The Chain Bridge in Budapest is one of the oldest bridges over the Danube River. The idea of creating a stone bridge over the Danube came from Count Secheni, whom the Hungarians called the greatest Hungarian (he was the inspirer of many significant changes in Hungary of the 19th century). For this reason, the official name of the Chain Bridge is Secheni Lunchid, abbreviated to “Lunchid” (consonant with a greeting in Hungarian).
It was built between 1840 and 1849 as the first permanent bridge in Hungary. Despite the fact that it was designed by an Englishman, and the Scot was in charge of the construction, the bridge, designed by an English man under the guidance of a Scotsman, is considered to be a Hungarian national symbol. Since 1987, it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
History
At the time of construction in 1849, the Chain Bridge (Lanchid) was the first permanent structure of this kind between the then separate cities of Buda and Pest. The presence of a bridge between the two coastal cities facilitated their unification into one city, Budapest. More precisely, not only Buda and Pesch were united in 1873, but also Old Buda north of Buda, the former Roman city of Aquincum (later Obuda).
What was before
Before the Chain Bridge was built, Pontoon connected Buda and Pest. It was made of wood and had to be rebuilt from time to time. In 1767, according to historical data, the bridge was located on 42 pontoon boats, and crossing the bridge was taxed. Every year, when winter came and the river was covered with ice, the pontoon bridge had to be dismantled. By the 19th century, such a solution to the crossing problem was no longer acceptable to developing cities.
Description
The length of the metal structure of the Chain Bridge in Budapest is about 380 meters, and its width is 14.5 meters.
This structure is a larger version of the suspension bridge in Marlow (UK), which was also designed by William Tierney Clack, one of the very first suspension bridge designers.
But how did it happen that one of the national symbols of Hungary was designed by an Englishman? Hungarian engineers in the mid-19th century did not have experience in the construction of large bridges. Many of them were also skeptical that such a wide bridge could be built without collapsing into the river. Floods on the Danube River were not uncommon, and ordinary bridge structures - with many openings in them, as can be seen from antiquity and the Middle Ages, were really not strong enough to hold the strength of river floods. In the end, the memories of the Great Flood of 1838 in Buda and Pest were still fresh.
Hungarian Bridge Committee and Laws
Count Secheni initiated the creation of the Hungarian Bridge Committee in the 1830s; it was created in 1832 and consisted of a political, financial and technical department. Count Istvan Secheni made several study tours to England and saw modern suspension bridges. Telford, one of the leading mid-19th century engineers in England, suggested using a suspension bridge to connect Buda and Pest with flood protection. Such a design would reduce the number of pillars in the river and make the bridge more resistant to ice formation on supports, floods, etc.
In 1836, the Hungarian parliament passed a new law on the construction of a permanent bridge to connect Buda and Pest (Act XXVI). Count Szecheny appealed to many Hungarian noble people and citizens of Buda and Pest with a request to support the construction of the bridge to the best of his knowledge, experience or financial resources. In 1837, he asked George Cena to take care of the financial aspects of building a new bridge. He answered in agreement.
Banking houses finance construction
Baron Georg Sina, aka Georgios Sinas or Georg Simon von Sina, a Viennese nobleman, a true merchant and banker, provided most of the money needed to build the bridge. He was the founder of the combined company Chain Bridge (Lanchid Inc), or the Chain Bridge, and successfully arranged financing for the construction of the bridge, which was attended by Vienna's Salomon Rothschield and Wodianer Bank House in Pest. He himself provided most of the money. The coat of arms of the Sina family is at the foot of the bridge. Needless to say, the baron was interested in becoming the owner of the land and making other financial investments in the area of Secheni Bridge in Budapest.
Construction Safety
In Hungary, several designs for the new bridge over the Danube were created, but the Committee could not decide which one should be final. In the end, Baron Sina invited two English bridge engineers to Pest to study local conditions and make design proposals.
How difficult it was to create a reliable bridge can be said not only for the large amount of organizational work, but also for costs. The construction of the Lunchid Bridge ultimately 13 times the cost of building the National Museum in the same period.
The winning project of the Chain Bridge in Budapest was finally adopted by the Lancid Committee in 1838, and the contract for its construction was signed in 1840 by Archduke Joseph, the Palatine of Hungary, and Baron Sina, head of Chain Bridge Inc. The contract indicated that crossing the bridge would be taxed to finance construction and maintenance costs.
Start of construction
Construction work began in 1840 under the supervision of Scottish engineer Adam Clark (hence the name of the square between the Tunnel and the Chain Bridge). Nevertheless, it took almost 10 years to build the first permanent bridge in Budapest: the opening ceremony of the new structure in Budapest took place on November 20, 1849.
Construction was not without accidents. In July 1848, Count Secheni himself, along with other bridge workers, was washed away into the Danube River, when one of the chains weighing 794 tons fell onto the work bench, breaking a wooden structure and knocking down the nearest workers. One worker died, the rest were washed away into the river. Clark got used to such accidents in England (especially with the introduction of chains). However, Count Szechenyi, who saw the symbolic prosperity and fate of the Hungarian nation in this bridge, took this as a bad omen.
1849: exploded before discovery
In 1848 and 1849, most of the country was swept by the largest uprising against the Habsburg empire: Hungary wanted to secede from the Austro-Hungarian empire. Therefore, the revolution and the battle prevented the completion of the construction of the bridge. Many locals marched on a demonstration to force the English workers to return home and do the work themselves. A typical protective gesture without much attention to skills and experience. Fortunately, Count Secheni managed to reassure the demonstrators.
In April, General Gentzi was preparing to confront the Hungarian forces and feared that the Chain Bridge in Budapest would be blown up. Gunpowder was placed on the bridge’s general, and a shot towards Pest from Buda Castle hit the new bridge. But Gentzi claimed responsibility for partially undermining the bridge.
Once, on a beautiful May morning, when the Buda Castle was already lost in battle, the Austrian Colonel Edelstadt walked along the bridge, smoking his beloved cigar, but dropped it directly into the powder box. The colonel himself, of course, died. But most of the bridge remained intact, only a small piece 24 meters long was damaged.
Hungarian General Gergei ordered the rebuilding of the Chain Bridge. Adam Clark resumed work at the end of May 1849, and he began work by banning traffic on the bridge (by then many locals were used to crossing it).
When the Hungarian revolution failed, later (in the summer of 1849) the Hungarian general ordered Clark to blow up the first permanent bridge of Budapest. However, the engineer managed to convince the general that the structure can be made unusable for several days without destroying it. He put the bridge on the ships and moved them 2 miles.
Opening
Oddly enough, the Chain Bridge in Budapest, Hungary's largest national reformer project of the 1830s and 1840s, was opened by Austria's most despised and hated general in November 1849. Julius Jacob von Gainau, called the “Hyena of Brescia” and the “Gallows of Arad” for his cruelty, was the man who executed the leaders of the Hungarian revolution.
In addition, Count Szechenyi, the man who largely contributed to this bridge, the soul of the nation, was never able to step on the completed Chain Bridge. He suffered a nervous breakdown and fell into a severe depression. In 1860, he committed suicide.
Despite the fact that the bridge was already open, something was missing: the guards. No one cared about the bridge, so in 1852 there appeared lions. It was also the work of the British. Stone lion statues look like smaller copies of the famous lions of Trafalgar Square. But in fact, the lions of the Chain Bridge, made by the sculptor Janos Marshalko, were created several years earlier.
World War II and the post-war period
During the siege of Budapest, the bridge was blown up by the Nazis. Not only the Chain Bridge was destroyed, but also the Buda Castle. After several years of shock and poverty caused by the World War, historic Lunchid was finally restored in 1949 and reopened for its 100th anniversary.
In the communist era, the original emblems of Kossuth were replaced by communist emblems, but in 1996 the historical versions of Kossuth were restored.
In recent years, Lanchid has become the venue for the summer festival (Summer on the Chain Bridge / Nyar a Lanchidon Festival).
