The Presidential Library revealed little-known facts about St. Petersburg bridges

“The minimum time of opening up of a drawbridge is 2 minutes. It may be even faster, but then the structure may be affected. On average, the opening up of a drawbridge takes 3.5-4 minutes, including the requests of travel companies. Yes, there is a certain magnitude in this process ... This is also an element of the tourist attractiveness of the city”, - says Andrei Kochin, deputy director of the St. Petersburg state budgetary institution Mostotrest.  

November 23, the Presidential Library hosted the “Knowledge of Russia” video lecture on “Bridges of St. Petersburg: Past, Present, Future”, during which representatives of Mostotrest, the Institute of Giprostroymost - St. Petersburg, and employees of protection of historical and cultural monuments (KGIOP) discussed the main symbols of our city - drawbridges.

Mostotrest is the oldest operating organization in Russia and the only institution in the city on the Neva that is responsible for the maintenance and repair of artificial road structures owned by the city. The representative of the organization at the same time shared an unexpected admission. It turns out that Peter the Great, the founder of St. Petersburg, did not much like bridges.

“To be honest, Peter I didn’t like bridges much, as he was a carpenter and shipbuilder, he considered bridges rather an obstacle for ships that he sawed and cherished”, - said Andrei Kochin.

However, over time, more than three hundred bridges emerged in the city, which became one of the main symbols of St. Petersburg. Today, in the Northern capital, ferries for every taste are presented: arched, beam, cantilever, frame and cable-stayed bridges.

There are probably two main problems for organizations serving them. This is the vibration and passage of heavier vehicles than those listed in the regulations, a large number of which may deform the structure.   

The Giprostroymost - St. Petersburg Institute, one of Russia's leading organizations in the design of bridges and transportation structures (including the bridge over the Golden Horn Bay and on Russian Island in Vladivostok, as well as the Crimean Bridge), was represented by Administrative Director Yury Lipkin.

He recalled how, back in 1963, he took part in the construction of the Alexander Nevsky Bridge in Leningrad. Then the first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, N. S. Khrushchev, arrived in the city and ... stopped the construction site, having decided that the new bridge should be much higher than this one. For 12 days, designers and builders urged the head of state that this was impossible in the center of the city. So they convinced!

In turn, representatives of the KGIOP Yulia Kharchilava and Yevgeny Pavzredin said that the committee is responsible for carrying out the state policy of St. Petersburg in the field of accounting, identification, preservation, use, promotion and state protection of cultural heritage objects, including .

Popular for many newlyweds locks on the bridges, they called the "urban disaster". However, there is a way out. So, the city authorities have already begun to install the so-called "castle towers" - special structures, on which you can hang locks without damage to the bridges. Such a design, in particular, is near the Konyushennaya Square.

During the event, a thematic exhibition on the bridges of St. Petersburg was broadcasted live in the multimedia gallery of the Presidential Library, which included photographs from the electronic collections of the Presidential Library, provided by the Mostotrest St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution.

Representatives of the V. G. Belinsky Sverdlovsk Regional Universal Research Library joined the discussion via video-conferencing mode. The Presidential Library in St. Petersburg was attended by students of the Herzen University of Russia, the Military Academy of Logistics. The A. V. Khrulev Army General, College of Architecture and Construction, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Alexander I St. Petersburg State University of Railway Transport, pupils of St. Petersburg schools.

Moreover, about two months ago, Mostotrest, in the framework of a cooperation agreement, donated over 500 unique photographs of St. Petersburg bridges to the Presidential Library’s collections.