Széchenyi Chain Bridge
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| Official name | Széchenyi Lánchíd |
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| Carries | 2 roads |
| Crosses | Danube River |
| Locale | Budapest |
| Design | Suspension bridge |
| Total length | 202m |
| Opening date | November 20, 1849 |
Széchenyi lánchíd or Széchenyi Chain Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans River Danube between Buda and Pest, the west and east side of Budapest, the capital of Hungary. The first bridge across the Danube in Budapest, it was designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark in 1839, after Count István Széchenyi's initiative in the same year, with construction supervised locally by Scottish engineer Adam Clark (no relation). It opened in 1849, thus became the first bridge in the Hungarian capital. At the time, its center span of 202 m was one of the largest in the world. The pairs of lions at each of the abutments were added in 1852.
Its two ends are
- Roosevelt square (with the Gresham Palace and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) and
- Adam Clark square (the Zero Kilometre Stone, and the lower end of the Budapest Funicular, leading to Buda Castle).
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[edit] Significance
In its time, its counterpart could be found only in England, and it counted as a wonder of the world. It had an enormous significance in the country's economics and life. Its decoration made of cast iron, and its construction, radiating calm dignity and balance, raised it among the most beautiful industrial monuments in Europe. It became a symbol of advance, the national awakening, and the linkage between East and West.
[edit] History
The bridge was named after its conceptual creator in 1899 Széchenyi Lánchíd.
The bridge's steel structure was totally updated and strengthened in 1914. In the World War II, the bridge was damaged, and had to be rebuilt. The rebuilding finished in 1960.
Among the anecdotes relating to the bridge, the most popular is that the lions were sculpted without tongues and the sculptor was mocked so much that he jumped into the Danube in shame. The lions do have tongues (though not visible from below, which is the usual point of view, as the lions are laying on a stone block some three meters high), and the sculptor lived as long as in the 1890s, and the only message he sent to mocking people was "Your wife should have a tongue just as my lions have, and woe will be unto you!"
[edit] Picture gallery
 The lions guarding the entrance |
 Pillar of Széchenyi Lánchíd by night |
 Széchenyi lánchíd by daylight |
 Széchenyi lánchíd by sunset |
 Laying the Foundation-stone for Chain Bridge, painted by Miklós Barabás (1864) |
 Chain Bridge, seen from Buda Castle |
 Chain Bridge with Buda Palace |
 One of the lions (with his tongue hidden) |
[edit] See also
- Erzsébet Bridge (Budapest)
- Liberty Bridge (Budapest)
- Margaret Bridge (Budapest)
- Marlow Bridge (United Kingdom)
