Mária Valéria Bridge

About

The Mária Valéria Bridge joins Esztergom in Hungary and Štúrovo in Slovakia, across the River Danube. The bridge is some 500 metres in length. It is named after Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria (1868–1924), the fourth child of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, Franz Josef and Elisabeth.

The bridge was designed by János Feketeházy in 1893; he built several bridges on the Danube, including the Liberty Bridge (originally the Franz Joseph Bridge) in Budapest and the Elisabeth Bridge between Komárno and Komárom. In 1920, according to the Treaty of Trianon, Párkány (present-day Štúrovo) became part of the newly formed Czechoslovakia, so the bridge was cut by the border. Since its opening on 28 September 1895, the bridge has been destroyed twice.

On 22 July 1919 it was destroyed by a detonation caused by the occupying Czechoslovak Legion at its first pier on its western side, but was renovated in 1922 and completely reconstructed in 1926. During World War II, retreating German troops blew up the bridge on 26 December 1944 along with other bridges near Esztergom. Decades of intransigence between the Communist governments of Hungary and Czechoslovakia meant that the bridge was not rebuilt...