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EMBANKMENTS AND BRIDGES OF ST. PETERSBURG
St. Petersburg is called the Northern Venice. The city is situated in the mouth of the Neva and 101 islands; there are 65 rivers in its vicinity. All this certainly had an effect on the city. Granite embankments and bridges are characteristic features of St. Petersburg.
There are more than three hundred bridges in the city, and more than thirty of them are architectural monuments. Construction of the granite embankments in St. Petersburg was started as early as the second half of the XVIIIth century. At first the banks of the Neva, then the Fontanka, Moika, the Catherine Canal were revetted with stone, decorated with sculpture. If you come to the descent to the Neva near the Arts Academy, you will see even from afar the silhouettes of two sphinxes lying majestically on their high pedestals. The expression of enigmatical mystery and proud quietness set on their faces. It seems that they guard the wide lowering to the Neva - the granite staircase decorated with two slender lamps and gryphons (winged lions) situated on the sides.
The construction of this trim quay commenced in 1831. Initially the project provided for erection of horses statues. But at that very time two sphinxes were bought in Egypt, They were made a thousand and a half years before Christ. It was decided to install them as decorations of the descent to the Neva. The sphinxes are images of Pharaoh Amenhotep III (1455-1419 B. C.). This fact is known from the hieroglyphic inscriptions cut in the foundation of each of the sculptures. The sphinxes have become one of the best decorations of the Neva embankments.
On the left bank of the river, near the pavilions of the Admiralty facing the Neva, they erected two quays - Dvortsovaya (Palace) and Petrovskaya (Peter’s) - at the beginning of the 20s of the XIXth century. The Palace Quay was decorated with two sculptures of lions embossed of copper sheets at the Alexandrovsky Cast-Iron Plant. The cast-iron pedestals for the sculptures and the vases brought from the Tavrichesky Palace were also cast there. Many years later, when the construction of the Palace Bridge was on (in 1914-1916), the quay was moved a little bit lower and built anew in front of the eastern pavilions of the Admiralty. The lions’ figures were left on it. But the vases were installed at the Peter’s Quay.
Sculptures of fabulous creatures can be seen not only on the banks of the Neva. Not far away from Nevsky Prospekt, in front of the building of the former Banknotes Bank there is a foot-bridge across the Griboedov Canal named Bankovsky. It was constructed in 1825-1826 and decorated with sculptures of four winged lions- griffins. The bridge perfectly harmonizes with the fence of the bank’s building constructed in 1817, and thick crowns of trees bending over the canal impart a special charm to this poetic nook.
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