Drawbridge across the Neva River (Bolshaya Neva) in St. Petersburg, the first permanent urban bridge across the Neva. A wooden pontoon (floating) bridge connected the banks of the river near this place in 1727, in 1843-1850 a permanent cast-iron arch bridge was built according to the project of S. V. Kerbedz. In 1936-1938 and 2005-2007, the bridge underwent a major reconstruction, and in the latter case, the bridge was returned to its historical appearance.

The first pontoon bridge was located in a slightly different place - from St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Menshikov Palace (A.D. Menshikov himself chose such a place), it was called St. Isaac's and existed until the construction of a permanent bridge. The new bridge, built in 1850, was named Blagoveshchensky after the Annunciation Church of the Horse Guards Regiment, which previously stood on the modern Labor Square. After the death of Nicholas I in 1855, the bridge was renamed Nikolaevsky. In Soviet times, it was renamed again, this time the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge. And only after the reconstruction in 2007, the bridge was returned to its former name - Blagoveshchensky.

The construction of a permanent bridge was the result of the rapid development of the capital of Russia. The project of the new Nevsky Bridge was approved in 1842, and the next year construction work began, which ended only in 1850. The long construction period was due to the complexity of deep-water work in the place of the strong current of the Neva. The eight-span cast-iron bridge, built according to the project of military engineer S.V. Kerbedz, was made of arched structures and was raised near the right bank, and for this, for the first time in Russia, a rotary system was used.

In the design of the railing of the bridge, symbols of the water element were used - the trident of Neptune, a shell and two hippocampuses, seahorses. The interior space of the bridge pillars was decorated with figures of various vessels. A chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built on the bull of the drawbridge. And gas metal lanterns were responsible for lighting the bridge. It was supposed to supplement the decor with allegorical sculptures, but there was no longer enough money for this.

It was while in the parking lot near the Blagoveshchensky Bridge that the cruiser Aurora fired its famous shot, which served as the beginning of the storming of the Winter Palace in 1917.

The bridge, which was built during the reconstruction of the 1930s, significantly changed the size and design of the structure. It acquired more modern features, the central one became the draw span, and the mechanism changed from rotary to vertical. The old design of the bridge was used in other construction works - lanterns on the Field of Mars, and cast-iron arches on the Novovolzhsky bridge in Tver.

At the beginning of the 21st century, it was decided to carry out another reconstruction of the bridge, at the same time returning the structure to its former historical appearance.

The Annunciation Bridge is a kind of boundary of the beginning of the Gulf of Finland.

The bridge is 331 m long and 37 m wide. At the time of construction, it was 300 m long and was considered one of the longest in Europe.

The Blagoveshchensky Bridge is included in the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage Objects (monuments of history and culture) of Russia.

Note to tourists:

A visit to the Blagoveshchensky Bridge will be of interest to tourists interested in the architecture of the 19th-20th centuries, to everyone who wants to see the drawbridges of St. Petersburg, and can also become one of the points of the excursion program while exploring neighboring attractions -

e. In 1850 he connected Vasilyevsky Island with the English Embankment. The bridge is considered the border between the Neva River and the beginning of the Gulf of Finland - the Neva Bay. The construction of the Blagoveshchensky Bridge became one of the three grandiose buildings of the first half of the 19th century, along with the railway from St. Petersburg to Moscow and St. Isaac's Cathedral.

History

In 1727, a pontoon bridge was thrown from the modern St. Isaac's Square to Vasilyevsky Island. The place of the crossing near the current Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was chosen by Menshikov, whose palace is located on the opposite bank. The bridge, called "Isaakievsky", existed until the construction of the bridge, after which it was moved to the site of the modern Palace Bridge.

Since the 1750s, the first designs for a permanent bridge across the Neva began to appear. However, for a long time it was too expensive and difficult engineering task. St. Petersburg managed with floating bridges.

It was decided to build the first permanent bridge in St. Petersburg between Vasilyevsky Island and the English Embankment. The construction was started in 1842, the emerging crossing was called the Nevsky Bridge. Her project was created by Stanislav Valerianovich Kerbedz. By that time, Kerbedz had already built several single-span cast-iron arch bridges, which is partly why he was entrusted with the construction of such a complex engineering structure at that time. It was he who designed and supervised the production of the famous pattern depicting the symbols of the water element: a trident, a shell and a hippocampus, which can still be seen in the bridge ensemble.

It was decided to leave the bridge supports without decor, since "their plausibility should really consist of unshakable stability alone." The architect Alexander Pavlovich Bryullov took part in the creation of the decoration of the bridge. He designed cast iron railings, considered one of the finest examples of artistic casting of the time. Gas lighting lanterns were made according to the project of engineer D. Tsvetkov. It was planned to decorate the bridge with allegorical sculptures based on the drawings of P. Klodt and N. S. Pimenov, but due to financial difficulties, this had to be abandoned.

The construction of the first permanent bridge across the Neva became a notable event in the life of St. Petersburg. Legends began to emerge around the construction. Allegedly, in order to force the builders to work in good faith, Emperor Nicholas I promised Kerbedz to reward him with a promotion in rank for each span of the bridge built. They say that the crossing project was immediately redesigned in the direction of increasing the number of these spans. These events are actually fiction, as their chronology was as follows. On June 22, 1841, Kerbedz was promoted to major in the Corps of Railways. The bridge project was approved on October 15, 1842. On December 6, 1843, Kerbedz was promoted to lieutenant colonel. The newspaper "Northern Bee" of September 16 reports that the construction of the bridge supports has been completed. On April 11, 1850, Kerbedz was promoted to colonel. At this time, finishing work is underway on the bridge and the bridge is being prepared for commissioning. On November 21, Kerbedz is promoted to major general, on the same day the grand opening of the bridge takes place.

Eight spans were built near the bridge. The drawbridge, located on the right bank of the Neva, met all the requirements of navigation that existed at that time. With the help of a mechanical draw mechanism, the two wings of the bridge were moved apart in a horizontal plane.

During the construction of the Nevsky Bridge, the territory adjacent to it was rebuilt. Annunciation Square (now Labor Square) appeared on the Admiralty part with the Annunciation Church in the center. According to this church, then they began to call the bridge - Blagoveshchensky. When creating the square, a part of the Kryukov Canal was led into the pipe, so the bridge was built strictly along the axis of the canal. From the side of Vasilyevsky Island, the embankment was significantly expanded, a new square appeared here - Trezzini Square.

On November 21, 1850, the official opening of the bridge for carriages and pedestrians took place. The bridge became the longest in Europe (about 365 meters). It was named Annunciation, after the Annunciation Church of the Horse Guards Regiment, located on the square of the same name (now Truda). The newspaper "Northern Bee" published poems about the opening of the crossing:
Show off, Russia, holy fatherland!
You have surpassed all the antiquities of the age!
There were seven wonders, you created the eighth
And better, more beautiful than all! The hand was strong
Created a national monument for us,
That will was firm, like granite,
Ordered to create, build a similar bridge.

In 1854, according to the project of A. I. Stackenschneider, a small chapel was built on a bull near the drawbridge. She was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

Blagoveshchensky Bridge quickly became a popular landmark of the city. One of his contemporaries wrote:
“My favorite walk now is the Blagoveshchensky Bridge, the precious necklace of the beautiful Neva, the height of art in every respect! The bridge is attractive in two ways. During the day, it seems transparent, as if filigree, light as waves, and at midnight illumination it is a huge mass, soldering two cities together ...

The Annunciation Bridge also gained particular popularity among passers-by due to the fact that it was the only metal bridge in the city, on which, as a result, smoking was allowed.

Once, while driving along the Annunciation Bridge, the emperor saw a wagon with a roughly knocked together unpainted coffin, accompanied by only two invalids in soldier's overcoats. the emperor stopped his carriage and sent an adjutant to find out who was being buried. It turned out that they were burying "a retired soldier who served God, the Tsar and the Fatherland" for more than a quarter of a century. Nicholas I left the carriage and went after the coffin. Soon a crowd of thousands followed him to the Smolensk cemetery.

In February 1855, in connection with the death of Emperor Nicholas I, the bridge was renamed Nikolaevsky.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the crossing had become inconvenient for new ships. The drawbridge turned out to be narrow for them, besides, it was equipped in the shallow side of the Neva. In 1901, several engineering solutions were proposed to move the drawbridge to the center of the channel, but none of them was implemented. The outbreak of the First World War intervened.

In 1917, the cruiser Aurora was stationed behind the Nikolaevsky Bridge near the Promenade des Anglais. It was from there that he fired the famous shot towards the Winter Palace. A monument located on the embankment reminds of this event. And in the lines of Mayakovsky you can read:
And from under Nikolaevsky
iron bridge,
like death
looks
unkind
Aurora
towers
steel.

In October 1918, the Nikolaevsky Bridge was renamed the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge, in honor of Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt, who led the uprising on the cruiser Ochakov in 1905 and was executed for it.

By 1936, the adjustable mechanism began to jam frequently, which finally predetermined the fate of the crossing. In addition, the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal in the 1930s significantly increased the traffic load on the Neva. According to the project of Grigory Petrovich Perederiy, in 1936-1939 the bridge was almost completely rebuilt. Only wooden piles and cast railings by A.P. Bryullov remained from the old one. The piles were not changed due to financial savings, short construction times and because of their excellent condition despite their age. The presence of such structural details of the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge differs from all other St. Petersburg crossings across the Neva. During the reconstruction, a new method of joining steel structures was used - electric welding. This method has already been tested during the construction of the Volodarsky bridge, and has proven itself well here. During the repair of bridge supports, the Swedish method of underwater concreting was used, which was also new in domestic bridge building.

The length of the renovated Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was 331 meters. After the reconstruction, it became 4 meters wider, its width was 24 meters. On the site of a draw span near the right bank of the Neva, a span of stone was built. The chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, located on the old drawbridge, was not restored. By that time, it had become a warehouse for bridge cleaners' inventory. The cast-iron structures of the old bridge were transported to Tver, where in 1953-1956 they were used in the construction of a crossing over the Volga. Lanterns from the old bridge were installed around the Memorial to the Fighters of the Revolution on the Field of Mars. The traffic on the newly built crossing was opened on November 5, 1938. In 1976, the wooden flooring of the drawbridge was replaced with metal sheets.

Understudy of the Blagoveshchensky bridge, 2007

The question of a new reconstruction arose in 2004. After inspecting the structures, it was decided to keep the old foundations of the supports; for more than 150 years of service, they have been preserved in working order. The steel structures had to be completely replaced due to wear and tear. In 2005, the construction of an understudy bridge was started, located nearby, upstream of the Neva. The understudy bridge opened in May 2006.

The urban planning project for the reconstruction of the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was presented for public hearings at the end of April 2005. The Institute "Stroyproekt" acted as the general designer. In 2006, reconstruction of the bridge began. To do this, since September 2005, the construction of a temporary bridge began next to the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge, which was put into operation on May 9, 2006. The people immediately dubbed him “the son of Lieutenant Schmidt”. During the reconstruction period, traffic and pedestrians were carried along this temporary bridge. At the same time, traffic on the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was blocked, and the dismantling of the spans, and then the bridge supports, began.

On August 15, 2007, the grand opening of the reconstructed crossing took place. She returned the former name - Blagoveshchensky bridge. To increase the throughput capacity, the Blagoveshchensky Bridge was expanded from 24 to 37 meters. Car traffic was opened the next day - 16 August. The metal structures of the understudy bridge were planned to be used during the repair of the Palace Bridge in 2010.

Bridge sample 2007

The repair of the bridge began in October 2005, a little later than planned. The renovation of the Blagoveshchensky Bridge cost the city 3 billion 977 million rubles. The reconstruction of the bridge was carried out by the Mostootryad No. 19 organization and was insured by the Gefest company in the amount of more than 2.47 billion rubles.

On August 15, 2007 at 10 o'clock in the morning a solemn opening ceremony of the reconstructed bridge took place - already under the name "Blagoveshchensky". The bridge was returned to the appearance of the arched Nikolaevsky (Blagoveshchensky) bridge, which was changed during the reconstruction of 1938. In this regard, it was decided to return the building to its historical name.

Reconstruction timeline

The builders' plans at the beginning of July were to put the bridge into permanent operation on August 11, 2007, by the builder's day (August 12).

In mid-July, finishing work was completed on the bridge and the builders began laying the top layer of asphalt.

Results of a two-year renovation

• A compact hydraulic drive equipped with completely new hydraulic cylinders is installed on the drawbridge span. Thanks to savings in mass (part of the weight was transferred from drawbridge to permanent bridge spans), during the reconstruction of the bridge, there was no need to repair the drawbridge supports;
• The bridge was returned to the appearance of the arched Nikolaevsky (Blagoveshchensky) bridge, which was changed during the reconstruction of 1938;
• Tram traffic was filmed on the bridge, barriers were installed separating oncoming lanes;
• At the crossing, automatic barriers are installed (similar to those used at railway crossings) that will limit the access of motorists to the bridge during the wiring period;
• The bridge was equipped with an automated draw span system;
• The understudy bridge was planned to be used during the reconstruction of the Palace Bridge, but soon [when?] the understudy bridge was dismantled, taken to a temporary storage site and subsequently used in the reconstruction of the Bolshoy Petrovsky Bridge.

Photo

Blagoveshchensky (Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge) in Saint Petersburg is the first permanent crossing of the Neva. In the 18th century, the city managed with floating bridges, since it was believed that the construction of a permanent bridge was a very expensive and complicated process. The Annunciation Bridge in St. Petersburg, which connected Vasilyevsky Island with the English Embankment, was at that time the longest in Europe.

From the history

The first work on the construction of permanent bridges across the Neva appeared in the middle of the 18th century, but their implementation remained an unrealizable dream due to the high cost and complexity of the projects.

In 1842, it was decided to build a permanent crossing between Vasilievsky Island and the English Embankment, the project was developed by Stanislav Valerianovich Kerbedz, a graduate of the Institute of Communications.

The construction was carried out in accordance with the “Regulations on the construction of a permanent bridge across the Neva River in St. Petersburg”, approved by the emperor, according to which the work was designed for four years. However, the construction of the crossing took twice as long: work was carried out from 1843 to November 1850.

At that time, there were three long-term construction projects in St. Petersburg: the Nevsky Bridge, the Moscow Railway and St. Isaac's Cathedral. There was a joke among the people:

• The Nevsky Bridge will be built, but it will quickly fall apart, so we will see it, but our children will not
• The railroad will take so long to build that we won't see it and our children won't see it.
• And St. Isaac's Cathedral will never be built at all and neither we nor our children will see it.

The construction of the crossing, which was called Nevsky, took place in extremely difficult conditions of swampy soil. The number of workers employed in construction was approaching one and a half thousand. The piles were driven using steam engines, and air bells were used for underwater work. The coastal abutments were laid out with granite: Finnish granite was used for the underwater part, and Serdobol granite for the surface.

There is a legend according to which NicholasI, knowing about the difficulties of construction, ordered to raise Kerbedz in rank for each bridge span erected. Evil tongues claimed that when Kerbedz found out about this, he immediately changed the project, increasing the number of spans. Most likely, this is a fiction, but it is known that before the start of construction, Stanislav Veniaminovich was in the rank of captain, and on the day the bridge was opened on November 21, 1850, he was promoted to the rank of major general.

The artist Alexander Bryullov took part in the design of the bridge. According to his project, cast-iron railings were cast, and the project of metal gas lamps was created by engineer D. Tsvetkov. The pillars of the structure were not decorated, this emphasized their "unshakable stability". It was planned that allegorical sculptures based on the drawings of Peter Klodt and Nikolai Pimenov would be installed on the bridge, but this idea had to be abandoned due to lack of funds.

The areas adjacent to the crossing were arranged as follows:

• Annunciation Square (now Labor Square) and the Annunciation Church in its center were built on Admiralteysky Island, after which the bridge was named
• From the side of Vasilyevsky Island, the embankment was expanded and Trezzini Square was created.

The Nevsky Bridge was checked for carrying capacity by pulling on it the rails brought from Europe for the construction of the railway.

The grand opening of the Annunciation Bridge took place on November 21, 1850. On this day, one could observe an unusual spectacle for winter, when the emperor and thousands of citizens gathered near the Neva. The ceremony began with a prayer service, after which Emperor Nicholas I, together with his sons, walked through the ferry to Vasilyevsky Island, and the distinguished guests returned in open carriages.

Petersburgers liked to walk here, they admired the openwork gratings and gas lamps, raised on poles in the form of columns of the Corinthian order, as well as the drawbridge for the passage of ships.

For those times it was, indeed, a gigantic structure:

• The length of the bridge was 298.2 meters
• Width - 20.3 meters
• The mass of metal structures of the crossing - 95,000 tons
• Number of spans - 8.

The drawbridge was located on the right bank of the Neva, next to Vasilyevsky Island, its two wings were bred in about 40 minutes.

After the death of Nicholas I in 1855, the bridge was renamed Nikolaevsky. Next to the drawbridge, a small chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was erected on a bull at the drawbridge, designed by architect Andrei Shtakenshneider, which the people began to call "Nicholas-on-the-Bridge".

By the beginning of the 20th century, the crossing had become narrow for the passage of new ships, moreover, this part of the Neva was shallow. In this regard, it was decided to reconstruct the bridge and move the drawbridge to the center.

The implementation of this project was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War.

During the revolutionary events of 1917, the famous cruiser Aurora stood next to the Nikolaevsky Bridge, announcing with her shot the beginning of the assault on the Winter Palace. In honor of this event, a monument was erected on the English Embankment.

In 1918, the Nikolaevsky Bridge was renamed the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge in memory of Peter Schmidt, who led the Sevastopol uprising on the cruiser Ochakov in 1905. According to one of the projects, it was proposed to erect a monument to the revolutionary figure, the first of the naval officers, who went over to the side of the rebellious sailors, on the site of the demolished chapel.

The issue of rebuilding the Nikolaevsky Bridge was returned only after the revolution and the Civil War.

In 1930, the chapel was demolished, and soon it became clear that it was necessary to radically reconstruct the crossing. The adjustable mechanism began to jam, in addition, it was necessary to change the span for ships passing along the Neva, since their number increased in connection with the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal.

The rebuilding of the crossing was carried out in the 1930s according to the project of a bridge engineer, academician Grigory Petrovich Perederiy. In fact, it was the construction of a new bridge with a central drawbridge on the old abutments. Of the external design, only the railing, made according to the drawings of Alexander Bryullov, was preserved.

The surname of the engineer and designer Perederiy caused a new surge in the creative activity of the Leningrad Mockingbirds. In the arsenal of urban folklore, the expression "Perederiy distorted" appeared.

During the reconstruction of the bridge, new for that time methods of bridge building were used. The connection of steel structures was carried out using electric welding, which has proven itself during the construction of the Volodarsky bridge, and a new method of underwater concreting was also used.

After the reconstruction, the length of the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge became 331 meters, and the width increased by 4 meters and amounted to 24 meters: the roadway increased to 18 meters, the sidewalks were 3 meters long. At the same time, the mass of the structure decreased by almost four times and became 2400 tons.

The folding wings were now located in the middle span, and their rise time was only 55 seconds.

In the center of the bridge, on round towers, commemorative plaques were installed in memory of Lieutenant Schmidt and the creators of the bridge.

In order to test the object for strength, on September 8, 1938, five wooden waterproof boxes one meter high and with a displacement of 900 tons were installed on the right-bank roadway and filled with water, creating a model for placing cars in five rows at the crossing. After three hours, the water was released and the test was carried out on the other side.

On November 5, 1938, traffic on the renovated Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was opened. The wooden flooring of the drawbridge was replaced with a metal one in 1976.

Reconstruction of the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge in the 2000s

The question of a new reconstruction arose in 2004. For the movement of vehicles and pedestrians, an understudy bridge was built upstream of the Neva for the duration of the repair.

During the reconstruction, the old steel structures were replaced with new ones. The grand opening of the renovated bridge took place on August 15, 2007. The newly opened crossing was returned to its historical name - Blagoveshchensky Bridge. Its width has increased from 24 to 37 meters, the number of traffic lanes - 8.

Bridge Lieutenant Schmidt

This is the first bridge. First built permanent bridge across the Neva River. It was built in 1842 - 1850 according to the project of engineer S.V. Kerbedza(architectural design by architect A.P. Bryullov). It was an 8-span cast-iron arch bridge 300 meters long and 20 meters wide. At that time it was the longest bridge in Europe. Seven spans were covered with sloping cast-iron arches, and the eighth, located near the right bank, was adjustable. The joints between the cast-iron blocks were filled with lead gaskets. The size of the bridge spans gradually increased from the banks to the middle of the river. The mass of all metal structures was neither more nor less 95000 tons.

The creative dispute over the best project for the first permanent bridge across the Neva was unusually long.
The first project considered 60 years. Russian and foreign engineers and architects proposed many projects, until the young St. Petersburg engineer Stanislav Valerianovich Kerbedz won this competition. Construction was determined where the Kryukov Canal flowed into the Neva. Therefore, part of the canal was enclosed in a stone pipe and filled up. So Petersburg got one more Neva Square. At the same time, on the right side of the Neva near Vasilievsky Island, the embankment was significantly expanded.

“The construction of the bridge itself,” wrote the newspaper “Northern Bee” on September 16, 1844, “is a gigantic undertaking. Hardly in modern times was work carried out according to such a huge plan with such amazing precision, elegance, taste, and from such precious material! Mountains of granite, thrown here from Finland, and, like delicate wax, obey the gigantic thought of man! Steam engines are driving piles in the middle of the fast and deep Neva, while solid stone foundations are being built under the water on the soil reinforced with piles.

In a newspaper article, the process of building solid stone foundations is captured rosy and with some ease. In fact, the ground conditions on the construction route turned out to be extremely unfavorable, and to carry out underwater work with the technology of that time was both unimaginably risky and unthinkably difficult.

It is not surprising that there was a rumor in the city that Nicholas I ordered to be promoted to the rank of chief builder for the installation of each support. It hardly reflected reality. However, Kerbedz, who presented his first project with the rank of engineer captain, completed the construction as a general.

And one more interesting detail: few people know that the bridge changed its name not three times at all. (Blagoveshchensky, Nikolaevsky, Lieutenant Schmidt). At the very beginning, when the future Annunciation Square was just taking shape, and the elegant Church of the Annunciation was just being erected, it bore an exceptionally accurate name - Nevsky. How else to call the only permanent bridge across the Neva!

The bridge was solemnly opened November 21, 1850 It was called Blagoveshchensky after the church of the Horse Guards Regiment of the same name, built on the bridgehead square on the left bank.

In 1854, according to the project of A.I. Stackenschneider on a bull at the draw span of the bridge, a chapel was built, consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In connection with the death of Emperor Nicholas I, in February 1855, the bridge was renamed Nicholas.

The cast-iron grating was designed by the architect A.P. Bryullov. A slightly elongated framed rectangle contains an ornament representing a composition, the middle of which is accentuated by a trident on the shell. Seahorses with raised tails, woven into a symmetrical floral ornament, face him from both sides.

This first bridge also by the fact that he became the first from the side of the harbor, connecting Vasilyevsky Island with the city center.

To enlarge, click on the photo

In honor of Lieutenant Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt (1867-1906), who led the uprising on the cruiser Ochakov of the Black Sea Fleet in 1905 , the bridge has been renamed in October 1918 and received a modern name.

At the moment, the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge, decorated with two pavilions and high lampposts, is the only such structure on the Bolshaya Neva, based on wooden piles of the mid-19th century and is famous for its beautiful panorama, opening a magnificent view of the historic city center with St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Admiralty , and the picturesque Universitetskaya embankment.