Lomonosov Bridge (Saint Petersburg)

 interesting place, road bridge, UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed building / architectural heritage, 1780s construction, stone bridge

Lomonosov Bridge is a bridge over the Fontanka River in St. Petersburg, at the intersection of the river with Lomonosov Street. One of the outstanding monuments of the bridge-building culture of the city and the only one of the Fontanka River crossings built according to the standard project of Jean-Rodolphe Perrone, which has managed to preserve its architectural appearance almost unchanged for 130 years. It is a stone three—span structure with a length of 62.9 meters, a width of 16.1 meters. The railings are cast iron on granite pedestals, the pattern repeats the pattern of the Fontanka embankments.

Chernyshev Bridge was not planned when drawing up the project of improvement of the Fontanka River banks and was started later than others, when the embankment was already lined with granite. It was built in 1785-1787 according to the standard design of stone bridges across the Fontanka River.

The bridge was built, apparently, at the request of Catherine II and was first called Catherine's Bridge, then renamed Chernyshev in honor of the general-in-chief Count G.P. Chernyshev, a participant in the Azov campaign and the battles of Narva and Poltava, and after the revolution it bears the name of the great Russian scientist M.V. Lomonosov.

The bridge consisted of 2 side stone arches lined with granite and the middle lifting part - a wooden double-wing draw span. Granite towers were placed on the river supports, in which there were lifting mechanisms with long chains. The flooring of the side parts of the bridge was paved with cobblestones (until the 1830s, the bridges on Fontanka had end bridges), the middle span was covered with wooden flooring. The sidewalks were lower than the pavement and fenced off from it by high granite parapets along the entire length of the sides of the bridge. The railings repeated the pattern of the railings of the embankment of the river . Fountains, but at the junctions with it were interrupted by granite postcards. The same parapets, but sharp-angled, were mounted on oxen between the pillars of gazebos facing the water. At the four corners of the bridge at the entrances there were stone lampposts-obelisks with two oval-shaped lanterns on metal brackets.

In the middle of the XIX century, due to the increased traffic of urban transport, stone bridges of the tower type: Simeonovsky, Anichkov, Semenovsky, Obukhovsky, Izmailovsky began to be rebuilt with the demolition of towers and the replacement of lifting spans with permanent ones.

Chernyshev Bridge and Staro-Kalinkin have most fully preserved their original appearance. Chernyshev Bridge is the only one of its brethren who has stood unchanged for over a hundred years, undergoing only current repairs.

The ensemble of bridges, while remaining an outstanding work of architecture, no longer played the same role, which stemmed from the border position of the Fontanka River, behind which in the XVIII century, the suburb essentially began.

In 1911-1912, the bridge was overhauled. The supports and arches were reinforced, the wooden superstructure in the middle span of the bridge was replaced with a metal girder.

At the entrance to the bridge in 1915, obelisks with lanterns were restored according to the project of the architect academician I.A. Fomin. The surface parts of the bulls and abutments were also shifted. The sidewalks have been raised above the level of the roadway, and the parapets separating them from the pavement have been removed. The entire roadway was paved with cobblestone, sidewalks on the sides – granite slabs, and in the central – asphalt.

Granite gutters are laid along the sidewalks.

In 1950, granite obelisks with lanterns, damaged during the blockade of the city, were restored, and in 1967 the architectural details were gilded.

In 1989, the granite curb and drainage tray of the Lenmosttrest DCS were rearranged.

In 2006, the restoration of the obelisks was carried out, the gilding of the lanterns, spherical pommels and hippocampus were refreshed.

en.mostotrest-spb.ru/bridges/lomonosova