Bagi Gábor et al. (szerk.): Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 17. (Szolnok, 2008)
Történelem - Szikszay Mihály: Régi hidak Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok megyében
MIHÁLY SZIKSZAI OLD BRIDGES IN JÁSZ-NAGYKUN-SZOLNOK COUNTY The most significant river of the county is the river Tisza, whose width has made it difficult to build a stone bridge over it. The streams in the Jászság and in the Nagykunság are not too wide so several stone bridges were built in these regions in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The first stone bridges were built on the “salt road” crossing the county. This road was so important that the engineer of the Chamber, Fortunato di Prati was ordered to replace the wooden bridges over Büdös-ér and Kakat-ér by stone brides. The bridge over Büdös-ér was still in use in 1764 but the bridge over Kakat-ér was demolished by the flood in 1739. Luckily, three arched stone bridges still exist in the county. The “stone bridge” of Jászberény was built in 1806, originally with four arches. In Jászdózsa, the forty metre-long Tama bridge with five arches, was finished in 1813. The structure of the stone bridge over Zádor-ér near Karcag was completed in 1809. This bridge was not only the county’s longest stone bridge but also that of Hungary’s. The size and the beauty of this seventy six metre long bridge with nine arches compete with the famous “stone bridge” of the Hortobágy. There were more stone bridges in the county in the past than today. According to a report made in 1801 there were nineteen stone bridges in use in he country at that time. In the course of history most of these bridges have deteriorated or been demolished. It is probable that the first wooden or stone bridge of the county was built by Jánoshida before the thirteenth century. According to a charter from 1426, there was a custom house there, which suggests that it must have functioned as a crossing-place. Written documents evidence that the bridge over the Tisza in Szolnok was originally built in 1562. This was the first pile bridge over the Tisza. The bridge had been rebuilt until 1909, when the icy water flood demolished it. Bridges have been built in great number from the eighteenth century onwards. Ferenc Homályossy Tunkel, carpenter and Károly Rábl, bricklayer built a wooden bridge over the river Körös in Kunszentmárton in 1806. Tunker Ferenc made the plan for the Csengettyű-bridge of Túrkeve in 1919. Five years later, he built the county’s second bride over the Tisza in Cibakháza. Three years later, Ignác Szvitek renovated the Zádor-bridge of Karcag, which had been damaged by the flood before. He replaced the original structure with a wooden structure. In 1834, the county’s third bridge over the river Tisza was built, of wood, between Tiszafüred and Poroszló. The first railway bridge over the river Tisza was completed in 1857. It was 512 metres long with ten arches over the riverbed and 28 arches over the flood area. It was Hungary’s biggest wooden railway bridge at that time. A 210 metre long wooden bridge was completed by Kunszentmárton in 1885. For years later a 780 metre long railway bridge was built by Kisköre, which was the longest wooden bridge in Hungary at that time. 202
