The Chain Bridge — Széchenyi Lánchíd in Hungarian — is Budapest's most iconic crossing and, in many ways, the structure that made the city possible. Before it opened in 1849, there was no permanent bridge linking Buda and Pest, two separate towns divided by the Danube. The bridge was commissioned by the reform-minded Count István Széchenyi, who — legend has it — was stranded on the wrong bank of the river for a week waiting for a ferry during his father's funeral and resolved then and there to fix the problem. Scottish engineer Adam Clark oversaw construction, and his name still graces the square at the Buda end.
Monument