Margaret Bridge

47.51472222222219.043611111111Koordinaten: 47 ° 30 ' 53 "N, 19 ° 2' 37" E

F1

Szent István utca

Danube

The Margaret Bridge ( Margit híd Hungarian ) is one of nine bridges across the Danube in Hungary's capital Budapest. It is one of the few remaining older bridges across the Danube with stone piers.

Location and History

The bridge passes over the southern tip of Margaret Island, move away from the two bridge sections, each with three segmental arches. After the construction was given its name. The pillars are connected beneath the carriageway by steel arches. A special feature of the Margaret Bridge is that it consists of two parts, each with three segmental arches that meet at the Margaret Island and form an angle of 150Grad. At this point introduces an additional wing bridge on the Margaret Island and forms a seventh arch.

History

The design of the bridge comes from the French engineer Ernest Goüin, who also directed the construction from 1872 to 1876. At its dedication, the building was the second bridge over the Danube, connecting the two districts of Buda and Pest together. The branch to the Margaret Island was not in the original draft, he was subsequently incorporated in 1900. A widening of the bridge was made in 1935 to 1939.

Like all other bridges Margaret Bridge by the Wehrmacht was equipped with explosives. Already on November 4, 1944 ( Saturday ) at two-thirty clock in the afternoon, still 40 days before the German and Hungarian troops in Budapest were ever surrounded by the Red Army, attached mines were detonated accidentally. The explosion was, according to the investigation report occurred because the Germans after they had taken over the watch by the Hungarians, had made the mounted on the bridge priming composition exercise half sharp and the fuse had been due to a spark jumped from a transiting ship inflamed. On the Pest side two arches were demolished. At the time of the explosion, about 800 people were on the bridge - also a fully staffed tram. Some people were rescued by a passing steamer. The exact number of victims has not been determined, a contemporary study speaks of about 600 people. Even 40 German pioneers were among the victims.

Since the bridge was partially collapsed, but not completely destroyed, it was wired one more time during the retreat of the German and Hungarian troops on the Buda side of the boiler and then completely blown up again on 18 January 1945.

In August 1948, the Margaret bridge could be reopened after two years of reconstruction. In the late 1970s it was thoroughly restored and widened again later.

In August 2009, a renovation of the bridge began by the company STRABAG and Hídépítö. The complicated construction work led to a technology in which two gantry cranes of both banks went into service. The handover to the traffic carried in November 2010, the final construction work lasted until the spring of 2011.

Bridge Details

The arches are designed as iron framework. The protective coating was renewed with a general rehabilitation, his light beige color scheme is based on the original plans. Your river piers were a striking sandstone jewelry (see image ). The roadway is illuminated at night by three-piece wrought iron candelabra. In addition, the entire building was given a new energy-saving lighting from LED headlamps, which was made by the company Willy Meyer und Sohn GmbH.

The bridge in the media

The bridge is mapped to a 30 - Fillér stamp of 1964.