Annunciation Bridge

Location : ANNUNCIATION BRIDGE

Saint Petersburg.

The construction began in 1842, the nascent 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, and this was partly why he was entrusted with the construction of such a complex engineering structure at that time.

The bridge span was built eight. The adjustable span, located on the right bank of the Neva, met all the shipping requirements existing at that time. By means of a mechanical adjustable mechanism, the two wings of the bridge were moved apart in the horizontal plane.

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

November 21, 1850 the official opening of the bridge for crews and pedestrians took place. The bridge became the longest in Europe – its length was about 365 meters.

In 1854, according to the project of A.I. Shtakenschneider, a small chapel was built on a bull at a draw span. She was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

In February 1855, in connection with the death of Emperor Nicholas I, the bridge was renamed Nikolaevsky. In 1917, the cruiser Aurora was standing behind the Nikolaev bridge at Angliyskaya embankment. It was from there that he fired the famous shot towards the Winter Palace. A monument located on the embankment reminds of this event.

In October 1918, the Nikolaevsky bridge was renamed the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge, in honor of Peter Petrovich Schmidt, who led the uprising on the cruiser “Ochakov” in 1905 and executed for it. The issue of reconstructing the bridge arose in 2004. On August 15, 2007, the grand opening of the reconstructed crossing took place. She returned to her former name – the Annunciation bridge. To increase the throughput, the Blagoveshchensk bridge was expanded from 24 to 37 meters