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WIZZ MAGAZINE
WORDS BY PETERJON CRESSWELL / PHOTO BY MÁRK MERVAI
pring, and the film crews arrive
at Budapest’s Chain Bridge.
Hollywood action movies,
fashion shoots, TV ads for internet dating
sites: they’re all filmed here, on the first
permanent link between Buda and Pest.
But first, these crews have to deal with
János Fazekas, a third-generation bridge
master whose daily task is to oversee the
city’s most iconic attraction.
“
When I was a boy, my dad used to bring
me here and have me count the lions. I had
to make sure there were still four. It was my
father’s last wish that I should follow him
as master of the Chain Bridge,” says János.
Following time spent as a rock guitarist and
successful cartoon animator, he settled
down to complete the link in the family
chain, and now occupies a modest office
overlooking this masterpiece of engineering.
A Sputnik-era control panel monitors the
ventilation of various chambers while
a diary records maintenance. On his desk
are tokens from the tollbooth days, when
even aristocrats found they had to pay up.
A photographic history adorns the walls.
T h e L a s t
L i n k i n
t h e C h a i n
János Fazekas is the latest family member
to be master of Budapest’s Chain Bridge
S
BRIDGE FACTS
P EO P L E
The Chain Bridge opened 20 November,
1849.
It was commissioned by Count
Istaván Széchenyi, known as the ‘Greatest
Hungarian’, planned by Englishman
William Tierney Clark and carried through
by Scotsman Adam Clark. The roundabout
between bridge and Tunnel is named after
Adam Clark, who later settled in the city.
János owns an original list of rules from
when the bridge opened – to toll-payers
only: “Pedestrians: one crown. Luggage:
two crowns. Wheelbarrows: three crowns.”
Blown up by retreating Nazis in 1945,
the Chain Bridge was quickly rebuilt and
reopened on 20 November, 1949, exactly
100
years after its inauguration.
By the 1990s, Fazekas the younger was
put in charge. When Western production
companies film here, as well as during
official visits, János scales the chains, and
manoeuvres himself into the empty chamber
above to check for any signs of disturbance.
“
Getting down is harder,” he laughs.
Just below street level is a nondescript
door through which only János can enter.
He’ll cross the damp, dripping basement
brimming with cables, switches and first-aid
posters – where his band once rehearsed
–
to head down a steep staircase. And
there is a privileged sight: a chain the size
of a living room, the first in a link that rises
as elegantly as a countess’s necklace to
a small prick of light, at which point the
Chain Bridge emerges into public view.
12,000
CHAINS
375
METRES LONG
3
CROWNS: WHEELBARROW
TOLL IN 1849
Our fun facts about Budapest’s
beloved bridge
