District V is the heart of Budapest and the political, financial, commercial and touristic center of Hungary. The name of the district is Belváros-Lipótváros (English: Inner City - Leopold Town), which refers to the two historical neighbourhoods that is located in the district; Belváros ("Inner City") and Lipótváros ("Leopold Town"). Inner City is the old town of Pest, while Leopold Town was established in the early 19th century, and became the political and financial centre of Hungary in the early 20th century when the Hungarian Parliament was built. The two neighbourhoods were originally the 4th (Inner City) and 5th (Leopold Town) districts of Budapest until 1950 when the two districts were merged and number IV was given to Újpest ("New Pest").

Today there is a coexisting larger definition of "inner city" (with lower case letters) which includes all of District V and some parts of District VI, District VII, District VIII, District IX and District XIII, and sometimes even some parts of the Buda side, however this larger definition is only colloquial.

The reason Inner City is not the 1st district, is that until 1873, Buda served as the capital city of Hungary, so it was obvious to start the numbering at the Buda Castle District. Districts on the Pest side received numbers from IV to X.

The Inner City is situated in the Pest side, on the banks of the Danube.

Neighbours of District V are (clockwise from north):

Inner City

Leopold Town

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