Bridge of Four Lions (Saint Petersburg)

 footbridge, interesting place, UNESCO World Heritage Site, 1820s construction

The Bridge of Four Lions is pedestrian. It is thrown across the Griboyedov Canal in the alignment of Levin Lane and Malaya Podyachnaya Street, connecting the Kazan and Spassky Islands.

The bridge is a single—span girder, its length along the rear faces of the abutments is 27.3 meters, width is 2.9 meters. The bridge fabric is made in the form of a wooden flooring.

The railing of the bridge is cast iron, the drawing is a grid of crossed rectangular rods, the ends of which are connected at the top and bottom by semicircular sockets. In the middle of the bridge, two octagonal lanterns on cast-iron floor lamps are mounted in the railing.

The Bridge of Four Lions is an outstanding monument of bridge–building architecture of the first quarter of the XIX century. One of the three surviving pedestrian chain bridges in St. Petersburg (along with the Bank and Post Office bridges).

This is one of six suspension bridges built in St. Petersburg in the first quarter of the XIX century. The Lion Bridge was built in 1825-1826, at the same time as the Bank Bridge.

It was supposed to be completed by October 1825, but due to delays in the manufacture of metal parts of the bridge, the bridge assembly began in the spring of 1826. For the construction of the bridge supports, the embankment was dismantled (without disassembling the granite cladding). The production of cast iron and metal parts, as well as the assembly of elements at the construction site was carried out by the Byrd plant. On July 1, 1826, the bridge was opened to traffic.

The Bridge of Four Lions, like the Bank Bridge, is single-span, hanging. The superstructure consists of chains, suspensions and wooden beams. The beams were attached to metal chains on suspensions. The ends of the chains are pivotally attached to cast-iron pylons inside the lion's heads, tightly fixed to the supports with anchor bolts. The pylons are hidden inside decorative sculptures – lions and metal pedestals.

The sculptures were made by academician-sculptor P.P. Sokolov. The figures of the lions are cast from cast iron at the Alexander Iron Foundry. Crossbars and a boardwalk are laid along the wooden beams. The abutments of the bridge are made of stone rubble, on a pile foundation, lined with granite. A cast-iron openwork lattice was installed on the bridge, on which lampposts were fixed directly in the railing in the middle part of the bridge.

In 1838, a reduced copy of the bridge (length 17.3 m, width 2 m) was erected by Borsig according to the project of the German architect L. F. Hesse on the territory of Berlin's Bolshoy Tiergarten Park.

The Bridge of Four Lions became the first Berlin suspension bridge. Unlike the St. Petersburg original, the span structure and railings of the Berlin Bridge of Four Lions are still wooden.

In 1880, the originally created cast-iron fences were removed from the bridge and replaced with a metal wrought-iron lattice of a simple pattern, the lanterns were modified.

In 1948, according to the project of engineer O.M. Yanovsky, the bridge was overhauled. Wooden beams were replaced with metal ones, and to give them a curved shape, they are made up of five segments welded together. As a result, the stiffness beams acquired a small boom lift. All other bridge structures have been preserved in their original form.

In 1954, the old grilles and lanterns were restored according to the project of architect A.L. Rotach. The pedestals and sculptures of lions have been restored.

In 1999-2000, the bridge was overhauled. In 2015, one lamp was torn off by vandals, the second one was damaged. By the forces of the SPb GBU "Mostotrest", work was carried out on the restoration of lanterns and their installation on floor lamps. Next year, the railings, cornices and floor lamps were painted.

The latest restoration of the lion sculptures on the Bridge of Four Lions began on August 10, 2018 and lasted until October 2018. Unlike the restoration in 2000, the sculptures were not dismantled, all work is carried out under protective canopies right on the bridge.

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