until gets the

Keleti Railway Station Budapest Keleti station (, ; "eastern railway station") is the main international and inter-city railway terminal in Budapest, Hungary. The station stands where Rákóczi Avenue splits to become Kerepesi Avenue and Thököly Avenue. Its name i ...

(the central inter-city and international railway terminal of Budapest).

History

The ancestor of Rákóczi Avenue was (lit. "Road to

Hatvan Hatvan ( German: ''Hottwan)'' is a town in Heves County, Hungary. Hatvan is the Hungarian word for "sixty". It is the county's third most populous town following Eger and Gyöngyös. Etymology Hatvan is the Hungarian word for "sixty". It is a com ...

"), a medieval trading road, which ran from the eastern

city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...

of Pest (named , literally "gate to

", present day Astoria) to

Northern Hungary Northern Hungary (, ) is a region in Hungary. As a statistical region it includes the counties Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Heves and Nógrád, but in colloquial speech it usually also refers to Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county. The region is in the ...

. In the 19th century the road become more and more important due to

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

and

industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...

. In 1804 it was renamed (literally "Road to

Kerepes Kerepes is a village in Pest county, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It has a population of 9,903 (2008). Notable people *Zoltán Sándor (born 1928), sports shooter Twin towns – sister cities Kerepes is twinned with: * Dealu, Romania ...

"). The former road was rebuilt in

eclectic style Eclecticism is a kind of mixed style in the fine arts: "the borrowing of a variety of styles from different sources and combining them" . Significantly, Eclecticism hardly ever constituted a specific style in art: it is characterized by the fact t ...

after the 1884

grand opening An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

. At the beginning of the 20th century it was one of the most prominent avenues of Budapest along with

Andrássy Avenue Small arms of the Andrássy family The House of Andrássy is the name of a Hungarian noble family of very ancient lineage that was prominent in Hungarian history. The full family name is ''Andrássy de Csíkszentkirály et Krasznahorka''. Csí ...

. In 1906 it was renamed (Rákóczi Avenue) after

Francis II Rákóczi Francis II Rákóczi (, ; 27 March 1676 – 8 April 1735) was a Hungarian nobleman and leader of the Rákóczi's War of Independence against the Habsburgs in 1703–1711 as the prince () of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of ...

, when his remains returned to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

from

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and his long funeral march went along the avenue from

St. Stephen's Basilica St. Stephen's Basilica ( ) is a Roman Catholic basilica in Budapest, Hungary. It is named in honour of Stephen, the first King of Hungary (c. 975–1038), whose right hand is housed in the reliquary. Since the renaming of the primatial see, it ...

. The first traffic light in Hungary was built at the intersection of Rákóczi Avenue and Grand Boulevard ( Blaha Lujza tér) in 1926. In the 1970s it was widened; the tram tracks were demolished in 1973 due to the grand opening of Metro Line 2 in 1972. Today Rákóczi Avenue is a six-lane

, sometimes described as an urban motorway.

Notable buildings

Danubius Hotel Astoria Danubius Hotel Astoria is a four-star hotel in the centre of Budapest, which opened on 14 March 1914. It has 138 rooms, including three suites. The hotel served as the headquarters of the Hungarian National Council during the stormy days of Octo ...

(, in Kossuth Lajos street) *Uránia National Movie Theatre () *

Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest The Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest (, SZFE) is an educational institution founded in 1865 in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867), Hungary. It became a university in 2000 and the name was changed to University of Theatre and Film Arts ...

() *Rókus

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

() * St. Rochus Hospital () *National Theatre (1908 – 1964, demolished as part of the construction of Metro Line 2) * Europeum (shopping mall) *

References

Sources

*Budapest City Atlas, Dimap-Szarvas, Budapest, 2011,
Sugárútból autópálya (from avenue to motorway), Táj-Kert Blog
*Budapest enciklopédia, Corvina, 1981,
The first traffic light in Hungary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rakoczi ut Streets in Budapest Urban planning in Hungary Rákóczi family