Page 49 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - St. Petersburg

Bridges and Waterways ❮❮ 47

Bridge Passage
Egyptian Bridge
5 8
MAP N1
MAP B6
Linking the junction of the Griboedov The splendid Egipetskiy Most dates
Canal and the Moyka river, the Bridge from 1955. The current structure
Passage (Bolshoi Obukhovsky Most), replaced the 19th-century origi nal,
built 1829–31, is a cleverly constructed which collapsed into the Fontanka in
piece of architec ture. Consisting of 1905, when a large cavalry squadron
the Malo-Konyushenny and Theatre was passing by. The magnificent
bridges, and de signed to give the sphinxes that adorn the bridge were
impression of a single bridge, the salvaged from the original bridge, as
Bridge Passage contains beautiful were the bank supports.
metal railings and lampposts.
Bank Bridge
6
MAP M4
Dating from 1825–6, the pleasant
Bankovsky pedestrian bridge is less
than 2 m (7 ft) wide. It is fam ous
throughout Russia for its four gold-
winged griffins, created by Russian
sculptor Pavel Sokolov. Seated in
eternal contem plation of the waters
below, they also serve to hold up
the bridge’s cables.
Intricate cast-iron railings on
Griboedov Canal
7 Blagoveshchenskiy Bridge
MAP K6–M2
Blagoveshchenskiy
This canal, stretching 5 km (3 miles) 9
through the very centre of the city, Bridge
is cros sed by 21 bridges. It was This elegant bridge, which has also
cons tructed in 1739 to move cargo been known as the Nicholas Bridge
from Sennaya ploshchad, and named and the Lieutenant Shmidt Bridge
after the Russian playwright and since its construction in 1850, was
diplo mat, Alexander Griboedov. the first permanent crossing over
the Neva river. The bridge retains its
original, intricate cast-iron seahorse
and trident railings, de signed by
Aleksandr Bryullov. Offering great
views across the Admiralty and
Universitet embankments, this is one
of the city’s most historic bridges,
and a local landmark (see p89).
Winter Canal
0
MAP C3
The narrowest waterway in the city,
the Winter Canal (Zimnyaya kanavka)
is, nonetheless, one of its most
picturesque. Constructed in 1718–20,
this stretch of water is crossed by
three bridges, and by the Hermitage’s
Theatre Foyer. Namechecked in
Pushkin’s (see p40) “Queen of Spades”,
the Winter Canal, particularly
beautiful on a freezing winter’s day,
Griboedov Canal is a favourite for romantic trysts.

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