Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge

One of the main bascule bridges crossing the Neva River, the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge, which joins Vasilevsky Ostrov with the mainland, is under reconstruction. This was the first permanent bridge across the Neva, completed in 1850, and was at the time the longest in Europe. The bridge's name honors Pyotr Schmidt, a naval lieutenant executed for leading an uprising in Sevastopol in 1905. The beautiful eight-span arch bridge, which is famous for its ornate cast-iron railings, is currently being substituted by a temporary structure 20 meters downstream.