Liberty Bridge (Budapest)
Coordinates: 47 ° 29 ′ 9 ″ N , 19 ° 3 ′ 18 ″ E
| Liberty Bridge | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Official name | Szabadság híd | |
| use | Road transport including trams | |
| Crossing of | Danube | |
| place | Budapest in Hungary | |
| construction | steel girder bridge | |
| overall length | 333.6 m | |
| width | 20.1 m | |
| Longest span | 79.3 + 175 + 79.3 m | |
| start of building | 1894 | |
| opening |
October 4, 1896 Reopening August 20, 1946 |
|
| planner | János Feketeházy | |
| closure | 1945 by demolition | |
| toll | abolished after the opening in 1946 | |
| location | ||
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| Above sea level | 98 m | |
The Liberty Bridge ( Hungarian Szabadság híd ) is one of the nine road bridges over the Danube in the Hungarian capital Budapest . It connects the Buda Szent Gellért tér with the Pest Little Ring and the Fövám tér (Customs Square) at the Corvinus University Budapest and the Great Market Hall .
history
In an international competition that ended in 1894 for the planning and construction of the Elisabeth Bridge and the Liberty Bridge ( still referred to as the bridge on Customs Office Square (Fövám tér) in the tender ), the project was carried out by the Hungarian engineer János Feketeházy in collaboration with the architects Steinhard & Lang submitted draft selected and accepted for execution. After about two years of construction, the building was ceremoniously handed over to the Budapesters on the occasion of the celebrations for the 1000th anniversary of the conquest on October 4, 1896 as the second bridge over the Danube. When it was completed, it was named Franz Joseph Bridge in honor of Emperor Franz Joseph . The namesake also insisted on hammering the last (silver) rivet with the initials FJI on the Pest bridgehead. A replica of the original stolen in 1956 is on display under a pane of glass.
Like all Budapest bridges over the Danube, the Freedom Bridge fell victim to the demolition squads of the German armed forces on January 16, 1945 . But already on August 20, 1946 , one and a half years later, the bridge was the first of the nine bridges to be reopened after it was faithfully reconstructed. The rapid reconstruction was possible thanks to the minor damage. The old ornaments, the royal coats of arms and the birds described below could also be preserved and used for the reconstruction. On the occasion of the reopening, it was renamed Liberty Bridge.
The building was extensively renovated in 2007/2008.
description
The 333.6 m long and 20.1 m wide bridge spans the Danube and the two riverside roads. It has two lanes and tram tracks as well as sidewalks outside the bridge girders.
The steel construction, which is supported by two river pillars, bridges three openings with spans of 79.3 + 175.0 + 79.3 m. Your truss remember with sweeping, largely a catenary following top chords of a Chain Bridge and it is difficult to realize that the main opening a 46.9 m long suspended beam contains. The bridge is thus a tanner girder bridge . As a counterweight to the loads of the suspension beam, cast iron blocks were inserted into the landside ends of the booms. The entire construction was given a green color after the protective coating.
The iron pylons are clad with sheet metal, richly decorated in Art Nouveau style and connected to a portal with a curved, openwork arch. On the arches there is a replica of the Hungarian coat of arms , i.e. H. of the coat of arms of the countries of the Hungarian crown with the crown of St. Stephen . The tips of the pylons are designed as high pinnacles , on each of which a Turul bird stands with outspread wings on a golden ball. On the outside of the pylons and on the outer ends of the upper chords there are cartridges with the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Hungary . Elaborately designed candelabra stand on the upper chords .
One of the houses built to collect the bridge toll on the Pest side is now used as a museum for the Budapest Danube bridges.
In the media
The bridge is depicted on a 1.50 forint postage stamp from 1964.
Others
The construction of the Freedom Bridge as a Gerberträgerbrücke reminiscent of a chain bridge was similar to the Friedrichsbrücke in Mannheim, built in 1891 and destroyed in 1945 . The Salzach Bridge (1903) between Laufen and Oberndorf near Salzburg , the Neutor Bridge (1907) in Ulm and the Eiserne Steg (1912) in Frankfurt am Main have a similar construction .
Web links
- Liberty Bridge (Hungarian) ( Memento from June 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- Aerial views over the bridge
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Liberty Bridge on Ponton's Bridges; Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- ^ The international competition for designs for two state road bridges over the Danube in Budapest. In: Deutsche Bauzeitung , XXVIII. Year, No. 46 of June 9, 1894, p. 282
- ↑ Inauguration of the Franz Joseph Bridge. In: Pester Lloyd , October 5, 1896, p. 1 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ Joseph Melan: The bridge building. III. Volume, 2nd half, 2nd edition. Franz Deutike, Leipzig and Berlin 1923, p. 15 ( digitized version; PDF 214 kB, on archive.org)