Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge is a first permanent bridge across the Neva River in St. Petersburg. It links Vasilievsky Island to the centre of the city. The Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge is 331m long and 24m wide. When Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg, he had forbidden permanent bridges across the Neva River. Before the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was built, a temporary bridge by the name Issakievsky Bridge was there. When the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was built, the Issakiegvsky Bridge was moved to another location, to where the Palace Bridge stands today.
The Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge was constructed between 1843 and 1850. It was designed by a polish engineer named Stanislaw Kierbedz. Architect Alexander Brullow worked on its embellishments. When it was completed, it was the longest bridge in Europe. According to legend, Tsar Nicholas I promised Kierbedz a level of promotion for each completed flight. The bridge had a total of eight flights, and Kierbedz was promoted to General.
When it was opened on 12 November, 1850, it was named Blagoveshchensky Bridge, because it was close to Blagoveshchenskaya (Annunciation) Square. Five years later, it was renamed Nikolayevsky Bridge, in memory of Tsar Nicholas I. After the Russian Revolution of 1855, it was renamed yet again, in memory of the leader of the Sevastopol Uprising on 1905, Pyotr Schmidt.
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