There are 342 bridges in Saint Petersburg, Russia. This is a partial list of most famous ones. Some of these bridges can create quite an inconvenience for travellers,
if you're not careful. They are raised at night (a spectacle well worth staying up for) when the Neva River isn't frozen over, to let ships pass through, and if you get
stuck on one side of the bridge, well, you may have a long wait if you need to get to the other. Generally, they stay up for about three hours, from about 2 AM to
about 5 AM (though a few go down for about half an hour in the middle), and during that period your only other alternative is a long, complicated and expensive
taxi ride.
The names of the bridges are of a great diversity as well. Some take their names from geographic locations - such as English, Italian and Egyptian bridges. Other
names refer to the places such as Postoffice, Theater and Bank bridges. Many bridges are named after famous people -Alexander Nevsky, Peter the Great,
Lomonosov bridges. There are "colored" bridges - Red, Green, Blue and Yellow bridges.
A familiar view of Saint Petersburg is a drawbridge across the Neva. Every night during the navigation period from April to November, 22 bridges across Neva and
main canals are drawn to let ships pass in and out of the Baltic Sea into the Volga-Baltic waterway system. A calculated schedule with precise time of consecutive
opening and closing for each bridge is maintained to guarantee passage of cargo ships and tankers at a precisely controlled speed, in order to have at least one
bridge at a time staying connected to ensure passage for firefighters, police, ambulances and other ground transportation
The Hermitage Bridge is a bridge across the Winter Cana lalong Palace
Embankment in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The bridge constitutes part of the
Hermitage and Winter Palace ensemble.
The special popularity of the bridge was gained through angular sculptures
of four griffins crowning the abutments. They were designed by sculptor Pavel
Sokolov (1764-1835), who also contributed lions for Bridge of Lions and
sphinxes for Egyptian Bridge. The bridge is in front of the former Assignation
Bank building (now housing the Saint Petersburg State University of Economics
and Finance). As griffins in mythology are the guards of treasure, the lions
with eagle wings in front of the Assignation Bank were to watch the gold
reserves of the Russian state.
Aleksandra Nevskogo
02:20-05:10
01:40-04:50
B. Okhtinskiy
02:00-05:00
Grenaderskiy
02:45-03:45
04:20-04:50
Kantemirovskiy
02:45-03:45
04:20-04:50
Leitenanta Schmidta
01:25-02:45
03:10-05:00
Sampsonievskiy
02:10-02:45
03:20-04:25
Tuchkov
02:00-02:55
03:35-04:55
Volodarskiy
02:00-03:45
04:15-05:45
The original bridge, used by both pedestrians
and horse-drawn transport, collapsed on
January 20, 1905, when a cavalry squadron
was marching across it. The present
structure, incorporating sphinxes and several
other details from the 19th-century bridge,
was completed in 1955.
The Italian Bridge is the bridge across the
Griboedov Canal in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It
is a single span, steel, pedestrian bridge next to
Italian street (hence the name). The bridge's
length is 19.66 meters, the width is 3 meters.
The bridge was built in 1896 in the place of a
boat ferry as a single span wooden bridge
which connected Big and Little Italian streets.
Lomonosov Bridge across the Fontanka River
is the best preserved of towered movable
bridges that used to be typical for
Saint Petersburg in the 18th century.
Bridge of Four Lions is a 28-metre-long
pedestrian bridge over the Griboedov Canal in
St Petersburg, connecting L'vinyi Drive to
Malaya Podyacheskaya Street. Its abutments
are crowned with four cast-iron sculptures
of lions, which give the bridge its name.
Bolsheokhtinsky Bridge is a bridge across the
Neva River in Saint Petersburg. The bridge's
length is 334 meters, the width is 23 meters.
The bridge features only three spans, the
central one can be drawn.
The Anichkov Bridge is the first and most
famous bridge across the Fontanka River in
Saint Petersburg, Russia. The current bridge,
built in 1841-42 and reconstructed in 1906-08,
combines a simple form with some spectacular
decorations. As well as its four famous horse
sculptures (1849-50), the bridge has some of
the most celebrated ornate iron railings in
Saint Petersburg. The Bridge is mentioned in
the works of Pushkin, Gogol, and Dostoevsky.
The Blagoveshchensky (Annunciation) Bridge
(from 1855 to 1918 Nikolaevsky Bridge, from
1918 to 2007 called Lieutenant Schmidt
Bridge) is the first permanent bridge built
across the Neva River in Saint Petersburg,
Russia. It connects Vasilievsky Island and the
central part of the city (Admiralteysky Island).
The bridge's length is 331 meters and the
width was 24 meters.
The Big Obukhovsky Bridge is the newest (not
taking into account the Blagoveshchensky Bridge
rebuilt in 2007) bridge across the Neva River in
Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is also the only
bridge across the Neva which is not a
drawbridge. It is located in Nevsky District, in
the middle stream of the Neva. It connects
Obukhovskaya Oborona Prospekt with
Oktyabrskaya Embankment. It is a cable-stayed
bridge; the steel wire ropes are the key element
of supporting construction.
In summer - roughly May to September - St Petersburg makes good use of its rivers and canals. Excursion boats leave the Anichkov Bridge landing on the Fontanka
River just off Nevsky prospect regularly throughout the day from 10.45 am to 8 pm for a 75 minute. Form here, as well as at the Griboedova and Moyaka canals, you
can also rent your own boat and go anywhere you like.
There are also 80-minute City tour on the Neva cruises, up to the river and back from Hermitage landing every 40 minutes. You’ll generally putter into the Neva, head
east, go around the horn and south to the Smolny, where you turn back and head for home. Excursions sometimes also leave from the embankment opposite the
Bronze Horsemen.
