Crosses the Fontanka. The sculptures of horse tamers by Pyotr Klodt, installed on the Anichkov Bridge, are one of the recognizable symbols of St. Petersburg.

Anichkov bridge in the 18th century

In the early days of Nevsky Prospekt's existence, transportation across the river was apparently carried out by ferry. But the burden on him was constantly growing. Therefore, in 1715, Peter I ordered to arrange a permanent wooden crossing: " Behind the Bolshaya Neva on the Fountain River, in the future, create a bridge"[Quoted in: 3, p. 395].

By May of the following year, the soldiers of the Admiralty "construction battalion", located nearby, fulfilled the order. They were led by Lieutenant Colonel M. O. Anichkov, whose name was fixed in the name of the crossing.

50 rubles were spent on the construction of the first Anichkov Bridge. Its length was 150 meters. It blocked not only the Fontanka, but also the swampy floodplain of the river. The carriageway was so narrow that two carts could not pass at the crossing. The size of the Anichkov Bridge can be judged from a report dated May 15, 1716:

“On the perspective across the Fontanka River, it was done: it was paved on stumps with a length of 80 sazhens, across 3 sazhens with plates, and over the plates about the entire bridge it was paved with boards 4.5 arshins wide, and lifting shields were made, and bars were placed on the entire bridge on both sides on the railing " [Cit. according to: 5, p. 7].

When escorting masted vessels under the Anichkov Bridge, the lifting shields mentioned in the report were removed and returned to their place manually. That is, there was no drawbridge here initially.

Like any wooden building of that time, the Anichkov Bridge quickly fell into disrepair. On April 3, 1719, Chief of Police A. M. Devier reported to the Chief Commissar of the Office of City Affairs A. M. Cherkassky:

"Because I told you my Sovereign many times to build a bridge across the Fantannaya River ... and His Royal Majesty deigned to order that to do and time is running out, but nothing has been started to do. And if that is not done soon, then a stop in the passage a it has already become impossible to travel along the promising road, and about that, if you please, apply your labors" [Ibid.].

On next year The engineer Herman van Boles undertook the reconstruction of the Anichkov Bridge. This became one of his first concerns in St. Petersburg. In the future, van Boles became famous as a master of the installation of spiers and drawbridges. Apparently, van Boles only drew up a project, while Domenico Trezzini was involved in its implementation. This is evidenced by a report to the Office of City Affairs:

"The current year of 1721 in the month of January was ordered to release from the city the architect Andrey Trizin to the structure of the drawbridge, which is being built across the fountain river, for boxes of wild stone, fourteen fathoms from the city ...
Ten sazhens of wild stone were released to the drawbridge ... and in addition to the cost of barks, for paving the mentioned bridge of the ship bottoms three hundred boards and for strengthening the mentioned drawbridge of iron six chains, according to the models that are shown from the master von Boles ... " [Cit. according to: 5, page 9]

During the reconstruction according to the project of Hermann van Boles, the Anichkov bridge acquired a drawbridge, which greatly simplified the navigation of ships along the Fontanka. Instead of manually disassembling one of the spans, it was now enough to raise the wings of the bridge using chains and a wooden lever device. Only two people could do it. In 1723, the Office of the Buildings ordered the crossing to be painted. The railings of the Anichkov Bridge were then painted red.

After the death of Peter I, the position of his widow, Empress Catherine I, was not stable. As a precaution, on February 17, 1726, she issued a decree on the construction of a guard house near Anichkov Bridge. Prior to this, a simple hut served as a shelter for the soldiers. This guard house was located on the site of the house number on Nevsky Prospekt. At the crossing, a slingshot (barrier) was arranged, which blocked the passage at night. There was an outpost through which they entered St. Petersburg. Passports were checked at the outpost, they took an entry fee. Moreover, such a payment could be not only money, but also stones that the city needed to paving the streets.

In 1742, new piles were brought under the crossing. In 1749, according to the project of the architect Semyon Volkov, the Anichkov bridge was rebuilt. It was thoroughly fortified, since elephants had to pass through it - a gift from the Persian Shah to the Russian Empress. The bridge is no longer drawable. It was sheathed with boards and designed to look like granite. At the entrance to the crossing, lanterns were installed on tall wooden poles. The length of that Anichkov bridge was more than 200 meters, which is almost four times the length of the modern one.

In the 1780s, the banks of the Fontanka were dressed in granite. At the same time, according to the project of J.R. Perrone, seven stone crossings of the same type were built across the Fontanka. In the years 1783-1787 standard project The Anichkov Bridge was also rebuilt. Since that time, it has been a three-span granite bridge, the middle drawbridge of which was wooden. On his bulls were towers with adjustable mechanism. Anichkov bridge was protected by stone parapets. IN early XIX centuries, they were replaced by gratings with stone pedestals, repeating the fence of the Fontanka embankments. At the entrance to the bridge, stone obelisks were installed, on each of them two lanterns were hung.

The cobblestone pavement on the Anichkov Bridge in 1832 was replaced by an end pavement.

Anichkov bridge. Horses of Klodt

By the middle of the 19th century, the Anichkov Bridge became too narrow for the main street of St. Petersburg. In 1839, a decision was made to rebuild it. The corresponding project, approved in December 1840, was developed by engineers I. F. Buttats, A. H. Reder and A. D. Gotman. To oversee its implementation, a special committee was created, headed by the director of the Ways Institute, Lieutenant-General A. D. Gotman.

Construction works carried out by the contractor Makar Pimenov. They began with the dismantling of the old crossing, and on May 22, 1841, the first stone was laid at the foundation of the new Anichkov Bridge. Three arches were laid out in just four months - it was necessary to restore traffic on the highway as soon as possible. During the construction period, traffic was carried out on a temporary bypass wooden bridge.

The brick vaults of the new Anichkov Bridge were lined with pink granite, which at that time was brought to St. Petersburg for the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral. All work was completed by the fall, they lasted only six months.

Initially, it was supposed to decorate the vaults of the bridge with bronze decorative overlays, put bronze vases on each of the bulls, and equestrian groups on the coastal abutments. But during the construction process, it was decided to confine ourselves to the latter.

In early November 1841, railings and granite pedestals for statues were installed on the Anichkov Bridge. The fence was designed by the German architect Karl Schinkel. Exactly the same drawing was used earlier (in 1822-1824) for the construction of the railing of the Palace Bridge in Berlin. According to the reports of the Ministry of Finance, the construction of the crossing cost 195,294 silver rubles.

The grand opening of the crossing took place on November 20, 1841 (?). Traffic on the Anichkov Bridge was opened in January 1842. A contemporary of these events wrote:

“The new Anichkov Bridge delights all residents of St. Petersburg. Crowds are going to admire the amazing proportion of all parts of the bridge and horses - boldly say, the only ones in the world. There is something open, dexterous, attractive in the Anichkov Bridge! Having entered the bridge, it seems that he had a rest!... None of the St. Petersburg structures made such an impression on the residents of the capital as the Anichkov Bridge! Honor and glory to the builders!” [Cit. according to: 4, p. 74].

In those years, the St. Petersburg animal sculptor Pyotr Karlovich Klodt worked on a design project for the pier on the Neva embankment near Admiralteisky Boulevard. Then they were going to decorate it with two sculptures of horses led by young men. But plans have changed. Lions and vases were placed on the pier. Horse tamers, at the suggestion of the sculptor, it was decided to install on the rebuilt Anichkov Bridge.

A platoon of sappers moved Klodt's horses from the foundry on Vasilyevsky Island to the Fontanka. According to A. L. Punin, this happened on November 20, 1841, and two days later they were installed on pedestals near the western bank of the river. This contradicts the fact that it was on November 20 that the solemn opening of the crossing took place. On the east side, plaster copies of sculptural groups, painted with bronze paint, were installed.

A year later, Klodt made bronze copies of equestrian groups. When the bronze sculptures were already ready for installation, in 1842, at the direction of Nicholas I, they were presented to the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Klodt's horses ended up in Berlin. As a reciprocal gesture, the Prussian monarch in 1845 presented St. Petersburg with two statues of Glory, which were installed on Konnogvardeisky Boulevard.

Plaster sculptures on the eastern bank of the Fontanka quickly fell into disrepair. Chief of Police reported to the President of the Academy of Arts that " the alabaster figure of a horse had a crack, and the alabaster began to fall off in places, which is why the figure becomes ugly"[Quoted from: 5, p. 25]. In the end, the horse's tail fell off, and the chief police chief reported on the danger to pedestrians.

New bronze sculptures on the Anichkov Bridge were installed on October 9, 1843. But in April 1846 they were removed from the crossing. They were presented again, this time to King Ferdinand II of Sicily. With this gift, the Russian Tsar thanked the Sicilian monarch for the magnificent reception of his wife. The sculptures went to Naples, their place was again taken by plaster copies. In the end, Klodt refused to install spears on the Anichkov Bridge and decided to create two new compositions, to develop the plot of "Conquest of the Horse by Man". Klodt's son Mikhail wrote about the work on sculptures:

"In Pavlovsk, my father got Serko's horse. Serko, an old veteran of the court stable, completely white, served as a model for his father when he sculpted anichkov horses. In Pavlovsk, Serko became a" member "of our family. Father often drove us, children, along the paths of the garden on him We climbed under the belly of a gentle horse...
Another horse - Amalatbek - also a model for Anichkov horses, was a white Arabian, obedient and beautifully, immaculately built. Her father trained her: she, on his orders, reared up and took all sorts of poses. My sister, a twelve-year-old girl, rode Amalatbek in an Amazon, and, at the behest of her father, the horse and rider famously reared up" [Cited in: 5, pp. 27, 28].

Sketches for the last two groups were completed in 1848. Two years later, Klodt's plan was completed. According to the sculptor's plan, being on the Anichkov Bridge, one cannot see all four figures. They need to be considered gradually, one by one. The plot of Klodt will be most fully revealed if we start the review of the ensemble from the western side, from the first group depicting a tamer with a cord in his hands. Then you need to cross Nevsky Prospekt, then across the bridge to its eastern side. The second sculpture conveys the increased dynamics of the struggle. A man is defeated by a horse that almost breaks free. In the third group, the drama gradually subsides, and the fourth shows a tamer calmly walking next to a horse whose back is covered with a leopard skin. The process of taming a horse is also symbolized by the fact that the horses of the third and fourth groups, unlike the first, are shod.

Horses on the Anichkov Bridge have become one of the symbols of St. Petersburg. Three more pairs of the same sculptural groups were subsequently installed in Strelna, in Peterhof and in the Golitsyn Kuzminki estate near Moscow.

Despite the protests of the Academy of Arts, the city administration continued to improve the Anichkov Bridge. Shortly after its opening, lanterns of only gas lighting coming into fashion appeared on it. In the 1890s, a chapel no more than 1.5 meters high appeared here.

A. Blok wrote about the sculptures of the Anichkov Bridge:

The horse was dragged by the bridle on a cast-iron
Bridge. Water was black under the hoof.
The horse snored and the air was moonless
Snoring kept on the bridge forever...
Everything stayed. Movement, suffering -
Did not have. The horse was snoring.
And on the bridle in the tension of silence
Forever frozen hung a man.

Anichkov bridge. XX century and our time

When examining the Anichkov Bridge on October 9, 1902, its condition was recognized as emergency. When it was decided to launch a tram along Nevsky Prospekt, it became impossible to delay the repair of the crossing. To replace the old arches, it was necessary to dismantle the foundations, that is, the old bridge was subject to complete disassembly. Reconstruction of the Anichkov Bridge according to the old project required a lot of time and money. Therefore, the city commission railway under the guidance of engineer A.P. Pshenitsky, an alternative version of the reconstruction, which involved the creation of a metal single-span crossing instead of a brick three-span. This proposal excited the public of the city, demanding the reconstruction of the Anichkov Bridge. On April 25, 1905, the Academy of Arts spoke in favor of preserving the historical appearance of the crossing. Moreover, even the patina on the sculptures of the Anichkov Bridge had to remain intact, so that the Klodt sculptures would not seem like a remake.

The project for the reconstruction of the Anichkov Bridge accepted for implementation was drawn up by S. P. Bobrovsky and N. G. Krivoshein. Restoration work was carried out in 1906-1908 under the guidance of architect P. V. Shchusev. At the same time, the abutments and bulls remained the same, while the brick vaults were rebuilt. For the convenience of pedestrians, narrow gangways from the bridge were replaced with wide steps.

After the reconstruction of the crossing, a sign "Anichkin Bridge" appeared on it. This did not go unnoticed by the descendants of M. O. Anichkov, who turned to the city council with a request to correct the mistake, because their ancestors bore the surname of the Anichkovs, not the Anichkins. After making inquiries, the city government, not being authorized to change the name, turned to the city duma, which restored historical justice.

Proposals for the "improvement" of the Anichkov Bridge arose even after its repair. In 1912, the architect A.P. Kovsharov, a public member of the city duma, proposed building up the pedestals with granite slabs so that the horses could be seen even better.

In 1938, on the Anichkov Bridge, as well as on the entire Nevsky Prospekt, the end pavement was replaced by asphalt.

During the Great Patriotic War, when the German troops were near Leningrad, in October 1941, the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council decided to save the sculptures of the Anichkov Bridge. The resolution stated:

"1) Remove four sculptural groups from the Anichkov Bridge and bury them in the garden of the Palace of Pioneers with appropriate protection and camouflage.
2) Entrust the execution of work to the Dormost department with the involvement of bronze specialists, on the recommendation of the department for the protection of monuments ... "[Cited in: 5, p. 42]

The shelter of the equestrian groups was led by engineer V. Makarov. The sculptures were hidden in the already frozen ground, which had to be hollowed out in order to dig four holes. Each figure was placed in a wooden box. The bronze figures were smeared with grease and covered with paper. The voids between them and the walls of the boxes were covered with sand. They lowered them only halfway into the ground, so as not to expose the sculptures to groundwater. Hills were poured over them, which became part of the lawns.

After the shelter of the sculptures in the garden of the Palace of Pioneers, boxes with sown grass were placed on the vacated pedestals. The bridge was badly damaged by direct bomb hits. On the night of November 6, 1942, a 250-kilogram bomb hit the crossing, which is why 30 meters of cast-iron grating and a granite pedestal ended up in the Fontanka. But already on November 7, tram traffic was restored here, and five days later the fence was restored. The new grille parts can be distinguished from the old ones only by the "Lentrublit" stamp. The equestrian statues were returned to the Anichkov Bridge on the eve of May 1, 1945. Leningrad poet Nikolai Brown wrote:

Submissive to the command of the master,
Passing through the purgatory of fire,
Soared into the air in a black whirlwind
Four bronze horses...

But the muscles of mighty youths
They humble the wild temper of the horse ...
So my city humbled the elements
Water, and steel, and fire.

In 2000, the bronze equestrian groups were restored. The restoration work was headed by the sculptor V. G. Sorin. The next major overhaul of the Anichkov Bridge was carried out in 2008.

The Anichkov Bridge is 54.6 meters long and 37.9 meters wide.

Many different stories are connected with the horses, which were created by the famous and most original sculptor Pyotr Karlovich Klodt, more like tales. We will not retell them all - only two and one more real case from life. We will talk about horses on the Anichkov Bridge, thrown across the Fontanka River and serving as part of Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg.

Wife's lover out of luck

They say that Klodt was cheated on by his wife. He figured out the seducer. But he did not kill, did not challenge him to a duel, but ... immortalized in sculpture. More precisely, in her part. More precisely, in the genitals of one of the four horses on the Anichkov Bridge. It is difficult to see the face in the photo, and it does not give a complete picture. True, it’s not easy to see on the horse itself if you don’t know this and don’t specifically look for it. Forgive me, we looked under the tail of each horse, everything is fine everywhere, and only under one is there really a face. We circled the "face" of the seducer of Klodt's wife with a red line. Hint: the nose is pointing down.

For those who decide to check: we are talking about the horse, which is located on the odd side of Nevsky Prospekt on the other side of the Fontanka, which is closer to the Admiralty.

“Find me now the fifth f…”

We took this legend from the book “History of St. Petersburg in a City Anecdote” by the famous St. Petersburg historian and writer Naum Sindalovsky, whose works we highly recommend. When you read them, you begin to understand that if you knew the history of the Northern capital before, it was only at the top.

One wise guy in the reign of Nicholas I once wrote on one of the horses:

"Baron von Klodt presented to the cross
For being on the Anuchkov Bridge
To the surprise of all Europe
Four asses are set…”

Nicholas I, right on the police report, wrote an order:

“Find me now the fifth ass
And paint Europe on it!”

By the way, in our times, naked men with horses at some Petersburg politicians would obviously arouse unhealthy interest. In general, it is even strange that so far none of the local politicians, who have become jokes in themselves due to their stupidity, has demanded that Klodt's sculptures be dismantled and melted down, for example, for a monument to Putin. Apparently, they are afraid that the monument will get. More precisely, the place where Nicholas I intended to draw a map of part of the continent.

If you have a horse, you can sit on it

One evening on November 20 of some recent year (late 90s - early 2000s), a well-known St. Petersburg businessman from the Sea Port of St. Petersburg, who later held senior federal positions, celebrated his birthday.

He celebrated so well that by the time his car was passing over the Anichkov Bridge, he could only mumble that she had to stop. Thank God the driver was sober and slowed down. The businessman showed his assistants with the use of mooing and gestures at the horse. They were surprised. Then we realized what the boss wants. After a while, he was already on horseback and, probably, in his thoughts he even raced somewhere at a trot or gallop. A police (then there was still a police) car also parked nearby, but the law enforcement officers quickly calmed down with what they usually calm down. Actually, there was no serious violation of the order anyway.

What is interesting: the birthday of the Anichkov Bridge in its modern interpretation, that is, with horses, also falls on November 20. It was opened on this day in 1841. Who knows, maybe the spirit of Pyotr Karlovich, having settled into a drunken St. Petersburg businessman, came to congratulate his most famous brainchild.

"Klodt horses". Anichkov bridge. - part 3.

In November 1832 in life Peter Karlovich Klodt happened an important event: a young academician married Juliana Ivanovna Spiridonova, niece of A.A. Martos - the wife of the sculptor, rector of the Academy of Arts I.P. Martos. First, Klodt asked for the hand of the rector's daughter Katenka, which he was refused. However, having fallen in love with the young master, the Martoses immediately offered him their "poor, but industrious" niece. And he agreed. The young wife was pretty, slender and graceful. “With Yulenka, I’m like in Christ’s bosom,” said P.K. Klodt. He received an apartment at the Academy, a workshop. A kind of gift to the newlyweds was the order of the king, who over the years became a world masterpiece - the sculptures of the Anichkov Bridge.....

Anichkov bridge (Anichkin bridge ) is one of the most famous bridges in St. Petersburg.Anichkov bridge across the Fontanka River is part of Nevsky Prospekt. The first wooden bridge here was built by decree of Peter I in 1715. Then he became the border for the city. The bridge was named after Major Mikhail Anichkov, who commanded a battalion of marine engineers who built the bridge, the battalion was located on the banks of the Fontanka in the old Finnish village, nicknamed since then "Anichkova Sloboda". Later, 3 other names arose: Anichkov Bridge, Anichkov Gates on Nevsky Prospekt, which did not last long, and Anichkov Palace. Subsequently, Anichkov reached the rank of colonel and owned the site where the Alexandrinsky Theater is now located. From there to Sadovaya st. Anichkov Lane passed (now Krylov Lane), which in the time of Peter the Great was stationed behind the Fontanka in the so-called Anichkova Sloboda. The length of the crossing was 150 meters, blocking not only the Fontanka, but also the swampy floodplain of the river. The wooden bridge was with a barrier, at night the barrier was lowered. There was an outpost through which they entered St. Petersburg. Passports were checked at the outpost, they took an entry fee. Moreover, such a payment could be not only money, but also stones that the city needed to paving the streets. In order for ships with high masts to sail along the Fontanka, in 1726 the bridge was made drawable. According to the project of M. G. Zemtsov, a guardhouse was built next to the bridge, where the soldiers took shelter from the weather. Prior to this, a simple hut served as a shelter for the soldiers. The Anichkov Bridge was also raised at night, so that wolves would not run into the city from the forest. In 1742, new piles were laid under the crossing. In 1749, according to the project of the architect Semyon Volkov, the Anichkov bridge was rebuilt. It was thoroughly fortified, since elephants had to pass through it - a gift from the Persian Shah to the Russian Empress. The bridge is no longer drawable. It was sheathed with boards and designed to look like granite. The length of the Anichkov Bridge was more than 200 meters, which is almost 4 times the length of the modern bridge. In the 1780s, the banks of the Fontanka were dressed in granite. At the same time, according to the project of J.R. Perrone, seven stone crossings of the same type were built across the Fontanka. In 1783-1787, the Anichkov Bridge was also rebuilt according to a standard project. Since that time, it has been a three-span granite bridge, the middle drawbridge of which was wooden. On the bulls of the bridge were draw towers.


Anichkov Bridge in the 1830s.

In 1841, the Anichkov Bridge was rebuilt according to the project of engineer I.F. Butats. Construction work began on May 22 and was completed by the autumn of that year. The new Anichkov bridge became stone, three-span. In early November 1841, railings and granite pedestals for statues were installed on it. The fence was designed by the German architect Karl Schinkel. Exactly the same drawing was previously used for the construction of the railing of the Palace Bridge in Berlin. According to the reports of the Ministry of Finance, the construction of the crossing cost 195,294 silver rubles. The grand opening of the crossing took place on November 20, 1841. The bridge was opened to traffic in January 1842.


Vasily Sadovnikov. "Anichkov bridge".


A contemporary of these events wrote: “The new Anichkov Bridge delights all residents of St. Petersburg. Crowds are going to admire the amazing proportion of all parts of the bridge and horses - boldly say, the only ones in the world. There is something open, dexterous, attractive in the Anichkov Bridge! Having entered the bridge, it seems that he had a rest!... None of the St. Petersburg structures made such an impression on the residents of the capital as the Anichkov Bridge! Honor and glory to the builders!” The new Anichkov Bridge, designed by engineer A.D. Gotman, was opened on October 20, 1841. The drawing of the railing was made by the architect A.P. Bryullov, and the main decoration of the bridge were the sculptural groups of horses with watermen, made by Klodt. Truth first sculptures "Horse Conquest by Man" it was decided to install to decorate the piers of the Admiralteisky Boulevard, at the entrance from the Embankment to the Palace Square.


Paolo Sala."Anichkov bridge".

In 1833, both the models and the place for sculptures were approved by the emperor himself and approved by the council of the Academy of Arts. However, when the first two groups were ready for casting, Pyotr Klodt, having gone to the proposed installation site for the sculptures, concluded that it was not right to place them on the banks of the Neva between the Admiralty and the Winter Palace - "How can you tame horses near water and ships?" Klodt began to look for another place, and soon found that the most suitable one was on Nevsky Prospekt, on the Anichkov Bridge. Just in those very days, N.V. Gogol wrote: "There is nothing better than Nevsky Prospekt, at least in Petersburg!" It is curious what Nikolai Vasilyevich would say when he saw the sculptural group of Peter Klodt on the Anichkov Bridge of Nevsky? But the Anichkov Bridge was still narrow and empty then. "I - consent came by itself. The tsar understood that Anichkov was really outdated, reconstruction was needed. And then Klodt's horses would be here in place. From the imperial stables, two purebred Arabian stallions were brought to the sculptor's full disposal: Klodt could draw them, and sculpt, and feed from their own hands, and harness to their carriage.After a while, Nicholas I, who visited the workshop and saw the horses still in clay, said admiringly: "Baron, your horses are better than my stallions."While still a volunteer at the Academy, Klodt became an apprentice to the best Russian foundry worker Vasily Ekimov. And having already become eminent, the baron did not leave artistic casting in order to know exactly what and how will go from molded to bronze. In 1838, when the first Tamers models were ready for casting, Yekimov suddenly died. And, as the only sculptor who perfectly mastered casting, Klodt was offered not only to dress his products in bronze himself, but also to lead the entire Foundry Yard. Thus, for the first time in the history of Russian art, a sculptor without vocational education, became the head of the foundry workshop. And when the solemn hour of casting came, many people gathered at the melting furnaces. The crowd, taking off their hats and making the sign of the cross, fell silent. Soon the molten bronze flowed into the molds. Klodt was all in suspense. The workers were feverish from the heat - they were given milk to drink. President of the Academy Olenin, unable to stand from excitement, sat outside the door and muttered prayers. Suddenly there was a powerful "hurrah". It's done! Klodt went out to Olenin, collapsed next to him on a stool ... And on Nevsky there was a restructuring of the Anichkov Bridge. Architects, railway workers, builders - all of St. Petersburg worked for Klodt's horses. Soon the second group of Tamers was cast. For both the first and second bronze groups, Klodt made copies of them in plaster, tinted to look like bronze. The tsar was eager to open the new Anichkov as soon as possible, placing sculptures on all four corners of the bridge. Did Pyotr Klodt then think that it would take another ten years before he played his entire brilliant performance at Anichkovo - in four bronze paintings. The grand opening of the Anichkov Bridge took place on November 20, 1841. What St. Petersburg saw delighted everyone: “People are gathering in crowds at the new Anichkov Bridge,” the newspapers wrote. “The life of a horse and a man on Anichkov represents new world in art. Like a waterman besieging a horse, the sculptor Pyotr Klodt took some of this art into his own hands and turned off the false road to the real one. "After the installation of the first two equestrian groups on the Anichkov Bridge, their repeated bronze tides were sent to Berlin as a gift to the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm , who was crazy about sculptures. Nicholas I presented them directly "from the bridge". Klodt had to go to Berlin with a gift. Horses were installed at the main gate royal palace. "After the delivery to Berlin of the two equestrian groups presented by the Sovereign Emperor to His Majesty the King of Prussia, he was granted by His Royal Majesty a holder of the Order of the Red Eagle of the III degree" August 14, 1842. While in Germany, Klodt wrote to A.P. Bryullov: "I would exchange the local dishes and wines for black bread and kvass - if only to return to Russia as soon as possible." A descendant of foreigners, P.K. Klodt was so Russian in his spirit, habits, passions that, while in Germany, he was terribly homesick. However, Klodt's "suffering" was rewarded: Friedrich Wilhelm, in addition to the order, also granted him a diamond snuffbox.


On April 1, 1843, Klodt "for the excellent performance of the equestrian groups, made by him again for the Anichkov Bridge, was most graciously awarded the Knight of the Order of St. Anna of the III degree." In 1843-1844. he is casting bronze copies of The Tamers for the third time. But already another guest of Nicholas I, King of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand II, seeing the divine horses of Klodt, wished to see them daily in Naples. In the spring of 1846 they were sent to where they stand today at the entrance to the palace garden. In July 1846, Klodt was granted by His Majesty the King of Naples as a holder of the Order of St. Ferdinand. European newspapers reported: “Today there are three miracles in Naples: the body of the Savior, taken from the Cross, covered with a transparent marble veil, “Descent of the Savior from the Cross” - a painting by Espanoletto and the bronze horses of the Russian baron Klodt. Berlin, Paris, Rome honored Peter Klodt with the title of honorary member of their Academies. The sculptor's inspired and painstaking work lasted almost twenty years. In 1850-1851, all plaster sculptures were replaced with bronze ones. The direct prototype of Klodt’s horses was the figures of the Dioscuri in the Roman Forum on the Capitoline Hill, but these ancient sculptures had an unnatural movement motif, and there is also a violation of proportions: compared to the enlarged figures of young men, the horses look too small. Another prototype was " Cony Marley» french sculptor Guillaume Coust (fr.), created by him around 1740, and located in Paris at the entrance to the Champs Elysees from the Place de la Concorde. In the interpretation of Kustu, horses personify the animal principle, symbolize impetuous indomitable ferocity and are depicted as giants next to undersized drivers. Klodt, in turn, depicted ordinary cavalry horses, the anatomy of which he studied for many years. The realism of proportions and plasticity was depicted by the sculptor in the traditions of classicism, and this helped to fit the sculptural design of the bridge into the historical architectural landscape of this part of the city. One of the major differences between this composition and the works of its predecessors is the rejection of the idea of ​​complete and unconditional symmetry and the creation of a consistent work consisting of four compositions. The prototype of the sculptures of horses on the bridge was the Arabian horse Amalatbek. In working with them, Klodt was helped by his daughter. She mounted a horse, raised it on its hind legs, which was sketched by the sculptor. Equestrian groups are ingeniously simply connected by a plot concept - four moments of taming an unbroken horse are taken. The structure of the horse was recreated with infallible accuracy, all his muscles and skin folds were carefully revealed. In the image of the horse, Klodt achieved perfection, he managed to convey it internal state- fear, anger, fury, proud obedience. Anichkov horses are rightly considered the pinnacle of Klodt's work. Sharp dynamics, expression, original development of the theme, combined with harmonic balance and the strictest proportions, finally, high quality performance, jewelry precision casting, - brought the author worldwide fame.In the first group the animal is obedient to man - the naked athlete, squeezing the bridle, restrains the rearing horse. Both animal and man are tense, the struggle is growing. This is shown using two main diagonals: the smooth silhouette of the horse's neck and back, which can be seen against the sky, forms the first diagonal, which intersects with the diagonal formed by the figure of the athlete. Movements are marked with rhythmic repetitions.


In the second group the head of the animal is upturned high, the mouth is bared, the nostrils are swollen, the horse beats with its front hooves in the air, the figure of the waterman is deployed in the form of a spiral, he is trying to upset the horse..


In the third group the horse overcomes the waterman: the man is thrown to the ground, and the horse tries to break free, triumphantly arching his neck and throwing the blanket to the ground. The freedom of the horse is hindered only by the bridle in the left hand of the driver. The main diagonals of the composition are clearly expressed and their intersection is highlighted. The silhouettes of a horse and a waterman form an open composition, in contrast to the first two sculptures..

In the fourth group a man tames an angry animal: leaning on one knee, he tames the wild run of a horse, squeezing the bridle with both hands. The silhouette of the horse forms a very gentle diagonal, the silhouette of the waterman is indistinguishable because of the drapery falling from the back of the horse. The silhouette of the monument again received isolation and balance. None of the groups of the Anichkov Bridge repeats the other either in terms of the plot motif or in terms of the outlines of the silhouette. The movement is subject to an organizing rhythm that binds all four groups together, giving them the character of a harmonious ensemble. Later, copies of the "Tamers" were installed in Peterhof, Strelna, the Golitsyn estate in Kuzminki near Moscow (preserved).Klodt's horses on the Anichkov Bridge have become one of the symbols of St. Petersburg.

A. Blok wrote about the sculptures of the Anichkov Bridge:

"... The horse was dragged by the bridle to the iron
Bridge. Water was black under the hoof.
The horse snored and the air was moonless
Snoring kept on the bridge forever...
Everything stayed. Movement, suffering
Did not have. The horse was snoring.
And on the bridle in the tension of silence
Forever frozen hung a man."


Robert Miph "Anichkov Bridge"

In 1902, the condition of the Anichkov Bridge was recognized as emergency. Restoration work was carried out in 1906-1908 under the guidance of architect P. V. Shchusev.During the siege of Leningrad, cavalry groups were buried in the courtyard of the Palace of Pioneers. Boxes with sown grass were placed on granite pedestals. The crossing became a monument to the blockade: on the granite pedestal of Klodt's horses, they did not specifically restore the trace of fragments of a German artillery shell. The construction of the bridge was not disturbed by the war, and the bridge continued to function properly without major repairs. Even before the end of the war, the equestrian statues were returned to their place on the eve of May 1, 1945. In the second half of the 20th century, several current bridge repairs were carried out. The bridge continued to collapse from time and from static loads. In 2000, the bronze equestrian groups were restored. The restoration work was headed by the sculptor V. G. Sorin. In 2008, the next overhaul of the bridge was carried out. Now the length of the bridge is 54.6 meters, the width is 37.9 meters

In the mid-1990s, a major reconstruction of the cast-iron fences of the bridge was carried out. They were copied and re-cast at the enterprise of the Federal Nuclear Center in the city of Snezhinsk Chelyabinsk region. About it little known fact evidenced by the emblem of the city of Snezhinsk, which can be found on the casting of the railing.



The sculptor spent 20 years of his life on this work. This work has become one of the most important and famous works sculptor. After discussion in 1833 at the artistic council of the first two sculptural compositions, the academic council decided to elect the sculptor to the appointed academicians, which was done five years later - in 1838. Also in the same year, he was appointed professor of sculpture and headed the Foundry Yard of the Imperial Academy of Arts. The work itself was recognized by contemporaries as one of the peaks visual arts, comparable with the painting by K. P. Bryullov “The Last Day of Pompeii”. IN a short time she gained European fame. Finally, the statues took their places only 10 years after the installation of the first options. They left their plinths twice: In 1941, during the blockade, the sculptures were removed and buried in the garden of the Anichkov Palace and in 2000 sculptures were removed from the bridge for restoration. "Tamers" on Anichkov became Klodt's swan song!

Anichkov Bridge is one of the famous sights of St. Petersburg. It is located between 66 and 68, 39 and 41 houses of Nevsky Prospekt. The bridge was named in honor of Lieutenant Colonel-Engineer Mikhail Anichkov, whose battalion under Peter the Great was stationed beyond the Fontanka in an old Finnish village called Anichkova Sloboda.

wooden bridge

Until 1712-1714, the Fontanka was known as the Nameless Yerik. Nevsky Prospekt, being laid at that time, was considered one of the important streets of the capital - in the place where the paths intersected, a constant crossing was required.

In 1715, Emperor Peter I issued a decree on the construction of a bridge on the Fountain River. Construction work was completed in May 1716. This is how a wooden beam multi-span crossing on pile supports appeared. The bridge blocked not only the channel itself, but also the swampy floodplain. The crossing turned out to be impressive in size (we are talking about its length), however, it could not be otherwise, because the Fontanka itself was 200 meters wide.

The length of the bridge is 150 meters. The construction of the crossing was carried out by an engineering battalion under the command of Mikhail Anichkov.

Even in the era of Peter I, the bridge was rebuilt. So, in 1721 it was expanded, 18 spans were made. The middle part became lifting, because at that time the Fountain River was cleared and deepened so much that ships even began to walk along it.

In 1726 and 1742 the bridge was overhauled. In 1749, the architect Semyon Volkov built a new wooden crossing, which practically did not differ from the standard structures of those times. According to one version, the bridge was made without draw spans and strengthened in order to be able to deliver to the king the elephants donated by the Iranian Shah.

If you believe other information, then, according to the drawing of 1750, the construction of the crossing was focused on a simple beam system with a lifting span. Devices that raise the middle part of the bridge were made in the form of "cranes". In the process of reconstruction, it was decided to preserve all eighteen spans finished in stone rustication. The fence of the bridge was wooden balusters standing between the pedestals and topped with vases.

Until the end of the 18th century, the Fontanka was considered the border of the city, and the Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg, in turn, was a checkpoint.

Stone bridge with turrets

By the middle of the 18th century, the city went beyond its natural boundaries, suburban areas began to be built up. This may explain the widespread activity public institutions Russian Empire who dealt with the planning and development of cities, the settlement of small rivers and canals.

According to the projects of the Commission on the stone structure of Moscow and St. Petersburg, in the years 1780-1789, work was carried out to equip the Fountain River. A specially established commission took part in this, which until 1783 was under the leadership of General F.V. Bauer. In the course of the work carried out, stone coastal walls were built with a descent to the water, and 7 stone bridges of the same type with wooden drawbridges in the middle and towers on bulls.

Anichkov Bridge was rebuilt from 1783 to 1787. There is an opinion that the author of this project is the famous French bridge builder J.R. Perrone. But this is not documented. The crossings of the school of the famous Frenchman continued to be built until the 19th century.

The Anichkov Bridge, whose history of creation dates back decades, has gained the new kind. The side spans of the crossing were made of the same size and covered with stone box vaults, the middle span was wooden and lifting. Heavy chains were stretched between the four built-on towers, with the help of which the canvases of the adjustable part were raised.

In 1841, the first bronze statues appeared on the western side of the crossing: "A young man taking a horse by the bridle" and "A horse with a walking young man." The sculptures of the eastern bank were a repetition of the western one, only they were cast from plaster, painted to match the color of bronze.

By order of Nicholas I, new bronze horses from the foundry were sent as a gift to the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm IV. The sculptures are still in Berlin. And only in 1844 the plaster statues were replaced with new, bronze ones. True, they stayed for quite a while. A couple of years later, the emperor thanked them for the "King of the Two Sicilies" for his hospitality.

Copies of Klodt's horses were also in Strelna, in Peterhof, as well as in the Golitsyn estate. And each time they were removed from the bridge, returning the plaster ones to their place. In 1851, the bridge was finally completed. The sculptor refused to repeat the old statues. He set to work on the creation of two new compositions. The horses left the Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg two more times. During the siege of 1941, they were removed and buried in the palace garden, in 2000 they were sent for restoration for the anniversary of the city. Anyone who has seen the Anichkov Bridge will remember the sculptures of horses for a long time.

Modern restoration

In 2007-2008, one of the sights of St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg) was reconstructed. Anichkov bridge underwent overhaul. First of all, they took up the elimination of cracks in the asphalt concrete pavement above the intermediate supports and abutments, also got rid of defects along the drainage trays and repaired the waterproofing. The tender was won by the Pilon company, whose main area of ​​activity for the past 10 years has been the improvement and repair of the Fontanka embankments. NPO "Rand" acted as the general designer.

During the reconstruction, it was planned to replace the most dangerous fragments of the arched brickwork and shift 20 rows of the vault in the area where the main support falls on granite abutments. It also required updating some of the stone blocks that had cracked from stress or severe frosts.

Bridge operation

During the blockade of Leningrad, cavalry groups were buried in the territory of the Palace of Pioneers. Granite pedestals were filled with boxes of sown grass. As a result of direct hits from explosive devices, the Anichkov Bridge was badly damaged. In 1942, on November 6, a bomb weighing 250 kg flew into the crossing, which caused a granite pedestal and 30 meters of a grate made of cast iron to fall into the Fontanka. However, the next day, tram traffic was resumed on the bridge, and after another 5 days, work was completed to restore the fence. The new parts of the grille differ only in the "Lentrublit" stamp. The animal sculptures were returned to the bridge by May 1, 1945.

Nearby Attractions

Are you planning to visit the second capital of Russia and don't know what to see? As mentioned above, Anichkov Bridge is considered one of the attractions. Petersburg is rich in various crossings and amazing architectural monuments. Not far from the Anichkov Bridge are the Mikhailovsky Garden, the monument to Chizhik-Pyzhik, the Church of the Savior on Blood, the Russian Museum, the Summer Garden and the Fountain House.

Educational center "Anichkov bridge"

Local residents know that not only the landmark of St. Petersburg is called "Anichkov Bridge". This is also the name of the European educational center. It combines two creative teams, both are known not only in Russia, but also in Europe. The company works with preschool educational institutions, bringing to life early development methods.

Folklore name

The inhabitants of St. Petersburg have a good sense of humor, and they play tricks on their city in a very elegant and elegant way. So, for example, St. Isaac's Cathedral was called "Inkwells", a monument to Peter the Great - "The Bronze Horseman", and Anichkov Bridge was called the "Bridge of Sixteen Eggs".





















Across the Fontanka River
The length of the bridge is 54.6 m, the width is 37.9 m.

One of the most beautiful and recognizable St. Petersburg bridges, whose history dates back to the founding of the city.
Until 1712, the Fontanka was called Nameless Erik, or simply Erik. And after pipes were thrown across this river for the construction of the fountains of the Summer Garden, it became known as the “Fountain River”. At that time it was a serious water barrier: in some places the river overflowed up to 200 meters, the banks were swampy. Without a bridge across the river, it was impossible to imagine the way to new town. And in 1715, Peter ordered: "Beyond the Bolshaya Neva on the Fountain River, a bridge should be built along the perspective." The bridge has been made. 50 rubles were spent on its construction.
The crossing opened in May 1716. No images have been preserved, but historians of St. Petersburg agree that it was one of the many typical wooden bridges light construction. The supports, as was customary then, were upholstered with boards and painted under stone rustication - “for appearance”.
people built the bridge engineer battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Anichkov. The battalion was stationed on the right bank of the Fountain River in an old Finnish village, nicknamed "Anichkova Sloboda" since then.
On the bridge, which was then the southern border of the city, there was a barrier and an outpost, where documents were checked from those entering the city and they took payment - in money or ... with stones that were needed to paving the streets. At night, the city was locked up, and opened only for the nobles. Vile people (of low birth), although in a hurry to St. Petersburg on business, had to wait until morning.
In 1718, the bridge was repaired in order to deliver a gift from the Shah of Iran to the imperial court - an elephant and horses (the animals were brought to the city by nobleman Andrey Lopukhin). In 1721, with the development of navigation on the Fountain River, the bridge was rebuilt again, making its middle part lifting. She was bred several times a day: during the day - to let sailing ships through, and at night - so that wolves would not run into the city.
The wooden bridge deteriorated quickly in a damp climate, so Anichkov was repaired many times - in 1726 and 1742, and in 1749 the architect Semyon Volkov built a new wooden bridge, which was not much different from the previous one.

Toponyms of St. Petersburg

In honor of engineer Mikhail Anichkov
The name "Anichkov" is firmly entrenched in this crossing. The bridge was rebuilt many times, and every time the city authorities tried to rename the crossing into "Nevsky Bridge". But this toponym did not take root in St. Petersburg, the bridge remained Anichkov. Petersburg guests, knowledgeable stories bridge, they call it Anichkov, with an emphasis on the first syllable (which is why the image of some mythical Anichka pops up), and native Petersburgers say correctly: Anichkov bridge, with an emphasis on the second syllable.

When Empress Anna Ioannovna, who was to take the throne after the death of Peter II, was met in St. Petersburg, wooden carved statues were erected on the Anichkov Bridge. triumphal gate in honor of the new Russian Empress. The same arch was updated to welcome the next Empress, Elizaveta Petrovna. The structure, which had fallen into disrepair, was dismantled in 1751.

In the middle of the 18th century, St. Petersburg began to be actively built up, the boundaries of the city moved away. A Commission on the stone structure of St. Petersburg and Moscow was created, which, among others, supervised the work on the arrangement of the banks of small rivers and canals, and the construction of stone bridges instead of wooden ones. Anichkov Bridge was among the first seven bridges to be rebuilt. The bridges were built according to the standard design of the French engineer J.-R. Perrone (though documentary evidence this is not) - with medium drawbridges, which were raised with the help of chains, and decorated with turrets. To imagine what the Anichkov Bridge looked like (it was built between 1783 and 1787), it is enough to imagine the Lomonosov Bridge, which was also part of that “address program”, and has not changed much since that time. The Staro-Kalinkin Bridge is still preserved, but it was later rebuilt.
Anichkov thus became one of the first seven stone bridges in St. Petersburg.
It regularly served the city for several more decades, and then it turned out to be narrow for the wide Nevsky Prospekt, moreover, the wooden parts of the structure became completely unusable. And once again the Anichkov Bridge was reconstructed. Modern look the crossing received in 1841 (designed by engineer I.F. Butats). The work was completed in record time - just seven months. The bridge ceased to be a drawbridge, the roadway became much wider, three spans were laid out of brick, the bridge supports were lined with granite. For the decorative lattice of the bridge fence, drawings by the German architect Karl Schinkel were used (exactly the same mermaid women and mermaid horses are on Palace Bridge in Berlin). It is interesting that the same theme - with mythical water horses - hippocampi - appears on the first large bridge in St. Petersburg - Blagoveshchensky. The author of the drawing is Alexander Pavlovich Bryullov (it is not clear whose hippocampus was the first - his or Shinkel's?). The towers were removed from the bridge, and instead of them, pedestals were installed on the supports, on which, as it was supposed, decorative vases were supposed to stand.

But instead of vases in 1841, four equestrian sculptures by the St. Petersburg sculptor Pyotr Karlovich Klodt were placed on the Anichkov Bridge. First, the first two statues cast in bronze appeared on the western part of the bridge - “A horse with a walking young man” and “A young man taking a horse by the bridle”. appeared on the west side in 1841. They corresponded to exactly the same statues, but made of plaster and painted in bronze. Over the next ten years, Peter Klodt will cast his horses in bronze, and Emperor Nicholas will give them to European monarchs. Thus, the twins of Klodt's horses and their tamers will appear in Berlin and Naples; as well as in Peterhof, Strelna and in the Golitsyn estate near Moscow.
The grand opening of the crossing took place on November 20, 1841. The newspapers wrote: “The new Anichkov Bridge delights all residents of St. Petersburg. Crowds are going to admire the amazing proportion of all parts of the bridge and horses - boldly say, the only ones in the world. There is something open, dexterous, attractive in the Anichkov Bridge! Having entered the bridge, it seems that he had a rest! .. None of the St. Petersburg structures made such an impression on the residents of the capital as the Anichkov Bridge! Honor and glory to the builders!

According to the report of the Ministry of Finance, the construction cost 195,294 silver rubles.
But the quality of the work turned out to be unsatisfactory, and after a few years the engineering service recorded the deformation of the vaults. And forty years later, at the beginning of the 20th century, the condition of the Anichkov Bridge became threatening. And the Anichkov Bridge was rebuilt in 1906-1908 without changing its appearance. The work was supervised by the famous architect P.V. Shchusev.

History pages

Anichkov bridge during the war
At the beginning of the war, the equestrian sculptures were removed from the pedestals, but they did not have time to take them out. Klodt's horses were placed in boxes and buried in the courtyard of the Anichkov Palace. And in their place were boxes in which the blockade survivors grew grass in the summer.
Anichkov Bridge was seriously damaged by artillery raids. On November 6, 1942, a 250-kilogram bomb exploded on the bridge. The cast-iron grate and one of the granite foundations collapsed into the Fontanka. But already in November, the blockade tram again went along the Anichkov Bridge, after a few days it was possible to restore the fence (the pedestal was taken out only after the war).
There were traces of shells on the granite parapets and railings. One of these terrible traces was not closed up, leaving the memory of the blockade. Klodt's horses, which successfully survived the enemy siege, returned to their place by May 1, 1945.

In the mid-90s, the cast-iron grating was completely replaced on the Anichkov Bridge. It was cast at the enterprise of the Federal Nuclear Center in the city of Snezhinsk (if you try, you can find the coat of arms of this city on the fence - a hybrid of a stylized snowflake and a nucleus with protons).
The last reconstruction of the bridge was in 2007-2008.