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

hearts of certain young ladies of Buda leap out with enthusiastic agreement, but the wise men of the twin cites also concurred. These sages had been pondering for decades how the young and beautiful Pest could “reach out a hand to the ancient castle of Corvinus,” as Count Széchenyi expressed his vision of the future. Hungarians can be grateful that his dream came true.

Let a bridge be built!

In December 1820 Count István Széchenyi, alias Stefi, a young gallant hardly past the period when the stealing of hearts is life’s main business, a handsome Hussar captain and a wealthy Hungarian aristocrat was staying in Diószeg, Bihar County, when a courier brought word of his father, Ferenc Széchényi’s death. He set off on December 27, to arrive, in his coach, at the Pest ferry on December 29. It was a freezing day with fierce blizzards. The pontoon bridge had been dismantled for three weeks, the drifting ice halted boat traffic on the river. Széchenyi found no ferryman willing to risk the crossing. It was not until January 5 that a daring boatman carried him over to the Buda bank with his coach and horses. Soon after their landing the ice resumes to flow, sharp-crested drifts clash and creak as an icemill. A terrifying symphony! It was on the previous day that Széchenyi made this diary entry: “I will give a year’s income if a permanent bridge is built between Buda and Pest...”

The idea of building a bridge between the fastgrowing Pest and Buda had occurred to others before: since the late eighteenth century many plans had been circulating but for one reason or another none had been realized.

1832 was a decisive year. On February 10, following the unceasing efforts of Count István Széchenyi, the Bridge Association of Budapest was founded. The word “Budapest” appeared in its name, proving that the concept of the bridge was suffi13