The Széchenyi Chain Bridge

For a long time, the Chain Bridge – an outstanding creation of the 19th century – was the only permanent bridge over the Danube in Budapest. The originator of the idea was István Széchenyi, while the bridge itself was designed by William Tierney Clark and constructed by Adam Clark, with much of the financing undertaken by banker György Sina. The bridge was built between 1839 and 1849, with the four iconic stone lions at the two abutments carved by sculptor János Marschalkó.

The beautiful Chain Bridge, an essential landmark that must be included in all promotional materials about Hungary, has a truly tragic and troubled historical background. Without going into details, we have compiled a few things you should know when visiting this spectacular landmark:

In 1848, one year prior to completion, the pulley’s suspension chains snapped and pulled down the work platform, along with the people on it (including István Széchenyi himself). Although most managed to swim ashore, one worker unfortunately lost his life, which halted construction works for some time.

The revolution against the Habsburg Empire, which began in 1848, also threw a spanner into the works in terms of the construction of the bridge as the two sides took turns in attempting to blow it up – with more or less success – in order to halt enemy troops.

The inauguration of the bridge, which was completed in 1849, took place as part of a decidedly humiliating ceremony, as the ‘festivities’ were conducted by Austrian General Haynau, at whose order 12 Hungarian military officers, who later went down in history as the ‘Arad Martyrs’, had been executed just six weeks before.

As such, the opening of the bridge was not a happy event, with few people in attendance; the originator of the idea, István Széchenyi, was also absent. In fact, he never actually got to cross the bridge as by this time he was being treated in a mental institution, where he later took his own life.

The next blow came in World War II, when the bridge was blown up in 1945 by the retreating German troops.

The rebuilt bridge was opened in 1949, a hundred years after its first inauguration.

The most well-known legend attached to the bridge concerns the giant lion statues found at the two abutments. For a long time, the rumour was that the sculptor, János Marschalkó, forgot to carve tongues for the beasts and when made aware of the fact, took his own life in his embarrassment. The good news is that it is just a legend: the lions do indeed have tongues, and you can even see them if you take a peek inside the mouths of the stone predators.