Annunciation Bridge
Place: Connects Vasilyevsky Island with Admiralteysky Island.
Construction time: 1843-1850
Designer: Stanisław Kierbedź
Name: It was called so after the Annunciation Church building, located on the bridgehead area, demolished by the Bolsheviks in XX century.
Interesting facts: Blagoveshchensky Bridge was the first permanent bridge across the Neva River, that means that a half of its history Petersburg spent without a single constant bridge! All the other city bridges were floating, and the citizen of the city had to pay for a pass. Floating bridges were installed only in summer. In winter period, Neva was crossed over the ice, by the way, nowadays it is strictly forbidden.
Legend: Legend says that Nicholas I recklessly promised to the creator of the bridge that for each constructed span he would receive the new rank. As a result, the project was quickly redesigned towards increasing the amount of spans up to eight. Thus, the architect began his work with the rank of engineer-captain and finished it as a full general.
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