The Margaret Bridge is, chronologically speaking, the second permanent bridge of Budapest, and the second oldest at the same time, only after the Chain Bridge. The construction works were completed in 1876, four years after their initiation, with the contribution of Ernest Gouin and Emile Nouguier, two French engineers.

Similar to other bridges over the Danube, the Margaret Bridge was heavily damaged during World War Two, but it was rebuilt. The new bridge comprises whatever was recovered after the accidental bombings in 1945, but at present it is in poor condition, being closed to heavy traffic.

The infrastructural importance of Margit Hid, as it is referred to in Hungarian, does not confine to linking, like all the other bridges in Budapest, Buda and Pest, but it also consists of being one of the few means of getting to the Margaret Island (the Arpad Bridge is a further alternative). Another peculiarity of this bridge is it is not a straight structure, but it describes an angular shape owed to the initial miscalculations of the small extension between the bridge and the island.