Budapest’s Liberty Bridge, with its rich history, turns 125 years old today!

The architectural landmark was inaugurated on 4 October 1896 in the presence of Franz Joseph. The bridge originally was named after the emperor, and it got its new name in 1946.

In 1849 the wonderful Chain bridge was inaugurated, and no other bridge was added to the landscape for about 25 years. Then, after 1867 Budapest began to develop. Traffic soon became a reason to build another bridge between two sides of the city, Pest and Buda. In 1876 Margaret bridge, and in 1877 another bridge was added. The latter was a railway bridge, unfit for road traffic. This is how Liberty bridge came about. – writes Index.

This is also the story of why the order of the bridges is confusing. Liberty Bridge was the fourth in order, but the third one that could be used in road traffic.

In 1893 János Feketeházy and Róbert  Totth competed with their plans to build the bridge. Their work earned trust and appreciation. Therefore the construction works started in 1894. The two architects were internationally recognised professionals in their time.

The lion of the Chain Bridge was lifted — VIDEO, PHOTOS

Virgil Nagy was an important person in designing the bridge’s visuals. The gates resting on pillars, decorated with the Hungarian coat of arms and two Hungarian birds known from legends were his idea. Electric lamps and gas lamps were installed, and the bridge was painted green, a colour with rich Hungarian symbolism.

The bridge is the shortest with its 334 meters, but sources from its inauguration write that the emperor himself struck in place the last rivet.

The second World War had no mercy on the bridge, and the Nazis blew it up in 1945. It was later rebuilt and inaugurated again on August 20, 1946. The bridge was also remained to Liberty bridge but painted blue this time. In the 1980s, the original colour was restored, and so were the decorative elements.

Chinese people seem to really admire Liberty bridge. They even built the copy of the bridge inside Huawei’s campus, which was inspired by wonderful European cities. – writes CNBC.

There are many other exciting information and rumours about the bridge. The rivet that the emperor struck in got lost, then it was replaced with an aluminium rivet, and a glass bowl was placed on it. But this rivet got lost as well. The bridge’s structure made it easy for people to climb up on it, thus becoming a frequented place for people who wanted to jump off into the Danube river, giving up on their lives. – writes nullahategy.hu.

Demolishing the track structure of the Chain Bridge has started – PHOTO GALLERY

Source: index.hu, cnbc.com, nullahategy.hu