Upper Swan Bridge () is a single-span stone bridge in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. It is one of the oldest stone bridges in the city and carries

Palace Embankment The Palace Embankment or Palace Quay (Russian: Дворцовая набережная, Dvortsovaya naberezhnaya) is a street along the Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg which contains the complex of the Hermitage Museum buildings (includin ...

across the

Swan Canal The Swan Canal () is a waterway located in Saint Petersburg. Dating from the early years of the foundation of the city, it connects the Moyka River, Moyka and Neva Rivers. Originally built as part of a system of drainage channels and canals, the ...

. The preceding bridge on the site was of wooden construction, built in the 1710s over the Lebedinka, a shallow watercourse flowing between the

Moyka The Moyka (, also latinised as Moika) is a short river in Saint Petersburg which splits from the Neva River. Along with the Neva, the Fontanka river, and canals including the Griboyedov and Kryukov, the Moyka encircles the central portion ...

and

Neva River The Neva ( , ; , ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it is the fourth-l ...

s, at the point at which it entered the Neva. With the construction of the Swan Canal replacing the Lebedinka, the bridge continued to operate, until being replaced with a stone bridge in 1768. The bridge was alternately known as the Swan Bridge, the Stone Swan Bridge, and finally the Upper Swan Bridge, distinguishing it from the

Lower Swan Bridge Lower Swan Bridge () is a single-span stone bridge in Saint Petersburg crossing the Swan Canal at its junction with the Moyka River. The bridge is one of two which cross the Swan Canal, the other being the Upper Swan Bridge at the canal's northe ...

at the southern end of the canal at its juncture with the Moyka. Structural faults were identified as early as the mid-nineteenth century, but repairs were only carried out in the 1920s. These left the appearance of the bridge unaltered, and it still retains its original form. It has been designated an object of historical and cultural heritage of federal significance.

Location and design

The Upper Swan Bridge is in

Dvortsovy Municipal Okrug Dvortsovy Municipal Okrug () is a municipal okrug of Tsentralny District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia. Population: The okrug borders Nevsky Avenue in the southwest, the Neva River in the north, and the Fontanka River i ...

, part of the Tsentralny District of the city. It crosses the

, one of the city's oldest, at the point at which the canal joins the

, and carries

between the areas of the

Field of Mars The term Field of Mars () goes back to antiquity, and designates an area, inside or near a city, used as a parade or exercise ground by the military. Notable examples of places which were used for these purposes include: * Campus Martius, an area i ...

to the west, and the

Summer Garden The Summer Garden () is a historic public garden that occupies an eponymous island between the Neva, Fontanka, Moika, and the Swan Canal in downtown Saint Petersburg, Russia and shares its name with the adjacent Summer Palace of Peter th ...

to the east. It comprises a single-span arched stone construction long and wide, and carries both foot and vehicle traffic. It is one of two bridges that currently span the Swan Canal, the other being the

at the southern end of the canal at its juncture with the

Moyka River The Moyka (, also latinised as Moika) is a short river in Saint Petersburg which splits from the Neva River. Along with the Neva, the Fontanka river, and canals including the Griboyedov and Kryukov, the Moyka encircles the central portion ...

. Despite several restorations, its appearance has remained almost unchanged from its construction in stone in 1768 to the present day. It is one of the oldest stone bridges in the city.

History

Over the course of the eighteenth century four different wooden bridges spanned the Swan Canal. The Upper Swan Bridge began as a wooden construction across the Lebedinka, a shallow watercourse, at the point it enters the Neva. It was built between 1711 and 1715, and was named the Swan Bridge. The wooden bridge was replaced in 1768 by a single-span stone bridge, with construction overseen by engineer T. I. Nasonov. This was part of a larger scale overhaul of the embankments along the Neva, which saw them reinforced with granite. As designed the supporting pillars and arch of the bridge were of rubble slab lined with granite, with the parapets of solid granite. The

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 that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s were fitted with gas lanterns, but these were removed at some point, presumably by the late nineteenth century. At some point between 1836 and 1846 the bridge was renamed the Stone Swan Bridge, with the terms Upper and Lower Swan Bridges being in use since at least 1849 to distinguish the bridges at the northern and southern end of the canal respectively. Surveys of the Upper Swan Bridge between 1840 and 1845 revealed movement in the bridge supports and the deformation of its arched vault. Proposals were drawn up for a reconstruction of the bridge in 1847, which envisaged its replacement with a brick arch raised a metre above the river level. This proposal was never implemented, and a similar proposal by engineer K. V. Yefimev in 1908 ultimately came to nothing. The bridge finally underwent repairs between 1927 and 1928, with the fitting of monolithic reinforced concrete by engineer L. A. Krushelnitsky, and the restoration of its granite cladding in 1931. These repairs were carried out with the object of retaining the bridge's design and architectural appearance. Further restoration was carried out in 2003 as part of a general series of works on the canal. Cracks in its foundations were repaired. The bridge has been described as uniting Palace Embankment and the fence of the Summer Garden into a single architectural ensemble, and has been designated an object of historical and cultural heritage of federal significance."

Notes

a. Different sources attribute the design to either

Yury Felten Georg Friedrich Veldten, russified as Yury Matveyevich Felten (; 1730–1801) was a Russian Imperial architect who served at the Empress Catherine the Great's court. Yury Felten was born Georg Veldten, into a family of German immigrants to Rus ...

or I. G. Rossi.

References

{{Reflist Bridges in Saint Petersburg Bridges completed in 1715 Bridges completed in 1768 1768 establishments in the Russian Empire Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg