The application of tuned liquid column dampers (TLCD) for suppressing excessive lateral pedestrian-induced vibrations of footbridges is investigated experimentally and numerically. In order to study the effectiveness of TLCD, a novel three-degree-of-freedom (DOF) bridge model is constructed in the laboratory of the TU-Institute. A single TLCD is attached to the bridge model to counteract the bridge's fundamental vibration mode. Modal tuning of the TLCD is performed using an analogy to tuned mass damper (TMD). A new excitation device has been developed for simulating the time-periodic contact forces due to walking pedestrians. All vibration tests performed indicate a large reduction of the maximum lateral vibration response amplitude. In order to verify the experimental results, numerical simulations of the laboratory model are performed, which show a good agreement. The application ofTLCD at least doubles the effective modal damping coefficient when compared to the original bridge model.