Probably 4 times I was in St. Petersburg and have not seen enough of this city. There are so many places and opportunities to see something significant and interesting, like no other city in the country. Just yesterday we read with you an exciting story from St. Petersburg about how the St. Petersburg metro was almost flooded. But there is a ready-made script for the film, with heroic and real main characters. And here is another story for you, which was probably told to everyone at school, and not in history lesson, but in physics lesson.
In St. Petersburg, many places have a mystical history of existence. Since its inception, the Egyptian Bridge has been surrounded by legends and rumors. Their new surge occurred in 1905, after the unexpected collapse of the bridge. The causes of the catastrophe were so mysterious that they gave rise to dozens of versions - from rational to completely incredible and mystical, such as, for example, the warning of the sphinxes.
Egyptian bridge in St. Petersburg.
All bridges of St. Petersburg are unique, but the Egyptian one has a special history. The Egyptian theme was popular in St. Petersburg in the 19th century, so the original bridge in the Egyptian style was built under the influence of fashion in 1826.
On August 9, 1825, the construction of a chain bridge across the Fontanka River began in the alignment of the modern Lermontovsky Avenue. It was designed by engineers Tretter and Christianovich. Bank abutments and stone works were carried out by contractor Gabriel Vasiliev. The new ferry became the second such structure across the Fontanka after the Panteleimonovsky bridge, designed by the same engineers.
Metal structures and sculptures were made at the plant of K. N. Bird. Initially, the factory produced two trial sphinxes. These figures were superfluous for a long time, but they survived. In 1971, they were restored and installed on the pier near the Kamennoostrovsky bridge. The granite foundations were made of stones that were previously used for facing the channel around the Mikhailovsky Castle. In essence, the construction of the Egyptian chain bridge was a lightweight copy of the Panteleimonovsky construction. There were three supporting chains, not five.
Near the bridge abutments, cast-iron sphinxes by Academician P. P. Sokolov were installed on cast-iron pedestals. The sphinxes had hexagonal lanterns on their heads. The cast-iron portals of the bridge were decorated with Egyptian-style murals and hieroglyphs. Some elements of the ornament were gilded. Thanks to this design, the ferry acquired the appropriate name - the Egyptian Bridge.
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Interestingly, the author of the sphinxes, Pavel Petrovich Sokolov, is the author of other famous Petersburg bridge sculptures - the griffins of the Bank Bridge and the lions of the Lion Bridge. All of these crossings were built around the same years.
Traffic on the Egopetsky Bridge was opened on August 25, 1826, at eight o'clock in the afternoon. The Egyptian bridge was unofficially called "singing". The Petersburg newspaper wrote on January 18, 1901:
“Singing Bridge. It turns out that there is one in St. Petersburg. This is Egyptian. It is known to be a chain system, and when you ride on it, its chains make a variety of mournful sounds. Isn't he already singing his own funeral song? " [Quoted. by: 1, p. 87]
Local historians of St. Petersburg were looking for an answer to the question about the purpose of erecting such a beautiful, parade bridge far from the front part of St. Petersburg. The most common version connects the bridge with the nearby army barracks. Perhaps, in this way, the government tried to instill in the army imperial patriotism and awe. But history does not give an explicit answer to this question.
On January 20, 1905, when a cavalry squadron was passing through the Egyptian bridge, the spans unexpectedly collapsed onto the ice of the Fontanka. The evening newspapers wrote: “Today at 12 ½ o'clock. days when the Life Guards Horse Grenadier Regiment was moving across the Egyptian Chain Bridge across the Fontanka, at the moment when the head of the regiment was already approaching the opposite bank, the bridge collapsed. The officers in front managed to slip ashore, while the lower ranks, in the number of two platoons, marching in formation on the right, three in a row, fell into the water with the horses. One dray and four passenger cabbies without riders and several pedestrians also fell into the water … By 2 o'clock in the afternoon people and horses were pulled out of the water. The victims were sent to the nearest reception rooms and to the hospital of the Nikolaev artillery school. Seriously injured,according to official information, it was not."
The chains broke, and the entire bridge was at the bottom of the river. Only four sphinxes remained in place on either side of the bridge. An investigation into the causes of the collapse began immediately. The first version was "structural fragility". However, the engineers objected to it, since since its creation the bridge had already been repaired several times, in 1904 the repair work was carried out twice, after which it was pronounced that the structure was in good condition.
The next version was the "swinging of the bridge by the cavalry" - the so-called resonance effect, which could arise as a result of rhythmic fluctuations from the coordinated step of the military. In all textbooks, the collapse of the Egyptian Bridge was mentioned as an example of the resonance effect. Allegedly, it was then that the command "Out of step!" Appeared, giving itself to any formation before entering the bridge.
However, eyewitnesses to the disaster unanimously argued that the soldiers were out of step, some were riding horses. Cabs were driving towards us, passers-by were walking along the sidewalk - there was no well-coordinated move, and the resonance effect in this case should not have arisen. After scientists made physical and mathematical calculations, this version seemed even more dubious. Modern experts explain the accident due to the insufficient strength of the metal in the cold.
The newspaper "News of the Day" described this event as follows:
Today at 12 ½ o'clock. days when the Life Guards Cavalry Grenadier Regiment was following the Egyptian Chain Bridge across the Fontanka, in the direction from Mogilevskaya Street to Novo-Peterhof Avenue, at the moment when the head of the regiment was already approaching the opposite bank, the bridge collapsed. The officers in front managed to slip ashore, while the lower ranks, in the number of two platoons, marching into formation on the right, 3 in a row, together with the horses (fell) into the water. One dray truck and four passenger cabbies without riders and several pedestrians also fell into the water. The entire flooring of the bridge, together with the railings and fastenings, breaking the chains and breaking part of the cast-iron support, broke the ice and ended up at the bottom of the river. By 2 pm, people and horses were pulled out of the water. The injured were sent to the nearest admission rooms and to the hospital of the Nikolaev artillery school. According to official information, there were no serious casualties. One of the horses sank, two were crippled and, dragged ashore, shot. The cause of the misfortune, it is assumed, is the buildup of the bridge by the cavalry, while the structure is not quite strong.
When it was not possible to explain the collapse of the bridge with the help of scientific methods, folk imagination was connected. Versions from the mystical to the fantastic have been put forward. So, for example, a legend arose that the daughter of the postmaster Maria lived near the bridge, deceived and abandoned by the officer. One day she saw through the window how the same regiment in which her abuser served, and in her hearts she cried out: "May you, military men, fail!" Since then, Maria Ratner has received the nickname - Mary of Egypt.
However, the curse of poor Mary was not enough for popular rumor.
They remembered that the bridge was faced with granite blocks removed from the walls of the moats of the Mikhailovsky Castle. And he enjoyed an ominous glory among the people - they said that the granite for the construction was taken from the places of ancient temples, which caused the wrath of the gods.
And many blamed the sphinxes for everything that happened. And although they had nothing to do with Ancient Egypt, they were still popularly attributed to mystical power. They were said to sing funeral songs. The fact is that the chains on which the bridge was held did indeed make different sounds. Well, folk fantasy attributed these songs to the Sphinxes and endowed them with prophetic power.
After the accident, at the site of the Egyptian Bridge, granite bridge abutments and sphinxes on pedestals remained. Nearby, in the alignment of Usachev Lane (now Makarenko Lane), a wooden seven-span bridge was built in the same year. Many noted this bridge as extremely inconvenient, since transport had to turn from Lermontovsky Prospekt onto a narrow embankment. It is known that before the construction of the new Egyptian Bridge, seventeen different options were considered.
In 1954-1956 the engineer V. V. Demchenko, architects V. S. Vasilkovsky and P. A. Areshev built a new Egyptian bridge. It was put into operation on December 30, 1955, and the temporary wooden crossing was dismantled in 1956. The cast-iron sphinxes on the bridge abutments were preserved, and stylized obelisks were added to them.
In 1989, one of the sphinxes was hit by a car. The figure was restored and replaced. In 2004, the restoration of one and the repair of the rest of the sculptures took place. It turned out that the heads of the sphinxes were previously gilded. During the restoration, the gilding of the sphinxes was restored. The inauguration of the sculptures after restoration took place on May 27, 2004.