ABSTRACT
Spanning the legendary Danube, at the point where the now-united cities of Buda on the west bank and Pest on the east exchange gazes, is a bridge whose existence symbolizes the extraordinary cultural heritage of the Hungarian, or Magyar, people. At the time of its opening in 1849, the Chain Bridge was one of the world’s largest. Count Istvan Széchényi of Hungary had seen London’s Hammersmith Bridge and ultimately secured the services of English designer William Clark and an engineer, Scotsman Adam Clark, to erect a bridge across the Danube. Széchényi, a Catholic, was impressed by that Protestant country’s democracy, emulating it as a role model for his initiatives in Hungary. Széchényi eagerly encouraged other English and Scottish people to bring their skills to Hungary, including engineers, professionals, skilled workers, and shipbuilders such as the English shipwright Fowles, who collaborated with the Danube Steamship Company (Kovács, 2006, p. 9). Though these mercantile associations may appear inconsequential, in the political climate of Eastern Europe they reflected a burgeoning struggle for freedom. The Chain Bridge stands not simply as a bridge between Buda and Pest but as a heroic link with Protestant Great Britain in a land dominated by the Hapsburgs.
