We get hundreds of enquires every year from young talented minds wanting to study in St.Petersburg. Some are still thinking about it, some are preparing for it, some are coming here soon and some are already here. So, here’s what you shall find in this city. Read on.
There are 342 bridges in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Peter the Great was designing the city as another Amsterdam and Venice, with canals instead of streets and citizens skillful in sailing! Initially, there were only about ten bridges constructed in the city, mainly across ditches and minor creeks. By Peter’s plans, in the summer months, the citizens were supposed to move around in boats, and in the winter months when the water froze to move in sledges. However, after Peter’s death, new bridges were built, as it was a much easier way of transportation. Temporary ponton bridges were used in the summertime. The first permanent bridge of bricks and stones across the main branch of the Neva river appeared in 1850.
Bank Bridge
As griffins in mythology are the guards of treasure, the lions with eagle wings in front of the Assignation Bank (now housing the SPSUE&Finance) are to watch the gold reserves of the Russian state.
There is a legend still propagated among the citizens that if you rub a griffin’s paw, you will inevitably make a fortune.
Lion Bridge
St. Petersburg known for its renowned landmarks, has a Lions Bridge which crosses the Griboedov Canal not far from the Mariinsky Theatre. Designed by German engineer Wilhelm Von Treitteur, the single-span suspension bridge was completed in 1826, and has an innovative design that hides the bridge’s supports in the bodies of four beautiful cast-iron lions, by the famous St. Petersburg sculptor Pavel Sokolov.
Lomonosov Bridge
Across the Fontanka River it is the best preserved of towered movable bridges typical for 18th century Saint Petersburg.
The original Tchernyshov Bridge, measuring 63 metres long by 14,7 metres wide, was constructed between 1785 and 1787. During the mid-19th century industrialization other bridges had their towers removed to facilitate traffic, but Tchernyshov Bridge retained the original appearance, with four rusticated Doric pavilions with small domed caps. Its movable middle section of wood was replaced by a metal one in 1912. The bridge was renamed after Mikhail Lomonosov in 1948 after the Russian renaissance man of the 18th century.
Anichkov Bridge
The current bridge built in 1841-42 and reconstructed in 1906-08, combines a simple form with some spectacular decorations. As well as its four famous horse sculptures (1849–50), the bridge has some of the most celebrated ornate iron railings in Saint Petersburg. The structure is mentioned in the works of Pushkin, Gogol, and Dostoevsky (famous Russian poets).
The first bridge was built in 1715-16 by order of Peter the Great, and named after its engineer, Mikhail Anichkov. The bridge was made of wood with several spans built on piles of supports lying just above the Fontanka River. It was designed by Domenico Trezzini. Nothing remains of this first bridge.
The Horse Tamers, designed by the Russian sculptor, Baron Peter Klodt von Jurgensburg. They rank among the city’s most recognizable landmarks. The theme derives from the colossal Roman marbles, often identified with the Dioscuri, prominently sited on the Quirinal Hill, Rome. Guillaume Coustou’s baroque marble horse tamers for Marly-le-Roi, the Chevaux de Marly, were resited at the opening to the Champs-Elysées, Paris, at the Revolution.
The St Petersburg sculptures have an interesting history. Prior to 1851, when the definitive versions were installed in the bridge, Tsar Nicholas I had given two of them to Prussian King Frederick William IV in 1842, and the other two had been sent in 1846 to Naples as a sign of gratitude for the hospitality shown to the Tsar during his trip there (see here and here). “Petersburg lore tells of Peter Klodt’s death immediately upon embarrassing discovery that tongues had been omitted on two of the four sculptural horses”[2]. Another urban legend has it that Klodt depicted his powerful enemy’s face under the tail of one of the bronze stallions.
In 1941, during the Second World War, when the bridge came under heavy fire from German artillery, the sculptures were removed from their platforms and buried in the nearby Anichkov Palace garden. The bridge suffered serious damage during the war, but has been fully restored. As a memorial, the pedestal of one of the statues retains the effects of artillery fire, with a plaque explaining this to passersby. Prior to the tercentenary of Saint Petersburg, the statues were removed from the bridge again and underwent thorough restoration.
Palace Bridge
Palace Bridge is probably the most famous in St. Petersburg, thanks to its situation between the Winter Palace and the Strelka on Vasilevsky Ostrov. Opened in 1916, Palace Bridge was only fully completed in 1939, when the last decorative elements, which include beautiful cast-iron railings and ornate street lamps, were installed.
The history of Palace Bridge dates back to 1901, when a competition for designs for a permanent bridge at the site was announced. Until then, this vital link between two of the oldest sections of the city had been furnished by boat or by a pontoon bridge 50 meters downstream, a legacy of Peter the Great’s interdict on bridge-building in his new capital (he believed this would encourage the population to become competent sailors).
It took eight years for the jury to choose a winner. They opted for designs presented by Andrey Pshensitsky, a recent graduate of the St. Petersburg Institute of Communications Engineering. Celebrated Art Nouveau designer and artist Roman Meltzer was commissioned to design the bridge’s architectural decorations, and construction eventually began in 1912.
The onset of the First World War severely interfered with the completion of the project, and the eventual opening of Palace Bridge in 1916 was a discrete affair, with most of the decorative elements of the designs incomplete. It was not until 1939, by which time the bridge had been renamed Republican Bridge, that the ornate cast-iron railings and lampposts, the lion sculptures and the bridge’s pavilions were eventually completed.
The bridge’s original name was returned in 1944, and Palace Bridge has since been fully restored several times since, most recently in 1997. The bridge now carries over 30,000 cars a day, and is the site of some of St. Petersburg’s heaviest traffic jams. Nonetheless, views from the bridge – of the Winter Palace, of the Peter and Paul Fortress, and of the rows of palatial buildings along both banks of the Neva – are some of the most impressive in the city.
Egyptian Bridge
The one-span suspension bridge that it replaced was of historical interest as a monument to early 19th-century Egyptomania. It was constructed in 1825-1826 based on designs by two civil engineers, Von Traitteur and Christianowicz. Its granite abutments were topped with cast-iron sphinxes and hexagonal lanterns.
The original bridge, used by both pedestrians and horse-drawn transport, collapsed on January 20, 1905, when a cavalry squadron was marching across it. The present structure, incorporating sphinxes and several other details from the 19th-century bridge, was completed in 1955.
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