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Kossuth Bridge

Bridges completed in 1945Bridges in BudapestBridges over the DanubeDemolished bridges
Panoráma a Kossuth híddal. Fortepan 372
Panoráma a Kossuth híddal. Fortepan 372

The Kossuth Bridge or Kossuth híd was a bridge that stood over the river Danube in Budapest from 15 January 1946 to 1960. After the Soviet Red Army took Budapest in early 1945, they found all the city's five bridges had been blown up by retreating German troops. (Árpád hid was not blown-up, it was just incomplete, under construction). Soon, a pontoon bridge was created for military logistical purposes but its capacity proved insufficient and presence of winter icepacks on the Danube made it impossible to maintain a permanent link across the 290-metre-wide river with a floating bridge. A decision was made to build a spar-type bridge in record time. The total destruction of industry and lack of raw materials in Hungary required cannibalizing several dozen oil wells in the oil fields of Zala county for the construction project. Steel piping was pulled from the depths and used as the main spars for the bridge. It is said some steel from gunbarrels from abandoned and destroyed World War II battle tanks were incorporated in the structure. Because of the tight schedule and design restrictions dictated by available substandard materials, the bridge was built with numerous concrete pylons, with smallish, 30 and 40-metre-wide openings between them. The construction project was entirely carried out by Soviet military engineering troops, with some 15 fatalities due to hurry and harsh work conditions. This claim (Soviet troops erecting) is incorrect. The design collective was led by Hilvert Elek and Endre Misteth engineers. The erection project management were done by Zsigmondy, Béla; Erdélyi and Vajda; and the Fábián, Somogyi and György companies. The top overseer, chief project manager was Széchy, Károly. The steel structure was manufactured by Weiss Manfréd Rt., and the Győri Waggongyár. The permanent link, built right at the southern corner of Budapest's Parliament Building, was often referred to as the "Link of Life", especially in the leftist press. Indeed, for six months - until 20 August 1946 - it was the only connection between the two halves of the city, Buda and Pest. Officially inaugurated as the "Lajos Kossuth Bridge", it was named after the patriot leader of Hungary's 1848–49 revolution. Due to its hasty construction, the Kossuth bridge had several restrictions on use. It was used mainly for pedestrian crossing. Heavier trucks could cross at 20 km/h and in only one direction at a time. During sessions of parliament, it was sometimes shut down for noise and security reasons. Both bus and truck traffic was on the bridge, numerous photographs and news film clips attest to that. In three years following World War II all of the demolished Danube bridges were rebuilt, except Elizabeth bridge, easing the traffic situation. The Kossuth Bridge gradually became a maintenance problem and its low span more of an obstacle to shipping on the River Danube. It was finally shut down in 1957 and dismantled in 1960, and not replaced. Nowadays only two plaques embedded in the riverbanks remind visitors of the bridge's former location. It is thought that a bridge will be erected in the same place around 2020 as part of the long-term Budapest infrastructure modernization program.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Kossuth Bridge (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Kossuth Bridge
Id. Antall József rakpart, Budapest Lipótváros

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Wikipedia: Kossuth BridgeContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 47.505555555556 ° E 19.0425 °
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Kossuth Lajos tér

Id. Antall József rakpart
1055 Budapest, Lipótváros
Hungary
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Panoráma a Kossuth híddal. Fortepan 372
Panoráma a Kossuth híddal. Fortepan 372
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SMS Leitha
SMS Leitha

SMS Leitha or Lajta Monitor Museumship was the first river monitor in Europe and the oldest and also the only remaining, fully restored warship of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Currently it is moored on the Danube in Budapest near the Hungarian Parliament Building as a museum ship. The monitor was an innovation in the history of warship construction. The first European river monitors were constructed by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, namely the SMS Leitha and SMS Maros, and since then the river warships of the Monarchy were built in pairs. According to the customs of that time, river warships were named after the rivers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The names were chosen to reflect the dual (Imperial and Royal, Austrian and Hungarian) nature of the monarchy; thus, one of the ships received an Austrian name, the other one a Hungarian. This is the reason why this warship was named after the Austrian river Leitha (in Hungarian "Lajta"), while her sister ship was named after a Hungarian river, the Maros. The construction of the first Danube monitors was dictated by the Monarchy's foreign policy ambitions, and the military and economic situation of the times. The ambition of becoming a great continental power, turned the attention of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in the direction of the Balkans as it could not expand towards the West. However, the Monarchy had to be prepared to compensate the states along the Danube, which had been newly liberated from Turkish rule, and that of Czarist Russia. To gain more influence in the Balkans therefore the commander of the Monarchy's naval fleet, admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff suggested the construction of monitor type warships. Finances were raised, the necessary funds having been voted from the budget of 1869. The cost of the Leitha amounted to 425,000 florins.