Elisabeth Bridge (Budapest)

Elisabeth Bridge
Official name	Erzsébet híd
use	Road traffic
Crossing of	Danube
place	Budapest
construction	Chain bridge / suspension bridge
overall length	379 m
width	27.55 m
Clear width	44.30 / 290 / 44.30 m
Arrow ratio	1:10
Construction height	3.10 m
start of building	1898/1960
completion	1903/1964
construction time	5 years / 4 years
planner	Aurél Czekelius and Antal Kherndl (1897) ; Pál Sávoly (1960s)
	location
Above sea level	98 m

47.490833333333 19.048888888889 98Coordinates: 47 ° 29 ′ 27 ″ N , 19 ° 2 ′ 56 ″ E

The Elisabeth Bridge ( Hungarian Erzsébet híd ) is one of the nine road bridges over the Danube in the Hungarian capital Budapest . It is the next bridge below the Széchenyi chain bridge and connects Buda between Castle Hill and Gellért Hill with the Square of March 15th (Hungarian : Március 15th tér ) in Pest .

The bridge is named after the Austrian Empress and Hungarian Queen Elisabeth , who never saw its completion.

First bridge

The first Elisabeth Bridge
in 1903

An international planning competition preceded the construction of the Elisabethbrücke. Out of the 53 submitted designs, the concept of a suspension bridge was awarded the first prize, but it could not be realized because there was no material for the wire ropes that met the requirements in Hungary . Therefore, the bridge department of the Ministry of Commerce under Aurél Czekelius and Antal Kherndl created a new concept for a chain bridge . Construction began in 1897. In 1902, movement of the anchor structure on the Buda side was detected. Therefore, all anchors were reinforced and loaded with 17 m high structures on both sides so that no further movements occurred. During construction it was called the Oath Bridge (eskütéri-hid) .

The Elisabeth Bridge was inaugurated on October 10, 1903. The slender pylons erected on the banks, each of which formed a high gate with their cross bracing, which was decorated with additional cast iron spikes and ornaments, determined the image of the bridge. The bridge deck, arched slightly upwards and stiffened with an iron framework , had an eleven meter wide four-lane carriageway and two footpaths each 3.50 meters wide. Between the pylons on either side hung two strings of chain, which were arranged one above the other and consisted of several flat eye sticks lying close together . The connecting links of the upper chains were offset from those of the lower chain by half a rod length, so that the vertical hanging rods attached to them were attached alternately to the upper and lower chain. The short bridge ramps outside the pylons were independent structures made of steel framework; they were not carried by the chain ropes, which fell steeply to the anchor structures and had no hangers outside the pylons. The bridge structure was a total of 378.60 meters long and crossed the Danube with a span of 290 meters. It had the largest span of all chain bridges until the Hercílio Luz Bridge set another record in 1926.

At the end of the Second World War , the bridge was blown up on January 18, 1945 when the German troops withdrew. It is the only one of the bridges in the capital of Hungary that was not rebuilt true to the original after the war, as it should be able to cope with modern traffic.

Second bridge

View of the second bridge, looking towards Pest

It was not until 1959 that the construction of a new, wider steel suspension bridge began at the same, the narrowest part of the Danube in Budapest. It was built according to the plans of the architect Pál Sávoly and is the same length as the first bridge, but is significantly wider. The original pillars have been reused and the construction skilfully mimics the arch of the previous bridge. The new structure was opened to traffic in 1964. Rebuilding the original bridge would have significantly exceeded the cost of a new construction.

The total of 27.55 meters wide bridge deck has an 18.20 meter wide carriageway with six lanes and two 4.45 meter wide sidewalks. The bridge deck has a construction height of 3.10 meters and is designed as an orthotropic plate . The suspension cables consist of wire ropes . 115 wires were combined into ropes with a diameter of 54.5 millimeters. Sixty-one such ropes were combined into a suspension cable, which is pressed together in a hexagon by large rope clamps. The suspension cables have a sag of 29 meters and thus an arrow ratio of 1:10.

At the end of the bridge in Buda is the monument of the holy martyr Bishop Gellért . According to legend, the Hungarians threw the missionary bishop from there in a wooden barrel into the Danube. The monument is underlined by the colonnade behind it and by the natural spring rising from the Gellért Hill, which flows as a waterfall into a fountain under the monument.

The bridge in media

The current bridge is depicted on a 50 Fillér coin from 1969, a 1 forint , a 1 forint postage stamp and a 10 forint postage stamp from 1964. A detailed model of the old Elisabeth Bridge (before 1945) can be seen in the Deutsches Museum in Munich.