Dnieper bridge

 
 

The history of Mogilev is inextricably linked with the Dnieper River, which divides the city into two parts.

In 1860, the first permanent wooden bridge on piles was commissioned. It was built according to the international standards of that time and received the name of the Russian Emperor Alexander I. The dimensions of the bridge took into account local features. The height - more than 12 m - is due to high spring waters, the length - about 192 m - is due to the flooding of a significant part of the river floodplain during the flood.

In 1902, a reconstruction was carried out, caused by the narrowness of the spans between the supports, which interfered with the movement of steamers.

During the Great Patriotic War, the bridge was repeatedly blown up, rebuilt and repaired.

In 2016, the last reconstruction of the bridge was completed. It was decorated with proud, majestic statues of lions, the coat of arms of Mogilev, stucco on the railings.

The sculptures exceed the natural height of an ordinary predator. They are 2.4 and 1.8 meters high and 3.15 meters long. And the sitter was the white lion John from the Zapashny circus. Artist Andrey Vorobyov specifically asked the brothers for permission to watch John so that the sculptures would turn out realistic. He was given the go-ahead to attend the rehearsals, and Edgard Zapashny was even a consultant when Vorobyov sculpted the future sculpture from clay. He made sure that all proportions and the smallest nuances were observed.

The railings of the bridge across Pushkinsky Prospekt are decorated with medallions depicting lions, so after the reconstruction it is just right to call the bridge not Pushkinsky or even the Yashin Bridge (the name of Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Yashin, the commander of the horse reconnaissance who died during the liberation of Mogilev, was given to the bridge after the installation of a memorial plaque on it in hero honor). Given the density of images of the king of beasts per square meter, the bridge can already be called a lion bridge.