Budapest is one of Europe’s principal industrial cities. Its two component cities, Buda and Pest, are linked across the River Danube by several historic bridges, including the Chain Bridge, designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark, and built in 1842-9. The North Railway Bridge of 1894-6 was designed in Italy, and the Margaret Bridge of 1872-9 in France.

Budapest is particularly celebrated for its innovations in mechanical and electrical engineering, many of them stemming from the foundry established by the Swiss, Abraham Ganz, in 1845. The Ganz Foundry building of 1858 operated until 1964, and is now a museum, where cupolas and cranes are displayed, together with samples of the company’s products. The Ganz company employed 6000 men in 1895, who were then engaged largely in making turbines and other electrical equipment. Its products can be seen in museums of technology in many European cities.