PHOTOS: Budapest’s iconic Chain Bridge ready soon, lions to return
Hungary and Budapest’s iconic Chain Bridge has been under revamp since March 2021. According to the plans, it will be ready by spring 2023, but the road will be given back to the public at the end of this year. Here are some photos of the crucial milestones the revamp project reached recently.
Budapest’s “new” Chain Bridge
The renewal of the Chain Bridge built by Count István Széchenyi, the “greatest Hungarian”, is being completed following the schedule. In the last few weeks, the workers put the Széchenyi-LánczhÃd inscription on the Pest side pedestals where the bridge’s “guarding” lion statues sit. Interestingly, the statue pedestals were demolished by the retreating German forces during the siege of Budapest in January 1945. The new Communist leadership of Hungary ordered them to be rebuilt, but the implementers used techniques and materials available at the time.
Here are some further achievements:
- the Hungarian coat of arms with the Holy Crown on both sides of the Pest gate and the lion heads above the gate arch is restored
- the stone surfaces of the Pest pylon are almost ready
- the lion statues restored will return this autumn.
Pestbuda.hu said the bridge’s road would reopen for traffic this December.
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“The granite slabs covering the pedestals have now been renovated, and the inscription “Széchenyi-LánczhÃd” has been engraved and is now being gilded, which they could not do during its reconstruction after World War II”, pestbuda.hu says. Interestingly, the inscription on the statue pedestal on the north side of the Pest bridgehead will be modified following instructions of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). But the Budapest Transport Company (BKK) did not share what the amendment would be.
As soon as the pedestals on the Pest side of the crossing are ready, the lions guarding the bridge will return.
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Lion heads, pylon, Holy Crown, rosettes
Moreover, experts and specialists are finishing the stone surfaces of the Pest pylon. “The lion heads on the gates of Pest and the coats of arms above them were beautified, and the restorers worked on their renewal on site from the scaffolding surrounding the gates”, pestbuda.hu said.
Additionally, the following project elements were finished:
- the heavily tainted, lion-headed capstones of the bridge’s gate openings were cleaned from the black layer it covered with a special chemical technique,
- sixty small rosettes and twenty-six larger decorative casts were painted in the Chain Bridge’s new colour, blue-grey.
The pylon’s renovated granite and limestone parts are being repainted and treated to be water-repellent.
BKK wrote that the renovation project follows the schedule. The work started in the spring of 2021 and is carried out by A-HÃd Zrt. It is planned to be completed by 2023, but the road will be given back for traffic by December 2022.
Source: pestbuda.hu
Words escape me, other than it will be Glorious, when completed.
Thank-You – to the Women & Men – and ALL, who have made what we are seeing – what will be the FINISH work, of our Iconic – Chain Bridge, the craftmanship expertise quality of their work – POSSIBLE.
People talk of Tower Bridge in London and the list of bridges Globally we could refer, that have historic or significant impact on people, but WE – in our Capital City of Budapest, Hungary – we MATCH them all in my opinion, we have the Chain Bridge.
The finished resurrection of the Chain Bridge – the day the ribbon is cut, opening again fully to function for our needs, should be ANOTHER historic occasion, in the life of this Hungarian icon.
In the evening of the official opening day – lit as she will be GLORIOUSLY – there should be another “Special” light show – to celebrate her re-opening, that the “little ones” in particular will retain in there memory banks.
Keep in mind that Budapest’s Chain Bridge is a SCOTTISH BRIDGE. Sure, there were lots of Hunagrian day laborers present when it was built — but its designer and all main craftsmen all came to Budapest for the job — from Scotland. Also, this long overdue refreshing of a very short span, 2 traffic lane bridge should never have taken this long and cost this much money in my opinion.