The bridge is situated at the narrowest part of the Danube in the Budapest area, spanning only 290 m. It is named after Elisabeth of Bavaria, a popular queen and empress of Austria-Hungary, who was assassinated in 1898.

Today, her large bronze statue sits by the bridge's Buda side connection in the middle of a small garden.

Its two ends are: The original permanent crossing, a decorative suspension bridge of chains, was built between 1897 and 1903,[3] amid a corruption scandal.

[citation needed] In the era of horse-drawn carriages the geometry issue was not considered significant and the resulting cost overruns were covered up, therefore no prosecution took place.

BKV tram traffic and its heavy tracks had to be removed from the bridge in 1973 after signs of cracks appeared in the structure.

Following her assassination in 1898 there was such an outpouring of grief that when an appeal was made in 1900 to erect a memorial to Elisabeth of Bavaria in Budapest, it was over subscribed.