Pedestrian and cycling bridge over Saint Volodymyr Descent (), also known as Klitschko Glass Bridge (, ''Sklianyi mist Klychka''), is a bridge connecting two parks in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, Ukraine—the Saint Volodymyr Hill and Khreshchatyi Park—over the street

Saint Volodymyr Descent Saint Volodymyr Descent () is a street in Kyiv located between the Pechersk Raion, Pechersk and Podil Raion, Podil city districts. It stretches from European Square (Kyiv), European Square to Postal Square (Kyiv), Postal Square. The city street s ...

. It is used by pedal cycles and pedestrians only. Built over five months at a cost of 275 million

hryvnia The ( ; , ''hrn''; sign: ₴; code: UAH) has been the national currency of Ukraine since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is divided into 100 kopiykas (). It is named after a measure of weight used in Kievan Rus'. Etymology The currency of Kie ...

, the bridge was opened by

Kyiv mayor The Head of Kyiv City (), unofficially and more commonly the Mayor of Kyiv (), is a city official elected by popular vote who serves as a head of the Kyiv city state administration (the capital of Ukraine) and a chairperson the Kyiv City Counc ...

Vitali Klitschko Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,Vasyl Krychevsky Vasyl Hryhorovych Krychevsky (; January 12, 1873 – November 15, 1952) was a Ukrainian painter, architect, art scholar, graphic artist, film art consultant, pedagogue and master of applied art and decorative art. He is the designer of the 1 ...

. The bridge was supposed to be a part of Kyiv Government Center project made for architecture contest that was held in 1934, when Kyiv regained its status as the Ukrainian capital. Krychevsky designed the traffic viaduct that was planned to connect the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of People's Commissars. He was praised for the viaduct project, but his variant of Government Center was dismissed. In the independent Ukraine, the plan of building the bridge was brought back up in 2006. At the meeting of Kyiv Architecture Department on 6 September Heorhiy Dukhovnychyi presented the project of a shopping mall with offices and apartments at Saint Volodymyr Descent. The building featured a bridge over the descent, making it similar to Kyiv's central shopping mall

Globus GLOBUS is a radar system in the town of Vardø in Vardø Municipality, Finnmark county, Norway. It is operated by the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) and its official uses are primarily space observation and Arctic airspace monitoring for Nor ...

that was built in 2002 and had a similar bridge connecting its roof with a park. The project was approved for further development, but it had never ended up anything more than a concept. In 2013, Kyiv City State Administration decided that there had to be a bridge between two parks, and it had to be opened in 2014. The contest where Kyiv citizens had to choose the best project took place in May. The contest was international and featured participants from different countries: ipv Delft from

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Buro Happold Buro Happold Limited (previously ''BuroHappold Engineering'') is a British professional services firm that provides engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure, and the env ...

from

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Asadov Architectural Studio from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, Leuppi & Schafroth Architekten from

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, RR Architectes from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and two projects from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, one from Soyuzdorproekt and one from Kyivdormostproekt. However, the contest failed because of the split of opinion – the citizens chose a project from the Netherlands while the contest judges couldn't decide between Spain and Switzerland.

Final project

The order to build a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge was issued by

Kyiv City State Administration Kyiv City State Administration (, commonly abbreviated as KMDA ) is the national-level branch of the Government of Ukraine that administers Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The current Head of the Kyiv City State Administration is Vitali Klitschko; ...

in February 2017, the project's architect had to be decided in a contest. In October 2018, Proektni Systemy LTD was chosen as a winner with a project of Andriy Myrhorodskyi, it featured a 210 meters long steel bridge with glass elements. In November, SpetsAvtoBud had won the tender to build the footbridge,

structural steel Structural steel is steel used for making construction materials in a variety of shapes. Many structural steel shapes take the form of an elongated beam having a profile of a specific cross section (geometry), cross section. Structural steel sha ...

with

ultimate tensile strength Ultimate tensile strength (also called UTS, tensile strength, TS, ultimate strength or F_\text in notation) is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials, the ultimate t ...

of 420 MPa for the construction was fabricated in Azovstal and Okean. The land preparation began in December 2018. The construction of piers was started in February 2019, the descent was temporarily narrowed with fence to place the cranes. The installation of spans began in March, the final one was installed in April, Klitschko posted a video in

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

where, following the tradition, the champagne bottle was placed between two spans to be broken during the locking. In May, the installation of glass panels began as well as repair of park space near the bridge that was cleared up for the construction. On 25 May 2019 during the celebration of Day of Kyiv, the bridge was opened by

Mayor of Kyiv The Head of Kyiv City (), unofficially and more commonly the Mayor of Kyiv (), is a city official elected by popular vote who serves as a head of the Kyiv city state administration (the capital of Ukraine) and a chairperson the Kyiv City Counc ...

Vitaly Klitschko and his brother

Volodymyr Volodymyr (, ; ) is a Ukrainian given name of Old East Slavic origin. The related Ancient Slavic, such as Czech, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, etc. form of the name is Володимѣръ ''Volodiměr'', which in other Slavic languages became Vladimi ...

, they've jumped on one of the glass panels several times to prove the safety of the structure. Vitaly stated that the construction lasted five months and was finished in time, he said that the workers from

Zaporizhzhia Zaporizhzhia, formerly known as Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921, is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia ...

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

Konotop Konotop ( ) is a city in Sumy Oblast, northeastern Ukraine. Konotop serves as the administrative center of Konotop Raion within the oblast. Konotop is located about from Sumy, the administrative center of the oblast. It is host to Konotop Ai ...

Rivne Rivne ( ; , ) is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast.

and

were involved in the construction working 24 hours a day and this work united all the Ukrainians. On 13–14 June 2019, the bridge was closed to install the armored glass, apply the markings and clean up the bridge. On 30 June 2019, additional security cameras had been installed on the bridge. On 24 November 2021, in Saint Volodymyr Hill Park near the bridge, the bronze scale model of it was opened as a part of the program of popularization of tourism among the disabled people. The model has an information board in Ukrainian and English

braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

and a QR code for more information with sign language translation. The model has been approved by a head of All-Ukrainian Parliament of Working Disabled People.

Criticism

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
buffer zone concerns

When the bridge was under construction, Ukrainian Ministry of Culture sent a letter to

to ask for canceling the project because of Volodymyr hills being an object of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Word Heritage. The administration refused to stop the construction stating that its location is outside of the Sofia Cathedral's buffer zone which makes it completely legal. In March 2019,

headquarters in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to present the project of Kyiv's tourist route and to prove the legality of the new bridge.

's consulting mission decided to visit Kyiv in April.

Plagiarism accusations

In May 2019, Swiss architect Stefanie M. Schafroth, the co-founder of Leuppi & Schafroth Architekten, stated that Andrii Myrhorodskyi from Proektni Systemy LTD stole their project of the bridge that had won the contest back in 2013 for which they still didn't get their prize money promised by Kyiv. She also added that the cost of Swiss project was $6 million while the Ukrainian one increased it to $10 million. Andriy Myrhorodskyi called Stefanie's accusations 'complete nonsense' because his company was working on the footbridge project since 2010, making the plagiarism impossible in this situation. Andrii was supported by the transport infrastructure expert Viktor Petruk who made a detailed comparison of two projects in Facebook, where he had shown that while Andriy's project consisted of several strait spans, Stefanie's project had one S-shaped span. Viktor compared the accusations to looking for similarities between the jaguar ornament from

Jaguar XK140 The Jaguar XK140 is a sports car manufactured by Jaguar Cars, Jaguar between 1954 and 1957 as the successor to the Jaguar XK120, XK120. Upgrades included more interior space, improved brakes, rack and pinion steering, increased suspension trav ...

and the deer ornament from

GAZ-21 The GAZ M21 Volga is an automobile produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ (Gorkovsky Avtomobilniy Zavod, in English "Gorky automobile factory") from 1956 to 1970. The first car to carry the Volga name, it was developed in the early 1950s. Volgas w ...

, where the deer is a Swiss project.

Corruption accusations

State Architecture and Construction Inspection refused to put the Glass Bridge into operation because Kyiv Prosecution Office was investigating the embezzlement of state funds during the construction, suspecting architects, construction contractors and

. In 2019, the Head of Office of the President

Andriy Bohdan Andriy Yosypovych Bohdan (; born 3 December 1976) is a Ukrainian lawyer and former Head of the Presidential Administration. On 21 May 2019, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Bohdan to lead this office. He was responsible for communi ...

stated that he is contacting the law enforcement about the overpricing of the construction of

Podilskyi Bridge The Podilskyi Bridge Crossing (, ), also known as Podilsko-Voskresenskyi Bridge (), is a combined road-rail bridge over the Dnipro River under construction in Kyiv, Ukraine. It is a focal point of construction of the Podilsko-Vyhurivska Line of t ...

, Shuliavskyi and Glass bridges and is asking the government to fire Vitaly Klitschko from

. In response, Klitschko stated that the bridge had become an element of the political struggle against him. He also called the information about corruption a lie and stated that the takeover of authorities of the city administration oppose the European practice of city municipality. On 5 July 2019, Vitaly Klitschko sued the owner of

1+1 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

TV channel Oleksandr Tkachenko for journalists 'manipulating' to lie about corruption during the construction of the bridge. Vitaly stated that the price of the bridge increased because it included the price of Saint Volodymyr Hill work. On 18 February 2020, Vitaly Klitschko posted the results of the examinations at his Facebook page. The experts denied the embezzlement of state funds but instead proved the saving of 100 million

s. The total cost of bridge construction and a reconstruction of the park had turned out to be 306 million, while at the stage of planning it was expected to be 420 million. In his post, he once again stated that all the accusations against him is an attempt of

Servant of the People Servant of the People (; ''SN'') is a Liberalism, liberal, Centrism, centrist, Pro-Europeanism, pro-European List of political parties in Ukraine, political party in Ukraine. Since both the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and the 2019 Ukra ...

party to seize the control over the capital city.

Safety concerns

On 4 June 2019, architect Andriy Myrhorodskyi admitted that the construction process was rushed to be over in time for

Kyiv Day Kyiv Day, or officially the Day of Kyiv (, ), is a holiday in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it st ...

and said that the opening ceremony had to be held several weeks after completion of construction for asphalt to be ready. However, when one of the transparent sections was damaged soon after the opening, he blamed the 'bastards' who were testing the glass strength despite it being temporary anyway. In July 2019, Mostovyi Tsentr research and production enterprise was ordered to test the bridge's safety by

. According to the results, the bridge was serviceable and met the current standards of pedestrian bridges load. Results were published on the Administration's website. In March 2024, one of the glass panels cracked.

TV channel's

Television Service of News The TSN () or Television News Service (Телевізійна служба новин, ) is a Ukrainian daily news program of the 1+1 TV channel produced by 1+1 Media Group, broadcast from a television studio at the channel's headquarters in P ...

interviewed the director of Instytut Mista analytics and research center Oleksandr Serhiienko who stated that only first of three glass layers received damage and it was caused by oscillations and temperature drops rather than vandalism.

Construction mistake accusations

On 28 January 2024,

ICOMOS The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS; ) is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world. Now headquartered in Charenton-le-Pont, France, ICOMOS was fou ...

expert Olha Rutkovska stated that one of the piers of the bridge is misplaced interfering with the Khreshchatyk brook that flows in the underground collector which causes a soil subsidence at Poshtova Square where reconstruction was on hold due to the dispute with archaeologists. In April, head of

fraction Andriy Vitrenko during session of

stated that due to the constructions nearby, Poshtova Square's heritage site is under threat of collapse and soil erosion of Saint Volodymyr Hill is possible. On 28 April, Andriy Myrhorodskyi, who is the author of both Glass Bridge and Poshtova Square, stated that the real reason of subsidence are temporary piers of the square which were installed back in 2010s and were meant to serve several months, but with the conflict over the underground mall leading to construction interruption, they are now way over their limits and the square may collapse any time.

Accidents

Vandalism

The first act of vandalism on the bridge in the very first night after its opening. On 26 May 2019, two glass panels got cracked. Originally, it was supposed that they were shot with rifles from underneath, but the Municipal Guard stated that it was a result of a 'group of unknown people actively jumping on it'. That day,

Vitali Klitschko Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,Lutsk Lutsk (, ; see #Names and etymology, below for other names) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Volyn Oblast and the administrative center of Lutsk Raion within the oblast. Lutsk has a populati ...

and arrested him. He said that he came to Kyiv for recreation and called his actions an accident because he just wanted to test the sign's strength. He was sentenced to five years in jail for hooliganism. On 4 January 2022, the Municipal Guard discovered that the glass railing got cracked again during the holidays.

Automobile trespassing

On 17 June 2019, a Mercedes ML drove through the bridge despite the cars being banned from accessing a pedestrian zone.

Police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

found the vehicle owner by a number plate and charged him with a 400

hryvnias The ( ; , ''hrn''; sign: ₴; code: UAH) has been the national currency of Ukraine since 2 September 1996. The hryvnia is divided into 100 kopiykas (). It is named after a measure of weight used in Kievan Rus'. Etymology The currency of Kie ...

fine. Another trespassing happened in February 2020. A group of young people listening to Russian rap in their car drove through the pedestrian bridge in the night while filming it on camera.

Attacks during Russian invasion of Ukraine

As part of the 10 October 2022 missile strikes during the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, a Russian

Kh-101 The Kh-101 (; NATO reporting name: AS-23 "Kodiak") is a Russian subsonic air-launched cruise missile. Designed in the 1990s, it underwent testing in the 2000s and entered service in the 2010s, seeing use in the Syrian Civil War and the Russian ...

missile fell near the bridge's pillar, but the bridge survived with minor damage. During the attack, the only person that was on the bridge managed to survive and escape unhurt, he was the first person to take the photos of the missile's remains.

found and interviewed the man on 13 October. The place of attack was inspected by the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Kyrylo Tymoshenko who stated that the attack was targeted on a civilian object only to scare Ukrainians. On 11 October 2022,

Vitali Klitschko Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, said that repairs are already underway. On 17 December 2022, the bridge reopened with all 18 floor glass units as well as 143 side glasses replaced. The bridge became a symbol of endurance among Kyivans in comparison to the controversial

Crimean Bridge The Crimean Bridge (, ; ), also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning the Kerch Strait between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai in ...

that got damaged by the SBU earlier that month. On 13 October 2022,

Vitali Klitschko Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

received a souvenir with pieces of glass from the bridge and an inscription 'The bridge has endured,

has endured, and

will endure!'. On 10 May 2023, another piece of glass from the bridge was sold from

Prozorro Prozorro ( Ukrainian: Прозоро – transparent, clear) is a public electronic procurement system where state and municipal customers announce tenders to purchase goods, works and services, and business representatives compete for the opp ...

's charity auction; received money was used to fund Kyiv's newly formed rifle battalion. On the night of 28 May 2023, Kyiv suffered the largest

Shahed drone Shahed drones are Iran, Iranian unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) and loitering munitions (exploding kamikaze drones) developed by Shahed Aviation Industries. Shahed drones are manufactured both in Iran and in Russia, with the Russian vari ...

attack since the beginning of the war, with one explosion reportedly heard from the city center. The following morning, one cracked glass railing was discovered at the pedestrian bridge. Whether it was caused by the attack or not is unknown.

In popular culture

On 21 October 2022, Ukrainian singer Wellboy released a music video for his new song 'Styl'. The video was shot in

and among the other locations featured the Shevchenko University Red Corps and the St. Volodymyr Descent Glass Bridge that were recently damaged by

n missile strikes. The bridge was featured on the broadcast of the

Eurovision Song Contest 2023 The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, as , the winner of the with the song "Stefania (song), Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, was unable to host the eve ...

, as part of the "Postcard" for Australia's entry. It was shown alongside

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Matagarup Bridge Matagarup Bridge is a suspension pedestrian bridge crossing over the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia. Situated approximately half-way between Heirisson Island and the Goongoongup Bridge, it provides pedestrian access between Burswood ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Clifton Suspension Bridge The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, linking Clifton, Bristol, Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods, Somerset, Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Since opening in 1864, ...

References

External links

Surveillance video of bridge being struck by missile

Walk on the bridge over Saint Volodymyr Descent
{{Authority control Glass-bottomed bridges Pedestrian bridges in Ukraine Bridges in Kyiv 2019 establishments in Ukraine Bridges completed in 2019 Buildings and structures destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine