Now called the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge. Blagoveshchensky Bridge: the precious necklace of the Neva

The Blagoveshchensky Bridge spans the Bolshaya Neva River. It connects the Admiralteysky district with Vasilyevsky Island. The watershed between the Gulf of Finland and the Bolshaya Neva runs along the axis of the bridge. This is the first permanent crossing over the Neva River, both in terms of construction time and location.

The length of the crossing is 349.8 meters, width is 38.07 meters. The bridge is eight spans with a draw span in the middle. The span structure is a metal double-winged drop-down system.

The mass of the wings of the draw span is 597 tons each. During the reconstruction of the Blagoveshchensky Bridge in 2005-2007. the wings were supported on the ends of the trusses of permanent spans. This unique solution made it possible to remove some of the weight from the draw span, eliminating the need to rebuild its supports. Also, for the first time in the history of bridge construction, counterweights were made using lead blocks.

Distribution is carried out using the latest hydraulic system. Mechanics' pavilions are located directly on the surface of the bridge.

The bridge has unique cast-iron railings designed by architect Alexander Bryullov, the older brother of the artist Karl Bryullov. The main motif of the drawing is hippocampi, mythological sea horses with fish tails.

History of the bridge

Projects for permanent bridges across the Neva began to appear in St. Petersburg already in the middle of the 18th century, but at that time their construction was too expensive and not an easy pleasure. The Neva is a fairly deep river with a powerful current. In addition, ships with high masts entered the Neva from the bay, which meant that drawbridges were required.

As a result, St. Petersburg for a long time made do with floating or pontoon bridges - these were temporary structures made from wooden pontoon barges. By the middle of the 19th century, both the world and our country had accumulated experience in the construction of permanent metal bridges. In 1842, Russian engineer Stanislav Kerbedz drew up a project for crossing the Bolshaya Neva to Vasilyevsky Island. The project included the creation of a structure with cast iron arches at this location. On October 15 of the same year, the project was approved by Emperor Nicholas I. On January 1, 1843, the laying of a new bridge took place. All work was supposed to be completed in four years. However, in practice the period turned out to be twice as long.

For the first time in the history of Russian bridge construction, during the construction of the Blagoveshchensky Bridge, it was necessary to drive piles into the bottom of such a fast and deep river. Work underwater was carried out using air bells. The underwater part of the coastal abutments was laid out from Finnish granite, the surface part from Serdobol granite. They were deepened into the bed of the Neva ten meters.

The bridge had 8 spans, of which 7 permanent spans of different sizes were covered with double-hinged cast iron arches. The drawbridge was located on the right bank of the Neva, from Vasilyevsky Island. Using a mechanism, two wings moved apart in a horizontal plane, parallel to the surface of the water. The wiring took about 40 minutes. For the first time in the world, the wings of the bridge were made in the form of braced trusses. All metal structures were manufactured in St. Petersburg at the Charles Bird plant.

During the construction of the bridge, the surrounding area was reconstructed. Blagoveshchenskaya Square appeared on the left bank. Part of the Kryukov Canal was put into a pipe. On the Vasilyevsky Island side, the embankment was significantly expanded.

The new bridge was named Blagoveshchensky after the Church of the Horse Guards Regiment and Blagoveshchenskaya Square.

The opening took place on November 21, 1850. The emperor arrived at the celebration with his family and retinue. Nicholas I and his sons walked to Vasilyevsky Island and rode back in an open carriage with the heir.
At that time, in the middle of the 19th century, the new Blagoveshchensky Bridge was the longest in Europe. Its length was about 300 meters.

In 1854, a small chapel was built near the drawbridge, consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. After the death of the emperor in 1855, the bridge was renamed Nikolaevsky.
In 1918, the bridge was given a new name in honor of Lieutenant Peter Schmidt, who led the uprising on the cruiser Ochakov during the first Russian revolution.

Already in the 19th century, the drawbridge span became narrow for large ocean-going ships. At the beginning of the twentieth century, engineers developed several reconstruction projects. It was proposed to move the draw span to the center of the bridge. But the implementation of this idea was prevented by the First World War and revolution.

In 1936-1938 the bridge was rebuilt. The project was developed by engineer Grigory Perederiy. The number of spans remained the same - 8, but the middle span became adjustable. The all-welded metal span is a double-wing drop-down system with rigidly attached counterweights and a fixed axis of rotation. The old draw span was covered with a reinforced concrete span of a double-hinged arch system. The bridge was raised using an electromechanical drive.

The Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge is one of the first all-welded bridges in our country. During its construction, an advanced method at that time was used - electric welding. During the reconstruction process, underwater concreting technology was used, as well as a new method of testing superstructures with static water load.

New mechanisms were made at the Kirov plant in Leningrad. The cast iron structures of the old bridge were transported to Tver and used to build a crossing across the Volga. Lanterns from the old bridge were installed on the Champ de Mars. The chapel was not restored. All that remains of the old structure are wooden piles and cast railings.

In 1975-1976, according to the project of Lengiproinzhproekt engineers, a major overhaul was carried out. The wooden flooring of the drawbridge was replaced with metal.

In 2004, the question arose about the reconstruction of the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge. A decision was made to bring the architectural appearance of the new bridge as close as possible to the appearance it had in the 19th century. Work started in September 2005.

Reconstruction took place in 2005-2007. The old foundations of the supports have remained in working order for a century and a half, but the steel structures had to be completely replaced. The draw span has been significantly increased. The bridge became much wider, and the tram tracks were removed from it. The hydraulic distribution system made the lifting of the bridge wings quick and smooth.

On August 15, 2007, the crossing was solemnly opened and its historical name was returned - Blagoveshchensky Bridge.

Additional Information

The St. Petersburg newspaper “Northern Bee” in September 1844 commented on the construction of the Annunciation Bridge: “The construction of the bridge itself is a gigantic undertaking. It is unlikely that in modern times work was carried out according to such a huge plan, with such amazing precision, grace, taste and from such precious material! Mountains of granite were brought here from Finland and, like delicate wax, obey the brilliant thought of man! Steam engines drive piles in the middle of the fast and deep Neva, while under the water they build strong stone foundations on the ground reinforced with piles.”

In 1917, the cruiser Aurora stood behind the Nikolaevsky Bridge. It was from there that a blank shot was fired, which became the signal for the storming of the Winter Palace.

During the major overhaul of 2005-2007, a backup bridge was built for vehicular and pedestrian traffic between the Central District and Vasilyevsky Island upstream of the Neva, which was popularly called “the son of Lieutenant Schmidt.”

Blagoveshchensky Bridge - Video

Blagoveshchensky Bridge is the first permanent crossing across the Neva. The first projects of such structures began to appear in the 1750s. However, for a long time this was too expensive and complex an engineering task. The Neva has a powerful current and great depth. Its spring ice drifts created additional difficulties. Particular difficulty was added by the need to create a drawbridge for the wire of mast ships. As a result, for a long time St. Petersburg made do with floating bridges.

The gradual development of technology made it possible by the middle of the 19th century to accumulate experience in the construction of metal crossings. In 1840, engineer N.I. Bogdanov proposed a design for a bridge across the Neva with spans of a fundamentally new system - in the form of metal lattice trusses with parallel belts. One year later, a young railway engineer, Stanislav Valerianovich Kerbedz, developed a project for a three-span chain bridge. His work was highly appreciated by the special commission, which examined it on May 22, 1841. However, engineers of those years considered the design of crossings made of cast iron arches to be more reliable. By that time, such bridges had existed for many years in St. Petersburg; Kerbedz was one of their builders. In 1842, he drew up a second project for a permanent bridge across the Neva - with cast iron arches. On October 15, 1842 it was approved.

It was decided to build the first permanent bridge in St. Petersburg between Vasilyevsky Island and the English Embankment. The nascent crossing was called the Nevsky Bridge.

On November 6, 1842, the emperor approved " Regulations on the construction of a permanent bridge across the Neva River in St. Petersburg"According to this document, a special committee was created from the highest ranks of the construction department. The committee was responsible not only for the construction of the crossing, but also for the improvement of the adjacent territory, including the construction of Konnogvardeisky Boulevard on the site of the Admiralty Canal, and the construction of bridge areas. The regulations included yourself a detailed work plan for three years:

"1) In the autumn of 1842, arrange all temporary structures, prepare machines, tools, forest materials for the foundations of the left bank abutment adjacent to one rounding of the embankment, and an underground pipe in place of the Kryukov Canal, embankments on Vasilyevsky Island from the Imperial Academy of Arts to the bridge and from this to the 8th line and the first river bull from the English Embankment. As soon as the Neva ice is quite strong, begin constructing walls, lintels and driving piles, which will be completed before the spring of 1843. After the opening of the river, in the spring of next year, begin demolition of parts of the houses of Mrs. Kholodkovskaya and Baron Chabot, to the construction of an underground pipe and to the production of stone work on the bull, abutments and embankments, and by the fall to bring this last work to the beginning of the cast-iron arches. construction of the pavement of the new street, which should be carried out in the early summer of 1844 after the final settlement of the embankment; 2) In the autumn of 1843, prepare materials for the right bank of the abutment, for the thick bull of the rotating bridge and for two tame bulls, and in the winter from 1843 to 1844, drive the piles and in the spring to begin masonry and finish it before the beginning of the arches by the fall of 1844, moreover, continuing the laying of the bull and embankments until their final erection; 3) In the same way, from 1844 to 1845, proceed with the three remaining bulls and, moreover, finish the masonry work begun in the previous year during 1845. From the winter of 1845 to the autumn of 1846, build circular scaffolding, put in place cast-iron arches, a rotating bridge with a mechanism, and bring to a complete completion all other work on the upper structure of the bridge, so that traffic on the permanent bridge could be open until the time of raising the Neva pontoon bridges " [Quoted from: 1, pp. 134, 135].

Thus, the bridge was supposed to be built in four years. But in practice the period turned out to be twice as long. At that time, three long-term construction projects were underway in Russia: the St. Petersburg-Moscow Railway, St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Annunciation Bridge were being built. In St. Petersburg salons they said that the new crossing over the Neva would not last long, it would fall apart, the railway would be built for many more years, and St. Isaac's Cathedral would never be completed. In this regard, the following joke arose: “We will see the bridge across the Neva, but our children will not see it; we will not see the railway, but our children will see it, and neither we will see St. Isaac’s Cathedral nor will our children see it...

During the construction of the Blagoveshchensky Bridge, for the first time in the practice of domestic bridge construction, it was necessary to drive piles into the depths of such a fast and deep river. Work underwater was carried out using air bells. The underwater part of the coastal abutments was lined with Finnish granite, and the surface part with Serdobol granite. They were deepened into the bed of the Neva by 10 meters. The newspaper "Northern Bee" wrote on September 16, 1844:

“The construction of the bridge itself is a gigantic undertaking. Hardly in modern times has work been carried out according to such a huge plan, with such amazing precision, grace, taste and from such precious material! Mountains of granite were transferred here from Finland and, like delicate wax, obey the brilliant thought of man ! Steam engines drive piles in the middle of the fast and deep Neva, while under the water they build strong stone foundations on the ground reinforced with piles" [Cit. from: 2, p. 41].

Eight spans were built near the bridge. The drawbridge, located on the right bank of the Neva, met all the shipping requirements existing at that time. Using a mechanical adjustable mechanism, the two wings of the bridge moved apart in a horizontal plane in about 40 minutes. This principle of raising a bridge was not new. But for the first time in world practice, wings were made in the form of metal braced trusses. All metal structures of the crossing were manufactured in Russia.

When designing the bridge, Kerbedz paid great attention to its appearance. He wrote: “Those parts of the bulls, which by their position are exposed to the action of water and ice blows, are left without any extraneous decoration; their appearance should really consist only of unshakable stability and in the correspondence of external forms to the forces acting on them. Likewise, the arches themselves, and the gift parts derive their beauty from the colossal size, but the upper parts of the bulls, railings and semicircular platforms above the bulls acquire more beauty from bronze and cast iron decorations, such as: from bas-reliefs, allegorical figures, grilles, lanterns..."[Cit. from: 4, p. 255]

The architect Alexander Pavlovich Bryullov took part in the creation of the artistic design of the bridge. He designed the cast iron railings, considered one of the finest examples of artistic casting of the time. Gas lighting lanterns were manufactured at the Ch. Byrd plant according to the design of engineer D. Tsvetkov, approved in January 1850.

It was planned to decorate the bridge with allegorical sculptures based on the drawings of P. Klodt and N. S. Pimenov. The craftsmen began to carry out this work in 1846. To decorate the left bank abutment, Klodt created a sketch of an equestrian group, but it was ordered to “postpone the project.” Pimenov conceived a whole complex of seven allegorical compositions dedicated to the conquest of the water element and the main cities and regions of the Russian Empire: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kyiv, Novgorod, Siberia. It was proposed to install the sculptures on the supports of the drawbridge and on the left bank abutment. In 1849, Pimenov’s work was examined, after which the theme of the sculptural groups was slightly changed. But due to financial difficulties, such decoration of the bridge 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 arise around the construction. Allegedly, in order to force the builders to work conscientiously, Emperor Nicholas I promised Kerbedz to reward him with a promotion in rank for each span of the bridge built. There is a legend that the crossing project was immediately reworked to increase the number of these spans. These events are actually fiction. Their chronology was as follows. On June 22, 1841, Kerbedz was promoted to major in the Railway Corps. The bridge project was approved on October 15, 1842. On December 6, 1843, Kerbedz was promoted to lieutenant colonel. The newspaper "Northern Bee" dated 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 was promoted to major general, and on the same day the grand opening of the bridge took place.

During the construction of the Nevsky Bridge, the area adjacent to it was also rebuilt. Blagoveshchenskaya Square (now Truda Square) with the Annunciation Church in the center appeared on Admiralty Island. It was after this church that the bridge began to be called Blagoveshchensky. When creating the square, part of the Kryukov Canal was put into a pipe, so the bridge was built strictly along the axis of the canal. On the side of Vasilyevsky Island, the embankment was significantly expanded, and a new square appeared here - Trezzini Square.

To test the carrying capacity of the Blagoveshchensky Bridge, rails were pulled onto it, which were imported by sea from Belgium, France and England for the construction of the St. Petersburg-Moscow Railway.

On November 21, 1850, the bridge was officially opened for carriages and pedestrians. The ceremony began with a prayer service, after which Nicholas I and his sons walked across the bridge to Vasilyevsky Island, and rode back in an open carriage with the heir. In other carriages followed the other sons of the Tsar and the husband of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, the Duke of Leuchtenberg.

The bridge became the longest in Europe (298.2 meters), its width was 20.3 meters. The weight of the metal structure of the crossing is 95,000 tons. The newspaper "Northern Bee" published poems by the famous theatergoer R. Zotov on the occasion of the opening of the crossing:

Show off, Rus', holy fatherland!
You have surpassed all the antiquities of the century!
There were seven miracles, you created the eighth,
And better, more beautiful than everyone else! The hand was strong
Who created a national monument for us,
That will was solid, like granite,
She ordered to create, build a bridge like this...
He is strong, solid, like Rus'! It will stand for centuries
Evidence of power and glory
A zealous power devoted to its kings,
To the surprise of descendants and sons.
And the chronicle of later centuries will say:
Then there was Nikolai - the ruler of Russia,
And Count Kleinmichel is a performer!

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

The Blagoveshchensky Bridge quickly became a popular landmark of the city. One of his contemporaries wrote:

“My favorite walk now is the Annunciation Bridge, the precious necklace of the beautiful Neva, the pinnacle of art in all respects! The bridge seduces in two ways. During the day it seems transparent, as if filigree, light as waves, and in the midnight light it appears as a huge mass, welding two cities together ..." [Cit. from: 3, p. 14]

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

One day, driving along the Annunciation Bridge, the emperor saw a cart with a roughly knocked together unpainted coffin, accompanied only by two disabled people 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 got out of the carriage and followed the coffin. Soon a crowd of thousands was already following 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 became inconvenient for new ships. The drawbridge turned out to be narrow for them; moreover, it was located in the shallow right bank part of the Neva. In 1901, several engineering solutions were proposed for moving the draw span to the center of the channel, but none of them were implemented. The outbreak of the First World War interfered.

In 1917, the cruiser Aurora stood 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 commemorates this event. And in Mayakovsky’s lines you can read:

And from near Nikolaevsky
cast 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 the 1930s, due to deformation of the right-bank support, the adjustable mechanism began to jam frequently. In addition, the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal significantly increased the transport load on the Neva. This finally determined the fate of the crossing. According to the design of Grigory Petrovich Perederia, in 1936-1939, the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was almost completely rebuilt. Its architectural design was carried out by the architect K. M. Dmitriev. But not agreeing with the approved compositions, he refused the work. Dmitriev was replaced by architect Lev Aleksandrovich Noskov.

The project for a major reconstruction of the crossing was adopted in 1936, work began in April 1937. New mechanisms for the bridge were manufactured at the Kirov plant. To arrange the draw span (engineer V.I. Kryzhanovsky was involved in its design) in the middle of the river, the two central supports had to be slightly expanded. They housed divorce mechanisms and control pavilions.

All that remained from the old bridge were wooden piles and cast railings by A.P. Bryullov. The piles were not replaced due to financial savings, short construction times and because of their excellent condition despite their age. The presence of such design details made the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge different from all other St. Petersburg crossings across the Neva.

During the reconstruction, a new method of connecting 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. When repairing bridge supports, the Swedish method of underwater concreting was used, which was also new in domestic bridge construction.

The length of the updated Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was 331 meters. After reconstruction, it became 9 meters wider, its width was 24 meters. The weight of the new crossing was now 2,400 tons, that is, almost four times less than the previous one.

In place of the drawbridge on the right bank of the Neva, a stone span was built, and the middle span became drawable. The lifting of its wings began to take place in just 55 seconds. On the round towers standing in the center of the bridge, memorial plaques dedicated to P.P. Schmidt and the authors of the crossing project were strengthened. The Chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, located on the old drawbridge, was not restored. By that time it had turned into a warehouse for bridge cleaners' equipment.

The cast iron structures of the old bridge were transported to Tver, where in 1953-1956 they were used in the construction of the crossing across the Volga. Lanterns from the old bridge were installed around the Memorial to the Fighters of the Revolution on the Champ de Mars.

On September 8, 1938, the strength of the new structures of the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was tested. To do this, five wooden waterproof boxes one meter high and with a displacement of 900 tons were built on the concrete foundation of the right-bank roadway. They were filled with water from the Neva, which was equivalent to placing cars at the crossing close to each other in five tiers. Three hours later, the water from the boxes was released back into the river, after which the same check of the left-bank structures was carried out.

Traffic on the renewed Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was opened on November 5, 1938. In 1976, the wooden deck of the drawbridge was replaced with metal sheets.

During the reconstruction of the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge, the exit of the Kryukov Canal to the Neva was blocked. In its place, a granite descent to the river was built.

The question of a new reconstruction arose in 2004. Since several years were allotted for the reconstruction of the bridge, closing the crossing across the Neva for such a period would significantly complicate the transport situation in the surrounding areas. Therefore, it was decided to establish a temporary crossing nearby. Its construction began in 2005 just upstream of the river. The backup bridge was opened in May 2006.

The reconstruction of the bridge was carried out according to the design of the Stroyproekt Institute. The chief engineers were T. Yu. Kuznetsova and Yu. Yu. Krylov, the chief architect was A. E. Goryunov. Already at the first stage of design, it was decided to bring the appearance of the bridge as close as possible to the appearance it had in the middle of the 19th century. At the same time, the new crossing was supposed to become much wider, its width increased from 24 to 37 meters. This concept influenced the entire design strategy and the choice of engineering solutions.

After inspecting the structures, it was decided to preserve the old support foundations again; after more than 150 years of service, they have remained in working order. The steel structures had to be completely replaced due to wear and tear.

Particular difficulties arose when designing a new swing span. Its width and weight increased significantly, which required a major overhaul of the corresponding supports. But this was extremely undesirable. As a result, the designers found a unique solution. The heavy wings were supported on the ends of adjacent trusses of stationary side spans. The counterweights (also a first in bridge construction) were made using lead blocks, which reduced their size to a minimum. The latest hydraulic drive system ensured smooth and rapid lifting of the wings of the draw span, each of which weighed 515 tons.

The pavilions in which the wiring mechanisms are controlled, installed here by K. M. Dmitriev, have been preserved. But due to the expansion of the roadway, they were moved on powerful consoles. The original lanterns have also been preserved. But they were made slightly higher, as the width of the bridge increased.

• Construction of an arched cast iron bridge named after. Lieutenant Schmidt, b. The Nikolaevsky Bridge, according to the design of the Russian railway engineer S. Kerbedz, was started in December 1842 and completed in November 1850, i.e. 8 years from the start of construction. The cost of the bridge amounted to 4,381 thousand rubles according to the executive estimate. Before the construction of this bridge on the river. Neva there were only one floating bridges on pontoons.<…> Having been in operation for 86 years, the bridge named after Lieutenant Schmidt has long failed to satisfy the growing demands of shipping and urban traffic, both due to the worn-out state of individual elements and its limited dimensions. Even in pre-revolutionary times, under the St. Petersburg Railway District, two bridge reconstruction projects were drawn up: in 1906 by Professor Krivoshein (the author of the Okhtensky Bridge over the Neva) and in 1909 by engineers Vitol and Glushkov. But the task of reconstruction b. The Nikolaevsky Bridge, very technically complex, remained unimplemented in pre-revolutionary times. In 1934, by resolution of the Council of Labor and Defense, an interdepartmental commission was formed on the issue of rebuilding Leningrad bridges from the point of view of eliminating obstacles to navigation. The commission, having considered the presented four options for rebuilding the bridge named after Lieutenant Schmidt, decided to rebuild the drawbridge according to the second of the presented options, according to which the new drawbridge is located on the right bank, but extends somewhat into the river. By decree of the STO of September 5, 1935, it was proposed to develop this option into a technical project and submit it for approval to the People's Commissariat of Public Utilities. The drafting was entrusted to prof. G.P. Perederiy, who during the development process found that carrying out the reconstruction of the bridge according to the intended option presented great difficulties, and even excluded guarantees of the success of the work itself. These circumstances led to the fact that, instead of the indicated option, prof. Peredery proposed a new option for rebuilding the bridge, which was accepted for implementation. The solution proposed by prof. Perederiy, was approved by the Presidium of the Leningrad Council and submitted for approval by the government. On May 6, 1936, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR finally approved the option of rebuilding the bridge according to the scheme proposed by prof. Perederiy. The total length of the bridge being rebuilt along the top between the abutments is equal to 331 m. The number of spans remains the same. The eighth right-bank span, on the site of the old draw span, is covered with reinforced concrete double-hinged arches with granite cladding. The deck of the bridge roadway is laid on a reinforced concrete slab made of asphalt concrete, and the ends are laid in the tram deck; sidewalks, each 3 m wide, are laid asphalt on consoles. At the same time, the useful width of the bridge between the sidewalk railings opposite the existing one increases. Location of the bridge. Lieutenant Schmidt, as the first bridge at the entrance to the Neva in the old part of the city with complete architectural ensembles, surrounded by remarkable architectural monuments, required special attention when choosing individual structures and the silhouette of the bridge. If the old bridge with cast iron arches resting on granite abutments with pylons represented a successful combination of the engineering part with the external architectural part, then the new project is inferior to the external qualities that were in the old bridge. The grating (architect Stackenschneider) and lanterns (architect Peretyatkovich) from the old bridge are preserved, which are examples of highly artistic cast iron casting. On the outside, to give greater lightness to the lines of the beam, which is somewhat heavy and dry in outline, it is given some ornamentation along the consoles and lower chords. In this way she connects with the rich old lattice. The control pavilions, in the form of low towers, are designed in stone forms that do not dominate the silhouette of the bridge and do not violate the overall urban ensemble. In December 1936, work began on the reconstruction of the bridge named after Lieutenant Schmidt. The total cost of reconstruction of the bridge will be 23 million rubles.

(Smirnov I.A. Redevelopment of the bridge named after Lieutenant Schmidt // Architecture of Leningrad. 1937. No. 3. P. 28-31).

Significant work was the reconstruction of the bridge named after Lieutenant Schmidt, connecting the central part of the city with Vasilyevsky Island. The old arched trusses, erected by Kerbedz, were replaced with new, beam, welded construction, with a solid wall (Fig. 395). The work on welding bridge trusses was the largest achievement in this area at that time. To improve the conditions for navigation on the Neva, the iron trusses of the bridge were installed at a higher level, for which it was necessary to rebuild all the bridge supports. The drawbridge span, previously located near the bank, has now been moved to the middle of the river. The old patterned cast iron grating has been preserved and serves as a link between the new bridge structure and the embankment. The old cast-iron trusses of the bridge were in such good condition that they were used in Kalinin on the bridge over the river. Tvertsa. (Shchusev P.V. Bridges and their architecture. 1952. P. 301)

Blagoveshchensky (Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge) in St. Petersburg is the first permanent crossing of the Neva. In the 18th century, the city made do with floating bridges, since it was believed that building a permanent bridge was a very expensive and complex process. The Blagoveshchensky Bridge in St. Petersburg, which connected Vasilievsky 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 a pipe dream due to the high cost and complexity of the projects.

In 1842, it was decided to build a permanent ferry between Vasilyevsky Island and the English Embankment; the project was developed by Stanislav Valerianovich Kerbedz, a graduate of the Institute of Railways.

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 planned 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: Nevsky Bridge, 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 railway will take so long to be built that we will not see it and our children will not 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 Nevskaya, took place in extremely difficult conditions of swampy soil. The number of workers employed in construction was close to one and a half thousand. Piles were driven using steam engines, and air bells were used to carry out underwater work. The coastal abutments were lined with granite: Finnish granite was used for the underwater part, and Serdobol granite for the surface part.

There is a legend according to which NicholasI, knowing about the difficulties of construction, ordered Kerbedz to be promoted 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 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 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 design, cast iron railings were cast, and the design of metal gas lamps was created by engineer D. Tsvetkov. The supports of the structure were not decorated, this emphasized their “unshakable stability.” It was planned that allegorical sculptures based on drawings by Pyotr Klodt and Nikolai Pimenov would be installed on the bridge, but this idea had to be abandoned due to lack of funds.

The territories adjacent to the crossing were arranged as follows:

• On Admiralty Island, Blagoveshchenskaya Square (now Truda Square) and the Annunciation Church in its center were built, after which the bridge was named
• On the side of Vasilyevsky Island, the embankment was expanded and Trezzini Square was created.

The Nevsky Bridge was tested for its load-carrying capacity by dragging rails brought from Europe for the construction of the railway onto it.

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

St. Petersburg residents liked to walk here, they admired the openwork grilles and gas lamps raised on pillars in the form of columns of the Corinthian order, as well as the drawbridge for the passage of ships.

For those times it was truly a gigantic structure:

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

The swing span was located on the right bank of the Neva, next to Vasilievsky Island, its two wings opened in about 40 minutes.

After the death of Nicholas I in 1855, the bridge was renamed Nikolaevsky. Next to the drawbridge, according to the design of the architect Andrei Stackenschneider, a small chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was erected on a bull near the drawbridge, which 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, and 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 prevented 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 the start of the assault on the Winter Palace with its shot. In honor of this event, a monument was erected on the Promenade des Anglais.

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 a revolutionary figure, the first of the naval officers to go over to the side of the rebel sailors, on the site of the demolished chapel.

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

In 1930, the chapel was demolished, and it soon 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 due to the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal.

The crossing was rebuilt in the 1930s according to the design of bridge engineer, academician Grigory Petrovich Perederia. In essence, this was the construction of a new bridge with a central draw span on old abutments. Of the external design, only the railing, made according to the drawings of Alexander Bryullov, was preserved.

The name 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 “Peredery overdid it” appeared.

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

After 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 weight of the structure decreased almost four times and became 2400 tons.

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

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

To test the strength of the object, 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 passenger 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 open. The wooden deck of the drawbridge was replaced with metal 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 during repairs, a backup bridge was built upstream of the Neva.

During the reconstruction, 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 given back its historical name – Blagoveshchensky Bridge. Its width has increased from 24 to 37 meters, the number of lanes for vehicle traffic is 8.

The bridge was built in 1850 according to the design of engineer S.V. Kerbedza became the first permanent crossing across the Neva. The cast-iron, eight-span structure connected Vasilievsky Island with the central part of St. Petersburg near the building of the Academy of Arts, at the junction of the Lieutenant Schmidt and Universitetskaya embankments. Initially, the bridge was named Blagoveshchensky, then, in 1855, it was renamed Nikolaevsky, and in 1918 the bridge was named after Lieutenant Schmidt, by which it is called to this day. The bridge bears this name in honor of Pyotr Schmidt, a famous lieutenant of the Black Sea Fleet, who was shot for organizing the uprising in Sevastopol in 1905. In his honor, there is a memorial plaque on the wall of the pavilion located next to the central part of the bridge. The total width of the bridge reaches 24 meters, and the length is 331 meters.

Seven spans of the bridge were made of cast-iron arched structures, with a “ride on top”, the eighth span became drawable in a horizontal plane, double-winged, located at the right bank abutment. The cast iron fencing of the engineering structure was designed in decorative and artistic design by the architect A.P. Bryullov. Its links were decorated with Neptune's tridents with a palmette and fantastic seahorses, whose tails are skillfully woven into a floral figured ornament. The interior space of the bridge pillars was filled with figures of vessels of various shapes and heights. The decor of the bridge was completed with gas metal lanterns made according to the design of D. Tsvetkov, as well as the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker designed by the architect A. I. Stackenschneider, which has not survived to this day.

The Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge served faithfully for almost a hundred years. Only in the period from 1936 to 1938 was the bridge reconstructed under the leadership of Academician G.P. Perederia and architect L.A. Noskov, caused by an increase in transport loads and shipping. During the major reconstruction, cast iron structures were replaced with steel ones, which led to a fourfold reduction in the weight of the bridge. The draw span also underwent reconstruction, which was replaced by a reinforced concrete arch lined with granite, and the remaining spans of the bridge were re-covered with continuous steel arches. By the way, during the ongoing repair work, new bridge structures were made by electric welding for the first time in the history of Soviet construction technology.

However, the reconstruction of the bridge significantly changed the appearance of this structure. The straight lines of the new spans gave its outline a somewhat dry character, and the removal of the old lanterns and the chapel somewhat simplified the intricate decor. Nowadays, only those beautiful railings, used for the fence from the very beginning and untouched by reconstruction, serve as a reminder of the former bridge. New lamp posts were made according to the design of the architect L. A. Noskov. It should be noted that the mounted decorative components of the bridge did not disappear without a trace: the lanterns currently illuminate the Field of Mars, and the cast-iron arched structures were used for the construction of the bridge across the Volga River in Tver and serve to this day.

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

The text was prepared by Anzhelika Likhacheva