Man-made Beauty

Széchenyi Chain Bridge

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary, and it has many interesting structures including bridges. The bridges have interest not only as structures, but also as historical monuments. The bridges provide crossing points over the River Danube, one of the most well known rivers of the world. The idea of constructing the bridge was developed by Hungary's great 19century reformer, Count István Széchenyi. In 1820, bad weather forced him to wait eight days to attend his father's funeral before he could cross the river by ferry. The construction of the Chain Bridge began in 1839 and it was designed by the English engineer T.W.Clark. He had already designed two suspension bridges over the Thames; the Hammer Smith Bridge and the Marlow Bridge. The bridge took over ten years to build and it was the first bridge to span the Danube connecting the two cities, Buda and Pest.

The 375 meter long and 16 meter wide bridge was opened on November 20, 1849. At that time, it was the city's first permanent river crossing and the largest suspension bridge. A large chain was used to span the river, and the road way is suspended from the chain. The bridge was reconstructed after two world wars. Today the Chain Bridge is one of the most commonly used symbols of Budapest.

There are some legends relating the bridge, and the most popular is that the lion statues at either end of the bridge was sculptured without tongues so the sculptor was mocked so much that he jumped into the Danube in shame. In 1989, people demonstrated on the chain bridge for freedom and independence. Since then, the bridge has become a symbol of Hungarian liberty.