The Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd) is one of the nine Danube bridges in the Hungarian capital Budapest. The Liberty Bridge is the sixth bridge when going downstream. It is 331 m long and 20.1 m wide and dates from 1896.
The bridge is located between Place Saint-Gellért (Szent Gellért tér) on the right bank of the Danube (Buda, with the Gellért hotel and the south side of Mount Gellért) and Place Fővám on the left bank (Pest, with the Market Hall and the Corvinus University building). Seen from Pest, the bridge forms the continuation of the Small Ring (Kiskörút).
The bridge was designed by János Feketeházy and was inaugurated on the occasion of the millennium of the Hungarian Landname in 1896, slightly earlier than the northern Elisabeth Bridge. The bridge originally bore the name of King Franz Joseph, the Habsburg monarch who also opened the bridge. In 1898, the first tram crossed the Frans Jozefbrug. After the bridge was destroyed by the Germans in 1945 and was first rebuilt on 20 August 1946, the bridge got its current name.
Characteristic of the steel, green painted bridge are the statues of four birds of prey on both towers: the turul is a bird that plays an important role in Hungarian pre-Christian mythology. The bridge is also equipped with the Hungarian coat of arms.
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