Elisabeth Bridge (, ) is the third newest bridge of

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, connecting

Buda Buda (, ) is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill (), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and ...

and Pest across the

River Danube The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important riv ...

. The bridge is situated at the narrowest part of the Danube in the Budapest area, spanning only 290 m. It is named after

Elisabeth of Bavaria Elisabeth (born Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria; 24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898), nicknamed Sisi or Sissi, was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Franz Joseph I of Austria on 24 April 1854 until h ...

, a popular queen and empress of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, who was assassinated in 1898. Today, her large

bronze statue Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloids (su ...

sits by the bridge's Buda side connection in the middle of a small garden. The original eclectic flamboyant style bridge was built between 1897 and 1903. It was destroyed during World War II, and a significantly simplified

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

version was built without any ornamentation between 1961 and 1964. Its two ends are: *

March 15 Events Pre-1600 * 474 BC – Roman consul Aulus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years truce. * 44 BC – The assassination of Julius Caesar, the dictator of the Roman R ...

Square (with the oldest church in Pest, Inner City Parish Church, built in the 13th century) and the famous Mátyás Pince restaurant. * Döbrentei Square in Buda with the monument of

Saint Gellért In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Ortho ...

on the

Gellért Hill Gellért Hill (; ; ) is a high hill overlooking the Danube in Budapest, Hungary. It is located in the 1st and the 11th districts. The hill was named after Saint Gerard who was thrown to death from the hill. The famous Hotel Gellért and th ...

, a sculpture of Queen Elisabeth, and the Rácz Baths and

Rudas Baths Rudas Bath or Rudas fürdő () is a thermal bath in Budapest, Hungary which is claimed to have medicinal properties. It was founded in 1571/1572 during the time of Ottoman rule. To date, it retains many of the key elements of a Hammam, exemplifi ...

nearby. A luxury

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

hotel is currently being built in the area.

History

The original permanent crossing, a decorative

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

of chains, was built between 1897 and 1903, amid a corruption scandal. The Buda end of Erzsébet bridge runs directly into the massive foot of Gellért Hill, necessitating a complicated arrangement of roads to connect to the bridge. The bridge was designed in such a way because a wealthy nobleman, a member of the city council, owned the particular area of the riverbank. He wanted to make a fortune by selling the piece of land for bridge construction purposes, bribing the other councilmen and engineers for that purpose. He managed to sell the land at greatly inflated prices. In the era of horse-drawn carriages the geometry issue was not considered significant and the resulting cost overruns were covered up, therefore no prosecution took place. In recent decades, many motorists have been permanently injured or killed in the sharp turn that immediately follows the bridgehead. After an accident in 2004, which killed a family, a

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed, express ...

of 40 km/h was posted for the west-bound lanes. The original Erzsébet Bridge, along with many other bridges all over the country, was blown up at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

by retreating

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

sappers. This is the only bridge in Budapest which could not be rebuilt in its original form. Pictures and some salvaged elements from the old bridge can be seen on the grass in front of the Museum of Transport in

City Park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorporate ...

. The currently standing slender white

cable bridge The Cable Bridge, officially called the Ed Hendler Bridge and sometimes called the Intercity Bridge, spans the Columbia River between Pasco, Washington, Pasco and Kennewick, Washington, Kennewick in southeastern Washington (state), Washington as ...

was built on the very same location between 1961 and 1964, because the government could not afford to construct entirely new foundations for the bridge. The main spar cables of the bridge are

hexagonal In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A regular hexagon is d ...

in cross section, composed of thousands of elementary steel wires of seven different diameters, partly because early computers were unable to provide a solution for a circular cross section main cable batch. The design, by

Pál Sávoly Pál is a Hungarian masculine given name, the Hungarian version of Paul. It may refer to: * Pál Almásy (1818–1882), Hungarian lawyer and politician * Pál Bedák (born 1985), Hungarian boxer * Pál Benkő (1928–2019), Hungarian-American ch ...

and based on that of

Mülheim Bridge, Cologne The Mülheim Bridge ( ; ) in Cologne is a suspension bridge on the river Rhine in western Germany. It has a main span of 315 metres. The bridge was originally completed in 1929. On 14–15 October 1944 an American bomb struck the chamber containin ...

, was a first in Central Europe and not without weaknesses. BKV tram traffic and its heavy tracks had to be removed from the bridge in 1973 after signs of cracks appeared in the structure. The special lighting for Elisabeth Bridge has been created by renowned Japanese lighting designer

Motoko Ishii is a Japanese lighting designer. From 1965 to 1967 she worked at lighting-design offices in Finland and Germany. Returning to Japan in 1968, she established the Ishii Motoko Design Office. One of her major projects was the design for the light ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

contributed 120 million forints (EUR 450,000) to the costs. The Budapest City Council has paid 150 million forints for the project. 2009 marks the 140th anniversary of establishing diplomatic links between the

Austro-Hungarian Monarchy Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

and Japan, and the 50th anniversary of re-establishing diplomatic links between Japan and Hungary.

Statue of Elisabeth of Bavaria

Following her assassination in 1898 there was such an outpouring of grief that when an appeal was made in 1900 to erect a memorial to Elisabeth of Bavaria in Budapest, it was over subscribed. Successive committees organized to a number of competitions to select a suitable design, but it wasn't until 1919 and the fifth attempt that a design by the sculptor György Zala was selected. It then took another 13 years for the memorial to be completed and installed on the Pest side of the bridge. It was damaged by the German army when they blew up the bridge in 1945. It was quickly repaired, but then more damage was found which required its removal in 1953. It wasn't until 1957 that a full restoration was completed and it was installed in its present location on the Buda side of the bridge.

References

External links

*

Photos of Budapest bridges

Article about the Lighting

* {{coord, 47, 29, 27, N, 19, 02, 56, E, region:HU-BU_type:landmark, display=title Bridges in Budapest Bridges completed in 1964 Bridges over the Danube Suspension bridges in Hungary 1964 establishments in Hungary

History

Statue of Elisabeth of Bavaria

See also

References

External links