The Great Chinese Bridge

The Great Chinese Bridge is one of the historic bridges of Alexander Park in the former Tsarskoye Selo (now the city of Pushkin, Saint Petersburg). It is located on the main axis of Alexander Park and situated near the central entrance to the park, on the side of the parade ground by the Catherine Palace—opposite the Golden Gates of the palace. Built according to a design by Charles Cameron from pink granite; its railing consists of 13 granite vases and 4 pedestals on each side of the bridge. The low railings of the bridge are made up of turned pink granite vases, which are connected by an intricate intertwining of branches forged from iron. Painted red, they resemble intertwined corals growing out of the necks of the vases and cascading down their sides. Also, the architecture of the bridge’s railings features four pedestals (two on each side of the bridge), on which brightly painted figures of Chinese people dressed in national costumes stand, holding lanterns suspended on poles. There are two male and two female figures. The Chinese sculptures were originally made of limestone, but they deteriorated in the 1860s and were replaced by polychromatically painted zinc figures produced at the “Genke, Pleske and Moran” factory.

The work was carried out under the supervision of the court architect Monighetti. During the Great Patriotic War, the bridge’s sculptures were destroyed and were recreated based on archival photographs by 2010.

Sources:

https://www.tzar.ru/objects/alexandrovskypark/newgarden/bolshoykitayskymost