Trinity Bridge

Trinity Bridge is a metal drawbridge across the Neva, connecting Petrogradsky Island with the 1st Admiralteysky Island. It is the third permanent bridge to be built across the Neva — after the Blagoveshchensky and Liteyny bridges — and one of the city's most ornate Art Nouveau bridges. Since 1990 the bridge has been protected as a cultural heritage site of regional significance, and since 2005 its raised bascule span has become a symbol of the "Scarlet Sails" graduation festival, through which a tall ship passes.

Before the permanent crossing was built, a floating pontoon bridge had operated here since 1803; it was rebuilt in 1824–1827 and named Trinity Bridge after the nearby square and the cathedral of the same name. In 1918 the bridge was renamed Equality Bridge, and after Kirov's assassination in 1934 it became Kirovsky Bridge; the historical name was restored in 1991.

The decision to build a permanent bridge was taken by the city duma in 1891, which announced an international competition: none of the sixteen submitted designs satisfied the commission, and the contract went to the French firm Batignolles, which held the patent for a three-hinged arch construction with cantilevers — the same firm that built the Palace Bridge. The ceremonial foundation-laying took place on 12 August 1897 in the presence of Nicholas II and the President of France, Félix Faure — the visit being a return gesture for the tsar's participation in laying the foundation stone of the Alexander III Bridge in Paris. Construction cost 6.1 million roubles and was timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of St Petersburg: the bridge opened on 16 May 1903, and the emperor himself set the first bascule span in motion by pressing an electric button.

Until the Alexander Nevsky Bridge was built in 1965, Trinity Bridge remained the longest in the city, at 582 metres across ten spans. Its central five-span section is covered by riveted cantilever-arch and cantilever-beam trusses; the approach from the Field of Mars is marked by granite obelisk-columns bearing bronze ships' prows, based on models by the sculptor A. Adamson. The railing grilles and lamps are executed in decorative Art Nouveau forms with plant motifs.

In 1965–1967 the former two-leaf swing bascule span was replaced with a single-leaf hydraulically operated bascule — the work was timed to mark the 50th anniversary of the Revolution, and the bridge was raised so that the cruiser Aurora could pass beneath it. In 1942 a German aerial bomb struck the bridge's span. A second reconstruction took place in 2001–2003: the roadway was replaced, lost decorative details — double-headed eagles, crowns and monograms — were restored, and the bridge reopened in time for the city's 300th anniversary in May 2003. Tram traffic, suspended in 2006, resumed in 2016.