Fontanka River Embankment, 34, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 191014
One of the bridges in Saint Petersburg stands out because water is present only on one side of it. The space under the bridge, therefore, is not a span but a niche — this is the Second Engineering Bridge near the Mikhailovsky Castle. The bridge is thrown over the filled-in part of the Voskresensky Canal at the embankment of the Fontanka River near the Mikhailovsky (Engineering) Castle. Its length is 19.35 meters, the length along the back edges of the abutments is 17.8 meters, the width is 14.3 meters, the width between the railing axes is 10 meters, and the width along the cornice is 11 meters.
Structurally, it is a single-span stone bridge. The span structure is a brick vault in the form of a fixed arch, faced with granite. The bridge abutments are rubble masonry on a pile foundation, faced with granite. The railing fence consists of cast-iron artistic cast grilles with applied reinforcement made of military attributes, located between granite pedestals. At the bridge entrances, there are four torchères in the form of bundles of spears connected by intertwining wreaths, on which hexagonal lanterns are mounted.
The Voskresensky Canal, over which the bridge is thrown, is part of the system of canals surrounding the Mikhailovsky Castle. Around the castle, built in 1797–1800 according to the project of architects Vasily Bazhenov and Vincenzo Brenna, the Platz Canal, Church Canal, and Voskresensky Canal were dug. The latter ran along the southern facade of the castle. It flowed out of the Fontanka River, connected with the ponds of the Mikhailovsky Garden, and then through a brick pipe flowed into the Moika River. The canal was navigable and had stone embankments.
In the first quarter of the 19th century, a through passage was arranged along the Fontanka embankment, and in 1824–1826 a single-span stone arch bridge was thrown over the Voskresensky Canal, built according to the project of engineers Bazin and Klapeyron. The architectural decoration of the bridge — facade cladding, railing grilles, torchères with lanterns — resembled the architectural decoration of the 1st Engineering Bridge, built according to the project of the same engineers a year earlier. The bridge also got its name from the Engineering (Mikhailovsky) Castle.
In 1879–1882, the Voskresensky Canal was filled in, but the bridge remained unchanged, only the span on the upstream side was covered with metal sheets. In 2003, for the 300th anniversary of Saint Petersburg, the canal was partially restored, but this restoration did not affect the bridge.
The crossing suffered during the Siege of Leningrad: the torchères with lanterns were lost, the railings and granite parapets on the bridge wings were damaged. Restoration work to restore the decoration of the crossing was carried out in 1955. According to the project of architect Rotach, the railing fences and granite parapets were repaired, torchères were recreated, and later — hexagonal lanterns.
In 1983, the granite curb separating the sidewalk from the roadway was repaired; in 1991, the bridge railings were restored; in 1994, the torchères with lanterns were restored. The metal sheets covering the bridge span on the upstream side were dismantled.
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