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THE ANICHKOV BRIDGE
One of the most beautiful and majestic bridges - the Anichkov Bridge - is built across the Fontanka River. It is one of the most famous bridges of St. Petersburg.
The first Anichkov Bridge was constructed by order of Tsar Peter the Great in 1713 under the direction of lieutenant colonel M. O. Anichkov. The bridge was named after him afterwards. Initially it was wooden. In 1726 a drawbridge was built on Nevsky Prospekt in place of the old wooden one. In 1732, when St. Petersburg became the capital of the Russian Empire again, a triumphal arch was erected on the bridge. The arch was decorated with seventeen statues, bas-reliefs with historical plots. The triumphal arch stayed there up to the year 1751.
In the middle of the XIXth century they reconstructed the Anichkov Bridge. Years passed, traffic increased in St. Petersburg including Nevsky Prospekt, and in 1838 a new construction of the Anichkov Bridge was started. It was supposed to conform to the new needs of residents of the city, be wide and spacious. The new Anichkov Bridge was constructed under the direction of the engineer A. D. Gotman. On the 22nd of November of 1841 the first sculptural group of horses was installed on the bridge. Four sculptural groups named "horses-tamers" by the sculptor P. Klodt still decorate the Anichkov Bridge on Nevsky Prospekt. They depict different stages of horse-taming symbolizing struggle of human beings with nature. Two of the four horse groups were cast of bronze personally by the sculptor.
At the beginning of 1840 Nicolay the First ordered to send two bronze monuments from the Anichkov Bridge to Italy in consideration of the welcoming reception accorded to his wife. Instead of the sent statues they installed gypseous copies. Some time later Klodt founded new bronze composition of horse-taming. Thus, the marvelous sculpture ensemble symbolizing human victory over wild nature appeared on the Anichkov Bridge.
In the year of 1941, during the Great Patriotic War, these sculptures were dismantled and buried in a garden not far away from the Anichkov Bridge. And only in 1945 they were returned to their places; the cast fence which was damaged during bombardments was restored.
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