Chain Bridge

(Széchenyi) Chain Bridge

In 1820 István Széchenyi’s father died so he had to travel to Vienna for the funeral.

 This time there were cold winters and icy rivers. Due to this debacle, István Széchenyi dreamed an everlasting bridge between Pest and Buda.

Ádám Clark was the manager of the construction process and this name can be familiar to you because in Buda side when you crossed the bridge you end up in the square, named Clark Adam’s.

Due to the revolution in 1848-49, the construction was slowed down. The Chain Bridge was only hand over for the public at the end of the year in 1849. In these times if you wanted to cross the bridge then you had to pay the duty load. For a pedestrian, it was 1 denier while with a small cart it was 5 denier and with a big cart was 10 denier. Point of interest that István Széchenyi - the main dreamer of the bridge – has never crossed the Chain Bridge.

In 1914 they started to renovate the bridge and soon in 1915 it was finished. This was the time to change the name of it from Chain Bridge to Széchenyi Chain Bridge.

In 1945 because of the 2nd World War, all of the bridges were bombed down, including the Chain one. In 1948 they reconstructed it and gave to the public on the 100th anniversary of the original bridge.

Széchenyi Chain Bridge was built in a classicistic style. You can find on both sides the Hungarian armour and also the lions. There is a legend about the lions’ tongue. Next time when you cross the bridge, watch if you can see the lions’ tongue. Some people say that the lion’s don’t have any tongue, but in fact, you just can not see it in the level where you are standing.

Széchenyi Chain Bridge is a must-see, especially at night time when the sun goes down and the light comes up.