Erzsébetváros

For the Romanian town called Erzsébetváros in Hungarian, see Dumbrăveni.

Erzsébetváros (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈɛrʒeːbɛtvaːroʃ]; German: Elisabethstadt, 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.

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7th District of Budapest Budapest VII. kerülete Erzsébetváros
District of Budapest
District VII
Flag Coat of arms
Location of District VII in Budapest (shown in grey)
Coordinates: 47°30′2″N 19°4′7.41″E
Country	Hungary
Region	Central Hungary
City	Budapest
Established	17 November 1873
Quarters[1]	List Erzsébetváros
Government
• Mayor	Péter Niedermüller (DK)
Area [2]
• Total	2.09 km2 (0.81 sq mi)
• Rank	23rd
Population  (2024)[3]
• Total	49,388
• Rank	19th
• Density	24,000/km2 (61,000/sq mi)
Demonym	hetedik kerületi ("7th districter")
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	1071 ... 1078
Website	erzsebetvaros.hu

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

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% 1870 44,068 —     1880 60,200 +36.6% 1890 78,400 +30.2% 1900 141,700 +80.7% 1910 152,454 +7.6% 1920 140,246 −8.0% 1930 135,565 −3.3% 1941 145,604 +7.4%	Year Pop. ±% 1949 115,495 −20.7% 1960 120,052 +3.9% 1970 116,078 −3.3% 1980 92,350 −20.4% 1990 82,864 −10.3% 2001 64,137 −22.6% 2011 56,093 −12.5% 2022 48,943 −12.7%
Source: KSH[4][5]

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:^[6]

Party		Seats	Current District Assembly
	Opposition coalition[a]	9	M
	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[b]
	Zsolt Vattamány	Fidesz	2010–2019
	Péter Niedermüller	DK	2019–

Twin towns – sister cities

Erzsébetváros is twinned with:^[7]

• 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

• 
  Madách square
• 
  Blaha Lujza square
• 
  The Synagogue
• 
  Square of Roses

Notes

1. Coalition of Momentum–DK–MSZP–Dialogue–LMP.
2. György Hunvald was arrested in a pre-trial detention for breach of fiduciary responsibility in February 2009. Deputy mayor József Gergely (MSZP) managed the district for the remaining part of his term.