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“And the name of this town is going to be Budapest...”
"And the name of this town is going to be Budapest..."
"And the name of this town is going to be Budapest..."

It was on 25th October 1873 that Budapest was born from the unification of the formerly three distinct city parts of Pest, Buda and Óbuda

The Constitutive Sitting of the new unified body of Budapest's local government representatives took place on this day at a Pesti Vigadó based venue then called the Southern Room. The Sitting elected Vice-President of the Royal Budapest Court of Appeal Károly Ráth Lord Mayor of Budapest. Former Alderman of the Town of Pest Károly Kamermayer was appointed Mayor, while public administration expert Károly Gelóczy was appointed First Deputy Mayor. The administrative staffs of the three city parts were also united in one administrative body and since then 17th November has been celebrated as Budapest's "official" birthday. At the contemporary celebratory event organised to honour this occasion, Franz Liszt's oratorio entitled Christus was also performed.

In later years, celebrations of Budapest's birthday also took place in Pesti Vigadó, where outstanding works befitting this event were staged. On the celebratory event held on 19th November 1923 in commemoration of the Hungarian capital's 50th birthday, a choir called Palestrina, conducted by Ernő Dohnányi, performed Zoltán Kodály's musical piece entitled Psalmus Hungaricus composed for the occasion, which piece at that time was known as Psalm 55.

Pesti Vigadó wishes Budapest a happy birthday!