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Margaret
Bridge
This
was the second permanent bridge over the Danube,
built between 1872 and 1876, designed by the
Frenchman Ernest Gouin and built by a Parisian
building firm (of the famous French architect
Eiffel).
The bridge has a branch that leads to the Margaret
Island starting out from the pier in the middle.
On this bridge occurred the greatest disaster
in the history of the city: in November 1944,
in the broad daylight of the afternoon rush
hour, when hundreds of people were crossing
the bridge on foot and by tram, the charges
placed by the Germans on the section of the
bridge between the island and Pest went off,
presumably by accident; the number of causalities
will never be known, but it ran into hundreds.
Margaret Island
The island, now one of Europe's finest parks,
was formed in the Danube over the last million
years.
With a length of 2.5 kilometers and a width
of 500 meters at the widest point, it can be
strolled through in about 2 hours at a leisurely
pace.
A bridge connected the island with the Buda
bank even in Roman times.
The present name was given in honor of Princess
Margit, daughter of King Béla IV; she
lived in the nunnery on the island; she came
here when she was 9, and died when she was 29.
Even today you can visit the ruins of the convent
where she lived.
There are more than 10 thousand trees on the
island, most of them plane-trees, carefully
planted by various Habsburg gardeners to counteract
the ravage of floods.
You can walk on the grass everywhere, something
still unusual for the citizens of Budapest.
There are various amenities on the island: a
swimming pool, a strand, a tennis stadium, an
open air cinema and an open air theatre, a game
reserve, a rose garden, a Japanese garden and
a statue garden.
At the Margaret Bridge entrance to the island
the visitor sees a fountain and the Centenary
Monument erected on the hundredth anniversary
of the union of Pest and Buda.
On the Buda side of the island is the Alfréd
Hajós Sports Swimming Pool, with an indoor
pool and two open-air ones; further on, in the
center of the island, are the Palatinus Outdoor
Baths.
In front of it we find the city's most beautiful
rose garden.
Not far away, on the open-air stage next to
the water tower, opera, operetta and ballet
performances are held.
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