Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge

The Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge is one of the central bridges in Moscow across the Moscow River. It connects Borovitskaya Square, Mokhovaya and Znamenka Streets near the Borovitskaya Tower of the Kremlin with Bolshaya Polyanka Street on Bolotny Island, which crosses the Vodootvodny Canal along the Maly Kamenny Bridge.

The predecessor: the Vsehsvyatsky Stone Bridge. It was the first permanent stone bridge across the Moscow River, built at the end of the 17th century (finished in 1692). The bridge connected Zamoskvorechye with the White City with the help of the All Saints Tower, which, like the bridge, got its name from the Church of All Saints.

It was located near the mouth of the Neglinka and the Vodovzvodnaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin. Repeatedly updated and rebuilt, it existed until the 1850s.

The length of the bridge was 170 m, the width was 22 m. The bridge had 8 arches, the middle arches served for the passage of rafts and boats and had spans of up to 15 m.

Since the bridge was 3-4 times wider than the largest Moscow streets, it was built up on both sides. In the times of Peter the Great, there were on the bridge: the chamber of the Predtechensky Monastery and four stone tents of Prince Menshikov, a tobacco customs house and a beer yard.

In 1859 on the site of the dismantled bridge, engineer N. N. Voskoboinikov, according to the project of engineer colonel N. B. Tannenberg, built a new, the first metal three-span bridge in Moscow. The river span was covered with arches.

In 1930, they decided to build a new bridge. But for various reasons, only in 1938, a modern bridge built (little downstream of the river, closer to the Kremlin) by the engineer N. Ya. Kalmykov, architects V. A. Shchuko, V. G. Gelfreikh, M. A. Minkus. The bridge was moved further to Borovitskaya Square. The length of the bridge with entrances is 487 m, including a river span of 105 m, coastal span of 42.5 m, and a width of 40 m.

Nearest metro: Tretyakovskaya, Biblioteka Imeni Lenina.

Attractions nearby: Bolshoy Moskvoretsky BridgeKremlin embankmentSofiyskaya Embankment, “House on the Embankment”, Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Red SquareTverskaya streetKremlin.

See also bridges and embankments of Moscow.

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