The First Engineering Bridge

The first Engineering Bridge connects the Summer Garden and Spassky Islands across the Moika River in the Central District of St. Petersburg. Previously, it was called the Summer Bridge, being a continuation of the embankment of the Fontanka River between the Mikhailovsky Castle and the Summer Garden. The bridge received its new name in 1823, when the Main Engineering School was located in the nearby Mikhailovsky Castle. Previously, there were wooden bridges by various architects. The modern cast-iron bridge was built in 1825 by engineers P. P. Bazin and E. K. Clapeyron.

Extraordinary ease of design was provided by a set of cast-iron lightweight tubings with oval holes in the bottoms and walls. The facades of the arches of the bridge were decorated with overcast castings of cast iron in the form of antique shields and helmets. Lanterns on the bridge are bundles of crossed copies connected in the middle by intertwined wreaths. The grids of the bridge are also short spear-darts, as well as swords and shields depicting the head of Medusa Gorgon.

In 1994, a monument to Chizhik-Pyzhik was erected next to the bridge, next to which there are always many tourists. It is considered a good omen to throw a coin so that it remains on a tiny pedestal with a bird.