Nevsky Prospekt

Nevsky Prospekt, like the entire city, owes much of its charm to rivers and canals crossing it and picturesque bridges spanning their banks. St Petersburg is sometimes called a museum of bridges - there are 350 of them in the city, perhaps more than elsewhere in the world. Made of stone, cast-iron and ferroconcrete, drawbridges, footbridges and usual structures are all beautiful and varied in their silhouettes. They lend a special fascination and romantic beauty to the northern capital.

Not far from Nevsky Prospekt there is a fine footbridge across the Catherine Canal. It is known as the Bank Bridge because it led to the State Bank (now the building houses the University of Economics and Finance). On either side of the bridge are seated griffins - lions with gilt wings -bearing lanterns over their heads and holding the chains of the bridge in their mouths.

The Catherine Canal. The Bank Bridge Engineer: Georg Trettet; 1825-26

View of the House of Books with the Catherine n Canal.
Architect: Pavel Suzor, 1902 – 04