Liberty Bridge
Liberty Bridge is the third southernmost public road bridge in Budapest, located at the southern end of the City Centre. It is 333.6 m in length and 20.1 m in width. The top of the four masts are decorated with large bronze statues of the Turul, a falcon-like bird, prominent in ancient Hungarian mythology.
The bridge was built between 1894 and 1896 to the plans of János Feketeházy. Although radically different in structure, the bridge imitates the general outline of a chain-type bridge, which was considered an aesthetically preferable form at the time of construction. The bridge was opened in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph; the last silver rivet on the Pest abutment was inserted into the iron structure by the Emperor himself, and the bridge was originally named after him.
In 1945 its exploded middle part was reconstructed partly from remolded materials of the uplifted ruins of it. The Reform-age ornaments and the detailed barriers were rebuilt with simpler forms. Structure-affecting war damages were repaired. The bridge was repainted with brown instead of the original green painting, because the monochrome photography of the time did not indicate what its former colour was. Its original colour was found out from written archives in the 1960s and it was repainted to this during its next maintenance.
During the 2007-2009 complete reconstruction, all war damages of shape were repaired, added to the complete structure-reconstruction water discharge pipes held by the bridge were replaced, and noise and impulse-absorbing tramways were rebuilt. Concerning the ornaments (these were not funded partly by EU), to all of the original ones equivalents were reinstated, the original molds were previously found so the original-shaped barriers could be molded again, and the bridge received floodlight. For economic efficiency, the lower part of the floodlight was considered not to be realised, after judging that it would not enlighten the principal parts of the bridge, it indeed was left out from realisation. Floodlight for the central part was not planned as it could not be built there without significant intrusion.
Read more about this topic: Bridges Of Budapest
Famous quotes containing the words liberty and/or bridge:
“There is nothing that I shudder at more than the idea of a separation of the Union. Should such an event ever happen, which I fervently pray God to avert, from that date I view our liberty gone.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“I was at work that morning. Someone came riding like mad
Over the bridge and up the road—Farmer Rouf’s little lad.
Bareback he rode; he had no hat; he hardly stopped to say,
“Morgan’s men are coming, Frau, they’re galloping on this way.”
—Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840–1894)