Erzsébetváros (; , lit. Elizabethtown) is the 7th district of Budapest, situated on the Pest side of the Danube. The inner half of the district was the historic Jewish quarter of Pest. The Dohány Street Synagogue, the largest functioning synagogue in Europe, is located in this district. Currently it is the most densely populated district of Budapest with 23,630 inhabitants per km2.
Name Erzsébetváros was named on 17 January 1882 after Queen Elisabeth (a.k.a. "The Empress Sissi"), the popular consort of Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary Franz Joseph I of the Habsburg Empire. Until the unification of Budapest in 1873 this area was part of Terézváros. Between 1873 and 1882 it was named District VII without name.
History In 1910 Erzsébetváros had 152,454 inhabitants. During the socialist era Erzsébetváros's population decreased rapidly, because young people and families moved to the newer "panelized" boom districts (Újpest, Újbuda, Óbuda, Kispest etc.). Gentrification and recovery started in the middle of the 2000s.
Demographics
Politics The current mayor of VII. District of Budapest is Péter Niedermüller (DK).
The District Assembly, elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made up of 15 members (1 Mayor, 10 Individual constituencies MEPs and 4 Compensation List MEPs) divided into this political parties and alliances:
Party Seats Current District Assembly Opposition coalition 9M Fidesz-KDNP 3 Independent 2 Élhető Erzsébetváros 1
List of mayors Member Party Date János Faragó SZDSZ 1990–1994 Karola Bakonyi MSZP 1994–1998 Zoltán Szabó MSZP 1998–2002 György Hunvald MSZP 2002–2010 Zsolt Vattamány Fidesz 2010–2019 Péter Niedermüller DK 2019–
Twin towns – sister cities Erzsébetváros is twinned with:
Karlovac, Croatia Nevers, France Požega, Croatia Safed, Israel
Stari Grad (Belgrade), Serbia Stavroupoli, Greece Sveti Vlas (Nesebar), Bulgaria Gheorgheni, Romania Comrat, Moldova
See also Gozsdu-udvar List of districts in Budapest
Gallery
Notes
References
External links Aerial photographs of Erzsébetváros The old jewish quarter of Pest