Szechenyi Chain Bridge

The Széchenyi Chain Bridge (Hungarian: Széchenyi lánchíd) spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest. Designed by William Tierney Clark and built by Adam Clark, it was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary. The bridge bears the name of István Széchenyi, a major supporter of its construction, but is most commonly known as the "Chain Bridge".

Length if centre span: 202 metres (663 ft).

1849 The bridge was completed. William Tierney Clark said of it:

"Thus was finished Pesth Suspension Bridge, a work which, in its construction, encountered probably more difficulties than any structure of a similar kind in existence; the magnitude of the river over which it is thrown, its depth, the nature of its bed, and the velocity of the current, created misgivings, at one time almost universal in Hungary, that no permanent communication could ever be established across the Danube, between Buda and Pesth.

'The moral difficulties to be overcome, no less than the physical obstacles, were very great; pride, prejudice, and jealousy had each to be encountered, so universally against the object at one period, that nothing less than the extraordinary energy and perseverance shown by Count Szhchenyi could have withstood their evil effects, and few would have made the attempt."

The bridge's structure was upgraded and strengthened in 1914. In World War II, the bridge was blown up on 18 January 1945 by the retreating Germans during the Siege of Budapest, with only the towers remaining. It was rebuilt, and reopened in 1949.

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