Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge (russian: Большой Москворецкий мост, link=no) is a concrete

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct (a ...

that spans the

Moskva River The Moskva (russian: река Москва, Москва-река, ''Moskva-reka'') is a river running through western Russia. It rises about west of Moscow and flows roughly east through the Smolensk and Moscow Oblasts, passing through centr ...

in Moscow, Russia, immediately east of the

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (Ru ...

. The bridge connects

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical bui ...

with Bolshaya Ordynka Street in Zamoskvorechye. Built in 1936–1937, it was designed by V. S. Kirillov (

structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and muscles' that create the form and shape of man-made structures. Structural engineers also must understand and ca ...

) and

Alexey Shchusev Alexey Victorovich Shchusev (academic spelling), german: Schtschussew, french: Chtchoussev, pl, Szchusiew. (russian: Алексе́й Ви́кторович Щу́сев; – 24 May 1949) was a Russian and Soviet architect who was success ...

(architectural design).

Moskvoretsky bridge (1829/1872, demolished)

Wooden bridges east of the Kremlin have existed since the fifteenth century, as witnessed by Venetian

Ambrogio Contarini Ambrogio Contarini (1429 – 1499) was a Venetian nobleman, merchant and diplomat known for an account of his travel to Iran.Bertotti, Filippo (1992), "Contarini, Ambrogio", in: ''Encyclopædia Iranica'', Vol. VI, Fasc. 2, p. 220Online (Accessed Fe ...

, who travelled through Moscow in 1476. The first permanent Moskvoretsky bridge was built in 1829, about west of the present site. Three wooden arches, each long, were supported by stone

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining wall ...

s. It was loosely based on Kamennoostrovsky Bridge in Saint Petersburg designed by Agustín de Betancourt. The bridge burned down in 1871; after the fire, steel arches and decking were installed on the old abutments.

Bolshoy Moskvoretsky bridge (1937)

View to Moscow river from Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge

In 1935–1938, all the bridges in town centre Moscow were replaced with high capacity ones. Moskvoretsky Bridge was the first to be completed, and was the only concrete bridge of the 1930s. The bridge was placed at the narrowest point of the Moskva River, west of its predecessor; as a result, blocks of

Zaryadye Zaryadye ( rus, Зарядье, p=zɐˈrʲædʲje) is a historical district in Moscow established in 12th or 13th century within Kitai-gorod, between Varvarka Street and Moskva River. The name means "the place behind the rows", i.e., behind the ma ...

and Balchug were razed to make way for construction.Коллега А. В. Щусева – Патвакан Маркарович Сардарьян, см.: ''Правда'': газета. – № 273. – 3 октября 1937; а также в кн.: История Москвы. Т. 6 // Ин-т истории (АН СССР). – М.: Изд-во АН СССР, 1959. – С. 110. The main arch of the current bridge consists of three concrete boxes, long and high. The two arches over the embankments are each long. The bridge has a total width of (8 lanes), and its total length with approach ramps is . Although it is a concrete structure,

finished the bridge in

pink granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergrou ...

slabs to create the illusion that the bridge is actually built in stone. On 27 May 1987 German aviator

Mathias Rust Mathias Rust (born 1 June 1968) is a German aviator known for his flight that ended with a landing near Red Square in Moscow on 28 May 1987. A teenage amateur pilot, he flew from Helsinki, Finland, to Moscow, being tracked several times by Sovi ...

landed on the bridge. On 27 February 2015 opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was shot to death while crossing this bridge.

Moskvoretsky bridge (1829/1872, demolished)

Bolshoy Moskvoretsky bridge (1937)

Bibliography

References

See also