Buza Péter: Bridges of the Danube - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1999)

The old Elizabeth Bridge set world records when it was built

proof of the invincible vitality of a nation paralysed by war.

The bridges of Budapest are more than just bridges. Besides their exceptional beauty and acknowledged engineering achievement, they are means of the nation’s self-expression. That’s why our relationship to these steel and concrete structures is so special. That is, besides the importance of the projects, why the construction of all the bridges spanning the Danube at Budapest was prepared for by special legislation.

The construction of the Elizabeth Bridge was indirectly implied in Act XXI of 1885 decreeing that beyond a certain limit the profit generated from bridge tolls should be spent on the construction of a new bridge. In 1893 another Act designated the location of two new bridges of which the Eskü Square Bridge was to be built later, from 1898 to 1903.

As anecdotal evidence has it, Ferenc József played a far greater part in giving this bridge its final shape than in the creation of the one named after him. The king is said to have fallen in love with the idea of a one-span pierless bridge. When he was asked to contribute to the construction costs, his royal response was the question, “But it surely will not

40