Széchenyi Chain Bridge

The first permanent bridge between Buda and Pest, and the structure that made them one city.

Before it opened in 1849 the only crossings were boats and a pontoon bridge that was removed every winter. The story usually told is that Count István Széchenyi was kept from crossing for a week by ice while trying to reach his father's funeral, and resolved that Hungary would have a permanent bridge. Whether that is exactly how it happened, he financed and drove the project, and it carries his name.

William Tierney Clark designed it in England; Adam Clark, no relation, supervised the construction here and stayed in Hungary afterwards — the square at the Buda end is named for him. At completion it was among the longest suspension bridges in the world.

The stone lions at each end were added in 1852. The persistent local legend that their sculptor drowned himself because he forgot to give them tongues is untrue; they have tongues, just not ones visible from the pavement.

Retreating German forces blew it up in January 1945 along with every other Danube bridge. It was rebuilt and reopened in 1949, on its own centenary, and restored again in the 2020s.

Walking across it at night is the best free thing in the city.