Erzsébet
(Elizabeth) Bridge, Budapest, Hungary
Architect
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Pál Sávoly |
Date Built
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1964
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Location
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Connecting Szabad sajto Way in Pest with
Hegyalja Ut in Buda
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Description
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The Erzsébet Bridge
spans the narrowest point of the Danube
connecting Buda to Pest. It occupies the
same site as the original Elizabeth Bridge that
was a three span chain bridge completed in 1903
(see below - the image is shown here on the
understanding that it is in the public
domain). It was named in honour of
Queen Elizabeth, the wife of Francis Joseph I,
who was assassinated in Geneva in 1898.
The original bridge survived until January 18th
in 1945 when the retreating German army blew up
all of the Budapest bridges. After the war
some of the bridges, including the Chain Bridge,
were rebuilt, but in the case of the Elizabeth
Bridge almost 20 years went by before it was
replaced by an entirely new structure.
The new bridge is the same overall length as the
original one but, whilst the old bridge provided
4 road lanes and a rail track for trams, the new
one has 6 road lanes. It did originally
carry trams but when cracks began to appear on
the bridge in the 1970s the tram tracks were
removed.
A plaque at the end of the bridge points out
that,
to commemorate the resumption of diplomatic
relations between Hungary and Japan, a lighting
system was added to the bridge paid for in part
by the government of Japan. The lighting
system was designed by the renowned Japanese
lighting designer Motoko Ishii.
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