Stone Anichkov Bridge is the most beloved and visited by romantics in St. Petersburg. Many are still convinced that beautiful name the bridge received from a certain "Anechka". However, after studying history, you can find out that it was named after the engineer Mikhail Anichkov, who led the construction of the first wooden crossing (a prototype of a modern bridge) at the beginning of the distant 18th century.

History reference

The first wooden crossing on the site of the current Anichkov Bridge was built by decree of Peter I back in 1716. Then it became part of the Nevsky Prospekt under construction and at the same time served as a checkpoint, because it was located on the very edge of St. Petersburg.

For several decades, it has been repeatedly restored, capital work has been carried out on it. Only in the middle of the 19th century, when the number of carts and carriages regularly moving over the bridge increased at a tremendous speed, it became necessary to expand and strengthen the borders of the bridge.

To simplify his work, Lieutenant-General A.D. Gotman, who was managing the reconstruction process, ordered to dismantle the old structures and build a completely new bridge. In a short time, a little more than six months, a new bridge appeared over the Neva. The opening took place in the winter of 1842. But this time too, mistakes made during construction led to deformations. The last major reconstruction of the bridge in 1906-1908 was successfully undertaken by the architect P.V. Shchusev. Since then, the bridge has the same three spans of different heights, brick vaults lined with beautiful pink granite and waterproofed metal structures.

Interesting Facts

Fame and a huge number of stories associated with the Anichkov Bridge can only be envied. The most interesting facts:

• When in 1726 the crossing became a drawbridge. It was opened for the passage of ships with high masts. But not only for this. To prevent wolves from the nearby forests from entering the city, the crossing was opened at night.

• In old paintings drawn from the bridge. Between the spans you can see niches with bars. These are debt pits into which malicious tax evaders or gamblers fell. So it was until the time of the government of Catherine II, who ordered the openings to be walled up.

• The sculptures of horses that adorn the bridge on both sides were buried during the war in the square near the Anichkov Palace, and only in 1945 they were dug up again and put in their original places. Thus, they retained their appearance.

At any time of the year, at any time of the day and in any weather, on the Anichkov Bridge you can see how someone is photographed against the backdrop of the legendary bronze horses. Bringing home such a picture is as much an obligatory part of the tourist program as going to the Hermitage or tossing a coin over the monument to Chizhik-Pyzhik.

Meanwhile, the bridge did not immediately acquire its “postcard” look: at first it was wooden, and then it was rebuilt several times in stone.

Non-existent Anya

"Restoration" in this case- not just a repair, but a radical change in appearance, which was preceded by a long history. For the first time, Peter I decided to replace the ferry service on foot in this section in 1715, ordering "to make a bridge beyond the Bolshaya Neva on the Fountain River."

After the wooden crossing, it was decided to build a stone one. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org In those years, wooden bridge building was widely developed in St. Petersburg - crossings appeared here and there, and no sacred significance was attached to their name. Since the soldiers of the Admiralty "construction battalion" located nearby under the command of Major Mikhail Anichkov were contracted to build a bridge on the Fontanka, the bridge began to be called "Anichkov" (with an emphasis on the second syllable). Much later, the rumor gave rise to the myth of a certain Anechka - the unknown heroine of a vague love story, connected either with the architect or with one of the builders of the bridge. The people even called the bridge Anechkin for some time. But this is nothing more than a beautiful legend. In 1739, the Commission on St. Petersburg Buildings decided to call the bridge Nevsky, but this name never caught on.

Anichkov himself belonged to noble family whose roots go back to the 14th century. It is known that after the construction of the bridge, he rose to the rank of colonel and owned the site where the Alexandrinsky Theater is now located. From there, Anichkov Lane led to Sadovaya Street, which today is called Krylov Lane. And the Anichkov Palace, built here in the 1740s, was named simply by its proximity to the bridge of the same name and had nothing to do with the Anichkov family.

Stone Age

In 1785, a stone crossing came to replace the wooden one. Before it, the Laundry, Panteleymonovsky, Izmailovsky, Semenovsky and Obukhovsky bridges, Lomonosov and Belinsky bridges were built of stone on the Fontanka River.

However, the wooden bridge began to deteriorate already in the 1720s. In addition, it was so narrow that two crews could hardly pass on it. In 1921, the Dutchman Herman van Boles undertook its reconstruction, and Domenico Trezzini brought his project to life. “The current year of 1721, in the month of January, it was ordered to release from the city the architect Andrey Trizin to the structure of the drawbridge, which is being built across the fountain river, for boxes of wild stone, fourteen sazhens from the city ...”, - said in one of the documents of that time.

Thanks to Boles, the bridge acquired a draw span, which two people were able to open (earlier, one of the spans had to be dismantled for the passage of ships). In 1749, according to the project of the architect Semyon Volkov, the Anichkov Bridge was rebuilt. One of the reasons why it needed to be strengthened was a gift to the Empress from the Persian Shah - elephants, which were to be solemnly led along Nevsky Prospekt.

This is what the bridge looked like in the 1830s. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

I had to sacrifice a drawbridge, but at the entrance there were lanterns on wooden poles. The length of that Anichkov bridge was more than 200 meters, which is almost four times longer than the modern one.

After another 30 years, the entire Fontanka was dressed in granite, and the bridges were designed in the same way according to the project of the Frenchman Perrone. The Anichkov Bridge was also rebuilt: it became granite, three-span, and again acquired a draw mechanism. AT early XIX centuries, the stone parapets of the bridge were replaced by lattices with stone pedestals in the spirit of river embankment fences. At the entrance to the bridge, stone obelisks with lanterns were installed.

But by 1839 it became clear that the bridge, although reliable, was too narrow for the sprawling city. It was decided to rebuild, which gave the bridge its modern look.

Finding horses

The bridge reconstruction project was drawn up by major engineer Ivan Buttats with the participation of engineer Alexander Reder and signed by Nicholas I in December 1840, and on May 22, 1841, the first stone was laid at the foundation of the new Anichkov Bridge. Work under the supervision of the director of the Institute of Railways, Lieutenant-General Andrei Gotman, progressed rapidly: three months later, new brick arches were laid out, the vaults were lined with pink granite left over from the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral. The bridge was built in just six months, after which the question arose about its aesthetic design.

Klodt's horses are one of the most famous "postcard" views of St. Petersburg. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org At first, they planned to decorate the vaults with bronze overlays, bulls with decorative vases, and coastal abutments with horse groups. Later we decided to limit ourselves to the latter. St. Petersburg animal sculptor Pyotr Klodt at that time was working on sculptures of horses led by young men, which were supposed to decorate the pier on the Neva embankment near Admiralteisky Boulevard. As a result, lions and vases remained on the pier, and the horses found other uses: in November 1841, a platoon of sappers moved them from the foundry on Vasilyevsky Island to the Fontanka. They were installed on the western bank of the river. On the east side there are plaster copies, painted to look like bronze.

It took Klodt another year to create a second pair of equestrian groups, but it was not their fate to be on the Fontanka: at the direction of Nicholas I, the figures were presented to the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV and transported to Berlin. Meanwhile, the chief police chief, who monitored the condition of the bridge, reported that “the alabaster figure of a horse had a crack, and the alabaster began to fall off in places, which makes the figure ugly.” One of the plaster copies was so dilapidated that its tail fell off.

New bronze sculptures on the Anichkov Bridge were installed only on October 9, 1843 and stood for only three years - this time they were presented to the King of Sicily Ferdinand II and taken to Naples. Klodt saw this as a sign of fate and instead of regular copies he decided to make a completely new composition on the subject of the conquest of nature by man.

The bridge today is under state protection as a monument. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Potekhin

Sketches for the last two groups were completed in 1848, and in 1850 sculpture groups finally decorated the bridge. Four images correspond to the stages of taming a horse: in the first group a man is depicted with a cord in his hands, in the second - an attempt by a horse to break free, in the third - a gradual assertion of the will of a person, in the fourth - a man calmly walking next to a tamed horse. The horses of the third and fourth groups, unlike the first, are shod. Legend has it that Nicholas I at the opening ceremony of the bridge slapped the artist on the shoulder and said: “Well, Klodt, you make horses better than a stallion!”

Three more pairs of the same sculptural groups were later installed in Strelna, in Peterhof and in the Golitsyn Kuzminki estate near Moscow. They have become one of the main symbols of St. Petersburg. Alexander Blok wrote about the Anichkov Bridge.

Across the Fontanka River
The length of the bridge is 54.6 m, the width is 37.9 m.

One of the most beautiful and recognizable St. Petersburg bridges, whose history dates back to the founding of the city.
Until 1712, the Fontanka was called Nameless Erik, or simply Erik. And after pipes were thrown across this river for the construction of the fountains of the Summer Garden, it became known as the “Fountain River”. At that time it was a serious water barrier: in some places the river overflowed up to 200 meters, the banks were swampy. Without a bridge across the river, it was impossible to imagine the way to new town. And in 1715, Peter ordered: "Beyond the Bolshaya Neva on the Fountain River, a bridge should be built along the perspective." The bridge has been made. 50 rubles were spent on its construction.
The crossing opened in May 1716. No images have been preserved, but historians of St. Petersburg agree that it was one of the many typical wooden bridges of light construction. The supports, as was customary then, were upholstered with boards and painted under stone rustication - “for appearance”.
The bridge was built by the people of the engineering battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Anichkov. The battalion was stationed on the right bank of the Fountain River in an old Finnish village, nicknamed "Anichkova Sloboda" since then.
On the bridge, which was then the southern border of the city, there was a barrier and an outpost, where documents were checked from those entering the city and they took payment - in money or ... with stones that were needed to paving the streets. At night, the city was locked up, and opened only for the nobles. Vile people (of low birth), although in a hurry to St. Petersburg on business, had to wait until morning.
In 1718, the bridge was repaired in order to deliver to the imperial court a gift from the Shah of Iran - an elephant and horses (the animals were delivered to the city by nobleman Andrey Lopukhin). In 1721, with the development of navigation on the Fountain River, the bridge was rebuilt again, making its middle part lifting. She was bred several times a day: during the day - to let sailing ships through, and at night - so that wolves would not run into the city.
The wooden bridge decayed quickly in a damp climate, so Anichkov was repaired many times - in 1726 and 1742, and in 1749 the architect Semyon Volkov built a new wooden bridge, which was not much different from the previous one.

Toponyms of St. Petersburg

In honor of engineer Mikhail Anichkov
The name "Anichkov" is firmly entrenched in this crossing. The bridge was rebuilt many times, and every time the city authorities tried to rename the crossing into "Nevsky Bridge". But this toponym did not take root in St. Petersburg, the bridge remained Anichkov. Petersburg guests, knowledgeable stories bridge, they call it Anichkov, with an emphasis on the first syllable (which is why the image of a certain mythical Anichka pops up), and native Petersburgers say correctly: Anichkov bridge, with an emphasis on the second syllable.

When Empress Anna Ioannovna, who was to take the throne after the death of Peter II, was met in St. Petersburg, wooden carved triumphal gates were erected on the Anichkov Bridge in honor of the new Russian Empress. The same arch was updated to welcome the next Empress, Elizaveta Petrovna. The structure, which had fallen into disrepair, was dismantled in 1751.

In the middle of the 18th century, St. Petersburg began to be actively built up, the boundaries of the city moved away. A Commission on the stone structure of St. Petersburg and Moscow was created, which, among others, supervised the work on the arrangement of the banks of small rivers and canals, and the construction of stone bridges instead of wooden ones. Anichkov Bridge was among the first seven bridges to be rebuilt. The bridges were built according to the standard design of the French engineer J.-R. Perrone (although there is no documentary evidence for this) - with medium drawbridges, which were raised with the help of chains, and decorated with turrets. To imagine what the Anichkov Bridge looked like (it was built between 1783 and 1787), it is enough to imagine the Lomonosov Bridge, which was also part of that “address program”, and has not changed much since that time. The Staro-Kalinkin Bridge is still preserved, but it was later rebuilt.
Anichkov thus became one of the first seven stone bridges in St. Petersburg.
It regularly served the city for several more decades, and then it turned out to be narrow for the wide Nevsky Prospekt, moreover, the wooden parts of the structure became completely unusable. And once again the Anichkov Bridge was reconstructed. The crossing got its modern look in 1841 (designed by engineer I.F. Butats). The work was completed in record time - just seven months. The bridge ceased to be a drawbridge, the roadway became much wider, three spans were laid out of brick, the bridge supports were lined with granite. Drawings by the German architect Karl Schinkel were used for the decorative lattice of the bridge fence (there are exactly the same mermaid women and mermaid horses on the Palace Bridge in Berlin). It is interesting that the same theme - with mythical water horses - hippocampi - appears on the first large bridge in St. Petersburg - Blagoveshchensky. The author of the drawing is Alexander Pavlovich Bryullov (it is not clear whose hippocampus was the first - his or Shinkel's?). The towers were removed from the bridge, and instead of them, pedestals were installed on the supports, on which, as it was supposed, decorative vases were supposed to stand.

But instead of vases in 1841, four equestrian sculptures by the St. Petersburg sculptor Pyotr Karlovich Klodt were placed on the Anichkov Bridge. First, the first two statues cast in bronze appeared on the western part of the bridge - “A horse with a walking young man” and “A young man taking a horse by the bridle”. appeared on the west side in 1841. They corresponded to exactly the same statues, but made of plaster and painted in bronze. Over the next ten years, Peter Klodt will cast his horses in bronze, and Emperor Nicholas will give them to European monarchs. Thus, the twins of Klodt's horses and their tamers will appear in Berlin and Naples; as well as in Peterhof, Strelna and in the Golitsyn estate near Moscow.
The grand opening of the crossing took place on November 20, 1841. The newspapers wrote: “The new Anichkov Bridge delights all residents of St. Petersburg. Crowds are going to admire the amazing proportion of all parts of the bridge and horses - boldly say, the only ones in the world. There is something open, dexterous, attractive in the Anichkov Bridge! Having entered the bridge, it seems that he had a rest! .. None of the St. Petersburg structures made such an impression on the residents of the capital as the Anichkov Bridge! Honor and glory to the builders!

According to the report of the Ministry of Finance, the construction cost 195,294 silver rubles.
But the quality of the work turned out to be unsatisfactory, and after a few years Engineering service fixed the deformation of the vaults. And forty years later, at the beginning of the 20th century, the condition of the Anichkov Bridge became threatening. And the Anichkov Bridge was rebuilt in 1906-1908 without changing its appearance. The work was supervised by the famous architect P.V. Shchusev.

History pages

Anichkov bridge during the war
At the beginning of the war, the equestrian sculptures were removed from the pedestals, but they did not have time to take them out. Klodt's horses were placed in boxes and buried in the courtyard of the Anichkov Palace. And in their place were boxes in which the blockade survivors grew grass in the summer.
Anichkov Bridge was seriously damaged by artillery raids. On November 6, 1942, a 250-kilogram bomb exploded on the bridge. The cast-iron grate and one of the granite foundations collapsed into the Fontanka. But already in November, the blockade tram again went along the Anichkov Bridge, after a few days it was possible to restore the fence (the pedestal was taken out only after the war).
There were traces of shells on the granite parapets and railings. One of these terrible traces was not closed up, leaving the memory of the blockade. Klodt's horses, which successfully survived the enemy siege, returned to their place by May 1, 1945.

In the mid-90s, the cast-iron grating was completely replaced on the Anichkov Bridge. It was cast at the enterprise of the Federal Nuclear Center in the city of Snezhinsk (if you try, you can find the coat of arms of this city on the fence - a hybrid of a stylized snowflake and a nucleus with protons).
The last reconstruction of the bridge was in 2007-2008.

Here is the Anichkov bridge, where the unfortunate horses
By order of the king, they bridled so cruelly ...
I would like to ask these strong people:
“Are you tired of holding the reins?”
(Alexander Rosenbaum)

Anichkov Bridge is one of the most famous bridges in St. Petersburg. The bridge owes its name to Lieutenant Colonel-engineer Mikhail Anichkov, whose battalion in the time of Peter the Great was stationed behind the Fontanka in the so-called Anichkova Sloboda. "Folk etymology", raising the name to a certain Anya or Anichka, is incorrect.

Until 1712, the Fontanka was called Nameless Erik, or simply Erik. And after pipes were thrown across this river for the construction of the fountains of the Summer Garden, it became known as the “Fountain River”. At that time it was a serious water barrier: in some places the river overflowed up to 200 meters, the banks were swampy. Without a bridge across the river, it was impossible to imagine the way to the new city. And in 1715, Peter ordered: "Beyond the Bolshaya Neva on the Fountain River, a bridge should be built along the perspective."


Unknown artist. View of the Anichkov Palace and Nevsky Prospekt from the Fontanka to the Admiralty. 2nd floor 18th century

The order was executed by May of the following year by the soldiers of the admiralty "construction battalion" located nearby. They were led by Lieutenant Colonel M. O. Anichkov, whose name was later fixed in the name of the crossing.
The bridge across the Fontanka became the boundary for the city. 50 rubles were spent on its construction. The length of the first Anichkov bridge was 150 meters; it blocked not only the Fontanka, but also the swampy floodplain of the river. The width of the carriageway was so narrow that two carts could not pass at the crossing. The size of the Anichkov Bridge can be judged from a report dated May 15, 1716:
“In the perspective across the Fontanka River, it was done: it was paved on stumps with a length of 80 sazhens, across 3 sazhens with plates, and over the plates about the entire bridge it was paved with boards 4.5 arshins wide, and lifting shields were made, and bars were placed on the entire bridge on both sides on the railing ".
For escorting masted vessels along the Fontanka, the lifting shields mentioned in the report were removed and returned to their place manually. That is, there was no drawbridge here initially.
On the bridge, which was then the southern border of the city, there was a barrier and an outpost, where documents were checked from those entering the city and they took payment - in money or ... stones that were needed to paving the streets. At night, the city was locked up, and opened only for the nobles. Vile people (of low birth), although in a hurry to St. Petersburg on business, had to wait until morning.
Like any wooden building of that time, the Anichkov Bridge quickly fell into disrepair. In 1721, with the development of shipping on the Fountain River, the bridge was rebuilt according to the project of engineer Herman van Boles, which was implemented by Domenico Trezzini. Then they made its middle part lifting. She was bred several times a day: during the day - to let sailing ships through, and at night - so that wolves would not run into the city.
Then it was repaired in 1726 and 1742, and in 1749, according to the project of the architect Semyon Volkov Anichkov, the bridge was rebuilt. It was thoroughly fortified, since elephants had to pass through it - a gift from the Persian Shah to the Russian Empress. The bridge is no longer drawable. It was sheathed with boards and designed to look like granite. At the entrance to the crossing, lanterns were installed on tall wooden poles. The length of that Anichkov bridge was more than 200 meters, which is almost four times the length of the modern one. Now the Anichkov Bridge is 54.6 meters long and 37.9 meters wide.

In the 1780s the banks of the Fontanka were dressed in granite. At the same time, according to the project of J.R. Perrone, seven stone crossings of the same type were built across the Fontanka. In 1783-1787, the Anichkov Bridge was also rebuilt according to a standard project. Since that time, it has been a three-span granite bridge, the middle drawbridge of which was wooden. On his bulls were towers with adjustable mechanism. Anichkov bridge was protected by stone parapets. At the beginning of the 19th century, they were replaced by gratings with stone pedestals, repeating the fence of the Fontanka embankments. At the entrance to the bridge, stone obelisks were installed, on each of them two lanterns were hung.
The cobblestone pavement on the Anichkov Bridge in 1832 was replaced by an end pavement.


The Fontanka River near the Anichkov Bridge. M.-F. Damame Demartre. 1813

Anichkov bridge. 1830

To mid-nineteenth century Anichkov bridge for the main street of St. Petersburg became too narrow. In 1839, a decision was made to rebuild it. The corresponding project, approved in December 1840, was developed by engineers I. F. Buttats, A. H. Reder and A. D. Gotman. To oversee its implementation, a special committee was created, headed by the director of the Ways Institute, Lieutenant-General A. D. Gotman.
Construction work was carried out by the contractor Makar Pimenov. They began with the dismantling of the old crossing, and on May 22, 1841, the first stone was laid at the foundation of the new Anichkov Bridge. Three arches were laid out in just four months - it was necessary to restore traffic on the highway as soon as possible. During the construction period, traffic was carried out on a temporary bypass wooden bridge.


Rebuilding the bridge in 1841

The brick vaults of the new Anichkov Bridge were lined with pink granite, which at that time was imported to St. Petersburg for the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral. All work was completed by the fall, they lasted only six months. The bridge ceased to be a drawbridge, the carriageway became much wider.
Drawings by the German architect Karl Schinkel were used for the decorative lattice of the bridge fence (there are exactly the same mermaid women and mermaid horses on the Palace Bridge in Berlin). It is interesting that the same theme - with mythical water horses - hippocampi - appears on the first large bridge in St. Petersburg - Blagoveshchensky. The author of the drawing is Alexander Pavlovich Bryullov (it is not clear whose hippocampus was the first - his or Shinkel's?).

In early November 1841, railings and granite pedestals for statues were installed on the Anichkov Bridge. According to the reports of the Ministry of Finance, the construction of the crossing cost 195,294 silver rubles. The grand opening of the crossing took place on November 20, 1841 (?). Traffic on the Anichkov Bridge was opened in January 1842.
Initially, it was supposed to decorate the vaults of the bridge with bronze decorative overlays, put bronze vases on each of the bulls, and equestrian groups on the coastal abutments. But during the construction process, it was decided to confine ourselves to the latter.
In those years, the St. Petersburg animal sculptor Pyotr Karlovich Klodt worked on a design project for the pier on the Neva embankment near Admiralteisky Boulevard. Then they were going to decorate it with two sculptures of horses led by young men. But plans have changed. Lions and vases were placed on the pier. Horse tamers, at the suggestion of the sculptor, it was decided to install on the rebuilt Anichkov Bridge.
A platoon of sappers moved Klodt's horses from the foundry on Vasilyevsky Island to the Fontanka. According to A. L. Punin, this happened on November 20, 1841, and two days later they were installed on pedestals near the western bank of the river. This contradicts the fact that it was on November 20 that the solemn opening of the crossing took place.
First, the first two statues cast in bronze appeared on the western part of the bridge - “A horse with a walking young man” and “A young man taking a horse by the bridle”. They corresponded to exactly the same statues, but made of plaster and painted bronze in the eastern part.
A year later, Klodt made bronze copies of equestrian groups. When the bronze sculptures were already ready for installation, in 1842, at the direction of Nicholas I, they were presented to the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Klodt's horses ended up in Berlin. In 1845, in response, the Prussian monarch presented St. Petersburg with two statues of Glory, which were installed on Konnogvardeisky Boulevard.
Plaster sculptures on the eastern bank of the Fontanka quickly fell into disrepair. The chief police chief informed the president of the Academy of Arts that "the alabaster figure of a horse had a crack, and the alabaster began to fall off in places, which makes the figure ugly." In the end, the horse's tail fell off, and the chief police chief reported on the danger to pedestrians.
New bronze sculptures on the Anichkov Bridge were installed on October 9, 1843. But in April 1846 they were removed from the crossing and presented again, this time to King Ferdinand II of Sicily. With this gift, the Russian Tsar thanked the Sicilian monarch for the magnificent reception of his wife. The sculptures went to Naples, their place was again taken by plaster copies. In the end, Klodt refused to install spears on the Anichkov Bridge and decided to create two new compositions, to develop the plot of "Conquest of the Horse by Man".


According to the sculptor's plan, being on the Anichkov Bridge, one cannot see all four figures. They need to be considered gradually, one by one. The plot of Klodt will be most fully revealed if we start the review of the ensemble from the western side, from the first group depicting a tamer with a cord in his hands.


Then you need to cross Nevsky Prospekt, then across the bridge to its eastern side. The second sculpture conveys the increased dynamics of the struggle. A man is defeated by a horse that almost breaks free.


In the third group, the drama gradually subsides, and the fourth shows a tamer calmly walking next to a horse whose back is covered with a leopard skin.

The process of taming a horse is also symbolized by the fact that the horses of the third and fourth groups, unlike the first, are shod.
Horses on the Anichkov Bridge have become one of the symbols of St. Petersburg. Three more pairs of the same sculptural groups were subsequently installed in Strelna, in Peterhof and in the Golitsyn Kuzminki estate near Moscow.

The newspapers of that time wrote: “The new Anichkov Bridge delights all residents of St. Petersburg. Crowds are going to admire the amazing proportion of all parts of the bridge and horses - boldly say, the only ones in the world. There is something open, dexterous, attractive in the Anichkov Bridge! Having entered the bridge, it seems that he had a rest! .. None of the St. Petersburg structures made such an impression on the residents of the capital as the Anichkov Bridge! Honor and glory to the builders!


Ludwig-Franz-Karl Ludwigovich Bonstedt. Anichkov Bridge on Nevsky Prospekt.

Despite the protests of the Academy of Arts, the city administration continued to improve the Anichkov Bridge. Shortly after its opening, lanterns of only gas lighting coming into fashion appeared on it. In the 1890s, a chapel no more than 1.5 meters high was placed here.


When examining the Anichkov Bridge on October 9, 1902, its condition was recognized as emergency. When it was decided to launch a tram along Nevsky Prospekt, it became impossible to delay the repair of the crossing. To replace the old arches, it was necessary to dismantle the foundations, that is, the old bridge was subject to complete disassembly. Reconstruction of the Anichkov Bridge according to the old project required a lot of time and money. Therefore, the city commission railway under the guidance of engineer A.P. Pshenitsky, she considered an alternative reconstruction option, which involved the creation of a metal single-span crossing instead of a brick three-span one. This proposal excited the public of the city, demanding the reconstruction of the Anichkov Bridge. On April 25, 1905, the Academy of Arts spoke in favor of preserving the historical appearance of the crossing. Moreover, even the patina on the sculptures of the Anichkov Bridge had to remain intact, so that the Klodt sculptures would not seem like a remake.


The project for the reconstruction of the Anichkov Bridge accepted for implementation was drawn up by S. P. Bobrovsky and N. G. Krivoshein. Restoration work was carried out in 1906-1908 under the guidance of architect P. V. Shchusev. At the same time, the abutments and bulls remained the same, while the brick vaults were rebuilt. For the convenience of pedestrians, narrow gangways from the bridge were replaced with wide steps.

After the reconstruction of the crossing, a sign "Anichkin Bridge" appeared on it. This did not go unnoticed by the descendants of M. O. Anichkov, who turned to the city council with a request to correct the mistake, because their ancestors bore the surname of the Anichkovs, not the Anichkins. After making inquiries, the city council, being not authorized to change the name, turned to the city duma, which restored historical justice.


Proposals for the "improvement" of the Anichkov Bridge arose even after its repair. In 1912, the architect A.P. Kovsharov, a public member of the city duma, proposed building up the pedestals with granite slabs so that the horses could be seen even better.
In 1938, on the Anichkov Bridge, as well as on the entire Nevsky Prospekt, the end pavement was replaced by asphalt.

At the beginning of the war, the equestrian sculptures were removed from the pedestals, but they did not have time to take them out. Klodt's horses were placed in boxes and buried in the courtyard of the Anichkov Palace. And in their place were boxes in which the blockade survivors grew grass in the summer.
Anichkov Bridge was seriously damaged by artillery raids. On November 6, 1942, a 250-kilogram bomb exploded on the bridge. The cast-iron grate and one of the granite foundations collapsed into the Fontanka. But already in November, the blockade tram again went along the Anichkov Bridge, after a few days it was possible to restore the fence (the pedestal was taken out only after the war).
There were traces of shells on the granite parapets and railings. One of these terrible traces was not closed up, leaving the memory of the blockade. Klodt's horses, which successfully survived the enemy siege, returned to their place by May 1, 1945.


The horses of the Anichkov Bridge take their old places (June 1, 1945)

In the mid-90s, the cast-iron grating was completely replaced on the Anichkov Bridge. It was cast at the enterprise of the Federal Nuclear Center in the city of Snezhinsk (if you try, you can find the coat of arms of this city on the fence - a hybrid of a stylized snowflake and a nucleus with protons). In 2000, the bronze equestrian groups were restored. The restoration work was headed by the sculptor V. G. Sorin.
The last reconstruction of the bridge was in 2007-2008.

Interesting Facts

Klodt sculpted horses from nature - a thoroughbred Arabian horse Amalatbek posed for him. The stallion was wild and naughty, but the sculptor was able to ride him. Klodt was assisted in his work by his daughter, who forced the horse to take the necessary poses.

A face on a horse's genitals.
The outlines of the intimate organs of one of the stallions surprisingly resemble a human face. According to one version of such a coincidence, the sculptor thus took revenge on some of his ill-wisher. According to another opinion, the contours of the horse's genitals reproduce the face of Napoleon, who not so long ago passed through Russian soil with a devastating war.

After each reconstruction, the city authorities tried to assign the name "Nevsky Prospekt" to the bridge, but it did not take root.

During the Great Patriotic War Fascist propaganda spread photomontage - German soldiers stand by Klodt's horses. With their provocative poster, the Nazis wanted to make the whole world believe that Leningrad had allegedly already been captured.

Inside the figures located near the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace, the masters who carried out the restoration in 2000 placed a copper capsule. In the capsule is a list of all participants in the restoration work with the signature: “We did everything we could. Who can, do better."

Guests of St. Petersburg, thinking that the bridge is connected with a certain Anichka, incorrectly pronounce the name of the bridge, emphasizing the first letter in the word "Anichkov". It is correct to say - Anichkov, making the second syllable stressed.

During the dry law, introduced in the USSR in the 80s of the last century, the following saying was born: "In St. Petersburg, only four people do not drink, they have no time - they keep horses."

Similar compositions adorn the entrance to the Champs Elysees in Paris.


Horse Marley in Paris

Anichkov bridge in art:

Four black and bulky
Untamed stallion
They took off - everyone on the stage -
Under the tight bridle of the catcher.
How heavy is the wave of hooves and ardent!
How the muscles are tense
What branched network of veins
The smooth slope of the back will be pulled!

"Anichkov Bridge" Vladimir Narbut (1913)

The horse was dragged by the bridle on a cast-iron
Bridge. Water was black under the hoof.
The horse snored and the air was moonless
Snoring kept on the bridge forever...
Everything stayed. Movement, suffering -
Did not have. The horse was snoring.
And on the bridle in the tension of silence
Forever frozen hung a man.

Alexander Blok

Submissive to the command of the master,
Passing through the purgatory of fire,
Soared into the air in a black whirlwind
Four bronze horses! . .

And at the same moment four young
Mighty rider, from the ground
Jumping up, reins like strings,
In single combat strained! . .

In vain the horses beat with their hooves,
Strive to break away,
And they neigh and spin angrily,
And tear the reins and snore! . .

But the muscles of mighty youths
Skill, intelligence and pressure,
Clarifying ebullient temper,
Already solving the old dispute! -

Pulling tight reins,
Humble the wild temper of the horse ...
So my city humbled the elements
Water, and steel, and fire! . .

Horses on the Anichkov Bridge!.. Nikolai Leopoldovich Brown (1956)

They froze over the Fontanka, keeping silence,
There are four powerful horses in different groups.
Next to them they - well done - daring.
They keep so many years of those horses by the bridle.

The veins swelled at the legs - there is a limit to the forces.
Well, even a jerk - this horse would take off.
Intoxicated by freedom, distant yet.
The horse does not feel how, lips tear at the bit.

And the river under the bridge, quietly carries water.
And thoughtfully waiting for a hot fight outcome ...
Those horses, like us, are always held by something.
But someday the horse will break the bit.

Anichkov bridge. Ivan Aleksandrovich Solopchuk

Not Anechka at all - Anna
Gave the bridge its name
And the engineer, lieutenant colonel,
I'll tell you how it was:

They called him Michael.
Knew: Anichkov in the district
Lived in a settlement beyond the Fontanka,
And the battalion - for each other!

In the eighteenth century, stormy,
He built a path across the river.
Bridge and surname are similar -
Glory has come to man!

The bridge was then three-span.
Towers - four, granite.
The middle part, which is lifting,
The tree smelled of luxury.

And in the nineteenth century
This bridge has been redone.
The towers are gone. Mermaids
From cast iron on the railing

Together with the seahorses
They breathe greenery in the river,
Like German fairy tales
Quietly they whisper to us with you!

Frozen Klodt's creations
On a stone pedestal.
Indomitable horses -
Creatures cast in bronze!

How many times have you been given!
Looking for a better place!
You restless horses
Bring joy to those who walk!

You see, a thoroughbred horse
Proud Arabian breed,
A young man instantly tamed,
Looking into the cold water

Anichkov bridge. Margarita Lublinskaya

Andrey Efimovich Martynov. View of Nevsky Prospect from the Fontanka to the Admiralty. 1809-10

P.A. Alexandrov. View of the old Anichkov bridge and Naryshkin's house on the Fontanka, 1825

Vasily Semenovich Sadovnikov. Anichkov bridge

Joseph Iosifovich Charlemagne. View from the Anichkov Bridge to the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace in St. Petersburg (1850s)

Karl Petrovich Beggrov. Fontanka perspective from Anichkov bridge"

Louis Julien Jacotte. Anichkov bridge. 1850.

Paolo Sala. Anichkov Bridge on Nevsky Prospekt at dusk.

Viktor Vladimirovich Merkushev. Anichkov bridge

Alexander Alexandrovsky. Anichkov bridge. Fontanka. St. Petersburg

Azat Galimov. Anichkov bridge

Evgeny Malykh. St. Petersburg. View of the Anichkov bridge

Evgeny Malykh. St. Petersburg. Anichkov bridge

Baggy Boem. Sculpture of Anichkov Bridge

Oleg Ildyukov. Anichkov bridge on the Fontanka

Biktimirov. Anichkov bridge

Sergei Rakutov. Anichkov bridge

Ekaterina Shakhova. Anichkov bridge

Oksana Pivovarova. Anichkov bridge

Olga Litvinenko. Anichkov bridge. Winter

Sabir Takhir-oglu Hajiyev. Anichkov bridge

Hope Ivanova. Anichkov bridge

Klodt's horses are torn
To walk along the Nevsky
Yes, they are afraid that they will stumble:
Mercedes on the way...))))

BUT Nichkov Bridge is one of the most famous and beautiful bridges in the world.
It differs from other bridges thanks to sculptures. Although Petersburg is famous drawbridges, this bridge is not a drawbridge now, but it is one of the most famous and most visited by tourists bridges in St. Petersburg.

There are several versions of why the bridge got such an unusual name. The official and most important version - the bridge owes its name to Lieutenant Colonel-engineer Mikhail Anichkov (emphasis on I), whose battalion in the time of Peter the Great was stationed behind the Fontanka in the so-called Anichkova Sloboda.

In 1715, Emperor Peter I issued a decree: "After the Bolshaya Neva on the Fountain River, in the future, create a bridge." By May 1716, the work was completed and a multi-span wooden girder bridge on pile supports was built across the Fontanka, blocking both the channel itself and the swampy floodplain.
The bridge was quite long, since the Fontanka itself was then an impressive water barrier and had a width of about 200 meters.

in 1721 the crossing was expanded, the bridge became eighteen-span. The middle part was made liftable, since by that time the Fontanka had already been cleared and deepened, and ships began to sail along it.

The bridge underwent major repairs in 1726 and 1742, and in 1749 the architect Semyon Volkov built a new wooden bridge, which did not differ much from the typical bridges of that time. According to one of the versions, the crossing was made without a drawbridge and strengthened in order to deliver to the king a gift from the Shah of Iran - elephants.

Before late XVIII century Fontanka was the border of the city, so the bridge served as a kind of checkpoint. There was a checkpoint near the bridge.

A permanent stone bridge was thrown over the Fontanka along the line of Nevsky Prospekt in 1785. He looked like this...

An almost exact copy of the Lomonosov Bridge (still the same Staro-Kalinkin Bridge), which has been preserved to this day and which will be the next post. The middle span was made in wood and opened to let small ships and barges through. Between the four granite tower superstructures, which rested on river supports, heavy chains were stretched, which served to lift the canvases of the adjustable part.

In 1841, the old bridge was dismantled and a new one was built in seven months. In January 1842, the grand opening of the new crossing took place. Three spans, covered with gentle vaults, were laid out of brick, the bridge supports and spans were lined with granite, cast-iron railings appeared with alternating paired images of hippocampi (fantastic seahorses) and strange mermaids according to a drawing by the Berlin architect Karl Schinkel.

Please note - this is a rare, previously unknown species of mermaids. They have hind legs and a tail. With such mermaids, sailors do not have classic questions ... but how ...

Granite pedestals for statues also appeared, on which the sculptures “Horse Tamers” commissioned by the sculptor P.K. Klodt to decorate the Admiralteyskaya embankment. The original project also included the installation of bronze vases in the middle of the bridge (above each of the pillars). This point of the project was abandoned, leaving the pedestals to the descendants as a keepsake.

The first two sculptures, “A Horse with a Walking Young Man” and “A Young Man Taking a Horse by the Bridle”, cast in bronze, appeared on the western side in 1841. The sculptures on the eastern shore repeated those of the western ones, but were temporary, made of plaster painted in bronze. Only the bronze horses cast by him to replace and barely cooled down directly from the foundry yard were presented by Nicholas I to the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV. They are still in Berlin.

In 1844, the oriental plaster sculptures were finally replaced with bronze ones, but they did not stand for long, two years later Nicholas I presented them to the King of the Two Sicilies for the hospitality shown to the Russian Empress during a trip to Italy and in 1846 ended up in Naples. I was there, link to the post below.

"Horse Tamers" in front of the Royal Palace in Naples. I have a separate post about them.

Subsequently, copies of Klodt's horses ended up in Peterhof, Strelna, and the Moscow estate of the Golitsyns - Kuzminki.

The emperor did not like Klodt. But his talent was recognized. There is a legend that Nicholas I said: "Well, Klodt, you make horses better than a stallion."

And the emperor did not like Klodt, that's why. Klodt had very good horses and a badass coachman without a tower. He, a rogue, had a habit of overtaking all the carriages on the street.

Once, Klodt in his carriage overtook the crew of the emperor himself. And to overtake the king himself is a serious matter. It was possible to thunder in exile. It was not even allowed to drive close to the king ...

The emperor recognized Klodt and jokingly shook his finger at him. Klodt scolded the coachman well and ordered not even to drive past the palace.

But he did not take into account the vanity of the royal coachman, and he conveyed to the coachman Klodt, saying, hold on, I was not ready, next time we'll see who will take ... in a word, a challenge was thrown to the competition.

And after all, the case, as luck would have it, soon presented itself. Ehzal Klodt by Senate Square, and at the Morskaya street the crowd, "Hurrah" is heard. Hence, the king.

Klodt shouts at the coachman and pokes him in the back with a stick to stop him - nothing helps! And so, the king's coachman, seeing his rival, pressed the horses, and Klodt's coachman, not listening to the owner, struck with the reins ... and a race began, to the horror of the guards and police accompanying the king, who did not know what to think.

The most surprising thing is that this time Klodt's horses won. And the emperor, it seems, showed him a fist through the window.

The story would have ended badly for Klodt, but the same horses, only copper ones, rescued him from trouble. At that time he graduated and had already cast horses for the Anichkov Bridge.

The king came, looked and was completely delighted.
- It's them? the tsar asked, subtly alluding to the living Klodt horses that had overtaken him. Indeed, Klodt sculpted from them.
- For these, - said the king, pointing to the copper ones, - I forgive ...))))

But still, the emperor constantly gave abroad these horses he loved. And each time they were removed from the bridge and replaced with plaster copies.

Finally, in 1851 the bridge was finally completed. Klodt did not repeat the previous sculptures, but created two new compositions, as a result, the statues began to depict four different stages of conquering a horse.

The statues left the bridge twice more: in 1941, during the blockade, they were removed and buried in the garden of the Anichkov Palace, and in 2000 they were taken away for restoration and returned to their original place by the 300th anniversary of the city.

The horse is subdued...

The statues of horses that “look” towards the Admiralty have horseshoes on their hooves, and the statues of horses that look towards the Uprising Square do not have horseshoes. Earlier in Kuznechny Lane there were (oddly enough) blacksmiths))) and almost all the horses in the city were shod there. Therefore, shod horses “go” from the forges to the beginning of the avenue, while unshod horses, on the contrary, face towards Kuznechny Lane.

Compare for yourself))) specially photographed)))

There is another interesting famous legend. In Russia, everything related to the genitals, for some reason, is quickly gaining fame ...)))
As if Klodt was cheated on by his wife and he contrived to depict the appearance of his offender between the legs of one horse. Klodt generally has an interesting story of marriage worthy of a separate post. They didn’t want to give away the girl he liked for him. Her parents considered him a rogue. Like, he only knows how to sculpt horses ...

According to another version, this is Napoleon Bonaparte himself.

The facial features of the lover of Klodt's wife have gone into the anal horse of history, but the silhouette of Napoleon's face is really guessed.

The baron and his horses were glorified even in folk ditties:

Baron von Klodt presented to the cross
For being on the Anichkov Bridge
To the surprise of all Europe
He put up 4 naked women.

There was a legend among the people that Klodt died due to frustration, because. as it turned out that two horses on the bridge were missing tongues in their mouths.

And not in vain - the bridge suffered from artillery raids. Granite parapets and railing sections were damaged. The crossing has become a monument to the blockade: on the granite pedestal of the horses, they did not specifically restore the trace from fragments of a Nazi artillery shell.

View of the Fontanka.

View of the Fontanka on the other side of the bridge))) then...

And now ... pay attention, before the bridge was called not Anichkov, but AnichKIN or Anichkovsky. This can be seen on the postcards above in the signatures.

A couple of jokes about the bridge and Klodt))))

A policeman caught a drunk worker who was writing from a bridge to the Fontanka. He brought him to the sculptures and said .... you see what is written here! it's a cultural place! even carved on stone ... Baron Klodt poured! And the worker to him ... what did they fight for !? So you can take a piss for a baron, but you can’t for a worker?

The Anichkov Bridge was previously called the "Bridge of 18 Eggs" ... people, horses ... and the policeman who was always there)))) Now it is called the bridge of 16 eggs - there are no more policemen and now no one is guarding the sculpture))) however, I'm lying . Don't call him that... a joke.

And finally ...))) During the fight against alcoholism in St. Petersburg, they said that only 4 people in St. Petersburg do not drink - those on the Anichkov Bridge))) they say they have no time, they keep horses.

Infa and a number of paintings and engravings (C) Internet, Wikipedia and other places on the Internet.