A huge number of bridges: old and young, large and small, from wooden to iron-concrete - one of the highlights of St. Petersburg. It is often called that - the city of bridges, rivers and canals.
Bridges of Petersburg
The oldest floating wooden bridges in St. Petersburg were installed only for the season when the Neva and other waterways of the city were not covered with ice. The very first of them was the Ioannovsky (Red) Bridge, thrown over from Troitskaya Square through the Kronverk channel to Hare Island to the Peter and Paul Fortress. And in the second half of the 18th century, a large pontoon bridge connected Vasilievsky Island with the left bank of the Neva - Isaakievsky. At the same time, the first permanent wooden bridges across the Moika appeared - colored: Green, Yellow, Red and Blue.
Gradually, all important river channels and tributaries acquired bridge crossings. Wooden bridges began to be replaced with stone ones, later - with cast-iron-concrete ones: from single-span to multi-span, from stationary to drawbridges. Among the single-span bridges across the Fontanka and the Catherine Canal, several suspension bridges were also built. There were six of them in total, but only two survived to this day - Lion and Bank.
Panteleimon bridge in St. Petersburg is one of them
The history of this bridge goes back to the first half of the 18th century, when a wooden bridge was thrown over the Fountain River (formerly Nameless Yerik) near the Summer Garden. Not a simple bridge - an aqueduct for supplying water to the fountains installed in the first city garden. That bridge had no name.
Only in the first quarter of the 19th century, instead of an aqueduct bridge across the Fontanka in St. Petersburg, another bridge was built for the passage of vehicles - a suspension one, on chains attached to coastal supports. And they gave him the name Chain. Its decor was very different from the current one: the entrances to the bridge were flanked by four-arched pylon gates, the two outer arches of which were lancet, and the two central arches were semicircular. The cornices of the gates were decorated with lion muzzles, and chains of hanging lanterns were passed through their mouths, hanging from the ceiling in the center of the arches. The height of the arches reached six meters, and the width of the bridge - eleven. His designs were decorated with lead ornaments, in which the authors used floral motifs. Passers-by this bridge was occupied by the fact that it swung over the water. Because Petersburgers loved to spend time here.
Russian artist Ostroumova-Lebedeva described the Panteleymonovsky bridge as a fabulous miracle of St. Petersburg, because in wet weather its cast iron darkened and gave the bridge significance and mysticism, and in winter, in frost, the bridge was often covered with frost or snow and resembled an ice castleor the house of Santa Claus.
This bridge existed for three quarters of a century, but at the beginning of the 20th century it was dismantled due to the need to install a more modern one that would withstand a new type of transport - a tram. To do this, rails were laid on the new bridge, and the bridge became permanent. The new name was associated with the nearby church of St. Panteleimon, built in the second half of the 18th century at the expense of sailors on the territory of the Particular shipyard.
External view of the Panteleimon bridge
The bridge was made of steel according to the project of L. A. Ilyin and A. P. Pshenitsky. Like its predecessors, the new bridge had one span. Initially, its fence was wooden. And only four years later the project was approved and the famous lattices were erected.
The bridge gratings were made of cast iron and decorated with images of military weapons: darts, axes, chains, hexagonal medallions with jellyfish in the center.
The main character of the decoration of the bridge was the Gorgon Medusa - a symbolic mythological character of the ancient Greeks, the personification of evil and the enemy. Her head is placed in medallions on cast-iron bridge lanterns, made in the form of tied bundles of spears. The arch of the bridge also has cast-iron relief decorative overlays in the form of lion masks and round medallions framed with plant elements, dart handles, eagle wings.
Decorative decoration of the bridge continues the idea of glorifying the power of the Russianstates in wars, begun with the design of the Summer Garden. And the mask of the Medusa Gorgon finds something in common with the medallions on the fence of the Summer Garden by Charlemagne near the island from the direction of the Engineer's Castle.
The bridge had two more names: in 1915 it was renamed into Gangutsky, and in 1923 - into Pestel's bridge (that was the name of the street it continued). The historical name returned to the Panteleimon bridge only in 1991
In 2002, the bridge was restored and modern colored lighting adorning it was built, emphasizing the dignity of the structure at night and highlighting elements of its decor.
Legends of the Panteleimon bridge
All of them are connected mainly with the long-suffering "Chizhik-Pyzhik" - one of the "happy" monuments of St. Petersburg, hiding near the very waters of the Fontanka. St. Petersburg residents are very fond of throwing coins to him for good luck. It is believed that it is from the Panteleymonovsky Bridge that it is necessary to throw money in order to hit the beak or, according to another version, to the paws on the stand. Well, newlyweds are recommended to experience the happiness of a new family by lowering a glass of vodka on a string from the bridge to clink glasses with a historical bird.
There is also a legend about why the Chain Bridge was dismantled: as if after the collapse of the chain Egyptian bridge across the Fontanka in St. Petersburg, such bridges were all recognized as dangerous and dismantled.
How to get there?
Panteleimon bridge connects Nameless Island with Summergarden and Champ de Mars. The most convenient metro stations for visiting this memorable corner of St. Petersburg are Chernyshevskaya and Gostiny Dvor. True, in both cases you will have to walk to him along the amazing streets of St. Petersburg. On the way you will meet many brilliant sights of the northern capital. And you can take a walk from the metro station "Gorkovskaya" through the famous Trinity Bridge and further - along the embankment to the Summer Garden. But it's a little further. Although, what a hindrance in good weather?!
Sights near the bridge
So what can you see interesting nearby? Firstly, the famous Mikhailovsky Castle, built according to the project of V. Brenn and V. Bazhenov on the site of the Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna - Elizavetgoff and one of the ancient parts of the Summer Garden. Emperor Paul I was killed in it during a coup. Nearby is the monument to K. B. Rastrelli to Peter I "Great-grandfather - great-grandson", installed here at the initiative of Paul I almost a century later.
Secondly, the Mikhailovsky Garden, adjacent to the building of the Mikhailovsky Palace - the main building of the Russian Museum.
And, of course, the already mentioned Field of Mars or Tsaritsyn Meadow, as well as the Summer Garden.
Believe me, the place is just meant for romantic walks!
