Blue Bridge (Saint Petersburg)
TheBlue Bridge(‹See Tfd›Russian:Си́ний мост,Siniy most) is a 97.3-metre-wide (319 ft) bridge that spans theMoika RiverinSaint Petersburg,Russia.The Blue Bridge is the widest bridge in Saint Petersburg and is sometimes claimed to be the widest bridge in the world – a claim, however, that has not been recognized by internationalreference works,such as theGuinness World Records.
The Blue Bridge spans the Moika River and is located in front of theMariinsky PalaceatSaint Isaac's Squarein city's historic centre. The firstcast ironbridge on the site was designed in 1805 by the architectWilliam Heste,[1]and built in 1818. This bridge was a single-span bridge resting on stone supports, and measured 41 metres across. In 1842–1844, the bridge was widened on its northern side to its present width of 97.3 metres - just as wide as the adjacent Isaac's Square. Soon after the bridge was widened, there were rumours that the new width of the bridge was 99.9 metres instead of the actual 97.3. This rumour even made it into some official booklets and textbooks. Today, most of the Blue Bridge serves as a parking lot.
The bridge's name dates from a 19th-century tradition of color-coding the bridges crossing the Moika River. Like other colored bridges, the Blue Bridge got its name from the color of its sides facing the river. Today only four colored bridges survive, the other ones being theRed Bridge,theGreen Bridgeand theYellow Bridge.Three of them have kept their original names, while Yellow Bridge has been renamed to Pevchesky Bridge.
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^Anthony Cross, ‘Hastie, William (1754/5–1832)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oct 2009accessed 28 Nov 2013
- Yuriy Vladimirovich Novikovet al.,Mosty i naberezhnye Leningrada,Lenizdat: Saint Petersburg (Russia),ISBN5-289-00690-7
- Michail Samoylovich Bunin,Mosty Leningrada: Ocherky istorii i architektury mostov Peterburga-Petrograda-Leningrada,Leningrad: Stroyizdat, 1986.
