Walking around Saint-Petersburg | The ancient bridges

Neva, other rivers, small rivers and canals cross St. Petersburg, forming islands. Previously, the city was located on 101 islands. Some of the rivers were filled in or hidden in pipes undeground. Therefore, there are fewer islands. Now the city occupice 34 island. The islands are connected by bridges. They can be old and new, large and small. There are several hundred of them in the city. All bridges are very beautiful. At first, bridges in St. Petersburg were built of wood. The first wooden bridge connected Hare Island, where the Peter and Paul’s Fortress was built, and Trinity Square, the first square of the city. The bridge was called Ioannovsky. The first stone bridges in St. Petersburg are three humpback bridges. They are located one after another along the left bank of the Neva River. Bridges are thrown over the Fontanka River, the Swan Canal and the Winter Groove. They were built by the stone craftsman Timofey Ivanov and his assistants. It is very pleasant to drive along these bridges by car. You jump on the seat like a ball. The Hermitage and Verkhne-Lebyazhy bridges have one span. The Laundry bridge over the Fontanka River has three spans. It was called the Laundry because previously, three were palace laundries next to it. Then seven identical stone bridges were built across the Fontanka River by the architect Jean Perrone. Four pavilion towers were erected on each of them. The lifting mechanism was hidden in the towers. It was pulling the chains when the middle wooden part of the bridge was being divorced. At that time, the Fontanka River was the border of the city. When the bridges were raised, you couldn’t get to the capital. Of these seven bridges over the Fontanka River only two bridges were remained the same.It’s Staro-Kalinkin and Chernyshov Bridges, now the Lomonosov Bridge. You can see towers and chains on them. The old bridges are very beautiful!