In 1786, the second floating bridge in the city was built along Voskresensky Prospect, named the "Voskresensky" bridge. Later, it was moved near the Summer Garden, and a new floating bridge was constructed at the original site, which was operated until 1849. The reason for building a second permanent bridge across the Neva was the destruction of the floating crossing by a violent ice drift on April 4, 1865. To investigate the causes of the Liteyny Bridge accident, a special expert commission was formed. On August 22, 1869, the Saint Petersburg Duma, after discussing the question of "which of the floating bridges: Petersburg or Liteyny — should preferably be replaced by a permanent one," voted 84 to 11 in favor of the Liteyny Bridge. Soon, the first bridge designs were submitted by the firm "Pushchin & Co.," engineer Kerbedz, as well as English engineers Lancaster and de Berge. Considering the complexity and responsibility of the planned structure, on April 22, 1871, the City Duma announced an open competition for the design of the Liteyny Bridge. Seventeen projects were submitted. The first prize was awarded to the English firm for a design of a four-span arched bridge with two drawbridge sections on both banks of the Neva under the motto "Westminster." The second prize went to engineer Ordikh, and the third to the firm "Pushchin & Co." On October 26, 1873, the Duma decided to award prizes to the project authors and to begin construction based on the "Westminster" design.
In February 1874, a Special Commission of the Ministry of Railways expressed several remarks on the "Westminster" project. On February 15, a new commission was formed, including engineer Struve. Soon, the commission decided to entrust Struve with developing two variants of the metal Liteyny Bridge, one of which was of the arch type. On August 18 of the same year, the arched bridge project was approved by the emperor, and in February of the following year, the Duma signed a contract with A. E. Struve for the construction of the bridge within four years. One puzzling clause in the contract obliged the builder to use iron for the trusses and the upper span structure imported from England or Germany. Yet by that time, Russia was already producing high-quality metal (for the earlier constructed Nikolaevsky Bridge, no cast iron or iron was purchased abroad).
Construction of the Liteyny Bridge. Caisson of pier No. 3 during its installation in the ground, July 1, 1877. I. K. Goffert.
Haste, as is well known, primarily affects safety. When the modern Liteyny Bridge was being built, caissons were used for the first time in Russia. On September 16, 1876, five people died during underwater work when semi-liquid soil rushed into the caisson due to the sudden sinking of the foundation. A year later, on September 9, another disaster occurred. During the construction of foundations under the river piers, an explosion happened in the caisson, killing nine more people. The massive ceiling of the caisson was thrown dozens of meters away. The work to eliminate the accident lasted about a year, but the deadline was met.
On October 1, 1879, the bridge was solemnly opened, and those involved in its construction were awarded. Struve was granted the rank of Major General. The cost of the work exceeded the estimate by two times and was one and a half times the cost of the rejected "Westminster" project... a common occurrence in Russia. The bridge was a drawbridge, but a pivoting one!
The material chosen for the load-bearing structures was steel, not cast iron as used in the construction of the Blagoveshchensky Bridge. The high strength of steel allowed the spans of the arches to be increased by one and a half times. A real breakthrough in bridge construction was the new design of the drawbridge mechanism. Initially, the opening was carried out using a simple manual mechanism operated by a crew of eight people. However, soon a 35-horsepower water turbine connected to the city water supply was installed. This system was unique in the world. The passage for ships opened in just 20 minutes.
The Liteyny Bridge was the first bridge in Petersburg to be illuminated by electricity. Electric lamps with Yablochkov candles were installed on it. The project author was engineer Fyodor Pirotsky. Due to opposition from the gas monopoly, electric lighting did not spread in the city, and in 1890 the electric lamps were replaced by gas ones.
The bridge was originally named Alexandrovsky (in honor of Emperor Alexander II). However, the name Alexandrovsky did not catch on, and later it was renamed Liteyny (this is how Petersburgers have called it since its foundation).
The bridge spans the deepest part of the Neva (although according to depth maps, the deepest spot is not here) — the river depth in this area reaches 24 meters. The old bridge served for 85 years — from 1879 to 1964. Today, the bridge has THE HEAVIEST drawbridge span in the world, weighing more than 3,200 tons with a length of over 50 meters. When opening, it rises at an angle of 67 degrees in two minutes. The person who opened this bridge and stood under the span is linked in the post below.
Many mystical legends are associated with this bridge. The place was considered enchanted; according to legends, a "bloody" boulder called the Ancient Atakan lies at the bottom of the river.
Historians claim that in ancient times, tribes living at the mouth of the Neva worshipped this stone and offered human sacrifices. Prisoners captured during wars were killed and their blood sprinkled on this stone. Then the prisoners began to pray to the Neva, asking it to save them from a terrible death. According to legend, the river seemed to hear their prayers: it changed its course, and the terrible stone that lay on the shore ended up at the bottom. According to another version, when Peter I began building the new capital, builders threw the stone into the Neva near the Liteyny Bridge. Although why they would do this when every stone was precious is unclear.
But whatever the version, the main thing was that Atakan began to take revenge on people passing over it: sometimes a boat with fishermen would sink, sometimes a sailor would fall overboard by some absurd accident, and deaths during construction were linked to this. Today, the exact number of victims during the bridge’s construction is hard to determine. The figure ranges from 40 to 100 people, and all the bodies of the deceased disappeared without a trace.
Numerous tragedies with human casualties forced the bridge builders to seek explanations for what was happening. The most fantastic versions, guesses, and rumors appeared.
There is another legend that the Liteyny Bridge was supposedly built on the site where a "werewolf bridge" once stood long ago. It was said that under this "werewolf," on moonless nights, a black whirlpool suddenly appeared, pulling in people near the river. And from the whirlpool, "all sorts of evil spirits" would emerge, tormenting passersby, "making ugly faces and shouting obscene words." Like a magnet, this whirlpool attracted all Petersburg suicides. There is a legend that the werewolf bridge was seen even before construction began. Allegedly, a visiting coachman drowned a nobleman’s carriage in the Neva and told the police during interrogation that he had seen with his own eyes a large stone bridge over the Neva at this place and wanted to cross it. It is said that even the All-Russian Emperor himself saw the ghost of the bridge here. Old-timers who knew many Petersburg secrets said that this bridge could instantly be enveloped in fog and lead a lone pedestrian somewhere unknown: to other times, other lands, from which there is no return. Perhaps this bridge was a gateway to another dimension?
Unexplained events in the area of the Liteyny Bridge continue into the 21st century. Mermaids, forest spirits, and various other evil beings have been seen here. Even deceased emperors have been spotted, but that is before historical materialism. After the revolution, the ghost of the leader of the world proletariat, Lenin, was seen here.
Once, while walking near the bridge in the Mokhovaya Street area, pensioner Aleshin noticed ahead a strange bald man with a characteristic beard and cap. At first, he took him for a Lenin lookalike and decided to meet and talk with him. But then he noticed some oddities in the "double’s" appearance. The wind was very strong, and passersby had to hold their hats and coat tails. But "Lenin" clearly did not react to the weather: the wind did not blow off his cap or flutter his coat tails. Aleshin followed the strange man further, and when they passed by the Big House on Liteyny Prospect, it seemed to him that the man, so much like Lenin, looked at the building with surprise (unsurprising, since the Big House was not yet built during Lenin’s lifetime). Then he stepped onto the Liteyny Bridge and disappeared. Only then did Aleshin realize he had seen a ghost. And this is not the only case when passersby saw Lenin’s figure here, vanishing without a trace on the Liteyny Bridge.
From time to time, other revolutionary heroes also "walk" here, and sometimes whole companies of soldiers and sailors from the Civil War march across the bridge, suddenly dissolving into the night gloom.
Astrologers believe the reason lies in the bridge’s length, or rather, its numerical expression — 396 meters. If you add these digits in a special numerological way, the sum is 9. This number corresponds to the planet Neptune, which governs mysteries, mysticism, all irrational things, and intuition. In mythology, Neptune is the king of the water element.
Perhaps, for the bridge to "take root" here, providence itself ensured its parameters matched this mysterious locality. Like attracts like. Let us turn to facts. As is known, facts are stubborn things.
Not only suicides have ended their lives on this bridge; criminals have also regularly killed their victims here.
One of the latest cases is striking in its cruelty. A certain criminal boss "ordered" a hitman to kill his rival, but the hitman confused the victim with another person and, carrying out the order, inflicted numerous stab wounds on him. The murder weapon was later found at the crime scene, and the victim, according to witnesses, was thrown off the bridge by the hitman. Despite the efforts of Petersburg detectives, neither the killer nor the victim’s body was ever found.
In 1964, due to the renewal of the Volga-Baltic route, the bridge was reconstructed. The width of the bridge deck was increased by 10 meters to meet traffic demands. The pivoting drawbridge span was replaced by a lifting one and moved to a deeper water location.
The railing on the permanent spans was entirely reused from the old 1879 bridge, designed by architect K. K. Rakhau.
The railing on the drawbridge span is made of aluminum (to reduce weight, as it is already the heaviest in the world).
Today, the bridge length is 396 meters, and the width is 34 meters. The total weight of all the metal span structures of the bridge is 5,902 tons.
Source:
Alexander Popov: Two Petersburgs. A Mystical Guide
pantv.livejournal.com
https://antennadaily.ru/2019/10/23/liteyny-most/
https://mostotrest-spb.ru/bridges/litejnyj
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Литейный_мост
