Budapest later, with the help of the Russian Empire. 1867 was the year of Reconciliation that brought about the birth of Austria-Hungary. This made Budapest the twin capital of a dual monarchy. It was this compromise which opened the second great phase of development in the history of Budapest, lasting until World War I. In 1849 the Chain Bridge linking Buda with Pest was opened as the first permanent bridge across the Danube and in 1873 Buda and Pest were officially merged with the third part, Óbuda (Old Buda), thus creating the new metropolis of Budapest. The dynamic Pest grew into
Greater Budapest Greater Budapest Greater Budapest is the name of Budapest in its present, extended size, as it was created by the "Law No. XXVI of 1949" passed on December 15, 1949 and it came into force on January 1, 1950. By attaching 7 towns and 16 villages to the former Budapest, its area enlarged from 207 km² to 525 km² (154%), the number of its inhabitants increased from 1.05 million to 1.6 million (52%), and the number of the districts augmented from 14 to 22 (57%), thus becoming the seventh metropolis of Europe in its time. The only difference between the