Description of the attraction
Vilnius is crossed by two rivers Vilia (Neris) and Vilnia (Vileika). And as the most important part of the city, its history and modernity, one of the bridges over the Vilija River deserves attention, which connects Vilniaus Street (in Soviet times, L. Gyros Street) with Kalvarija Street (in Soviet times, Dzerzhinsky Street).
This bridge, according to written sources of the late XIV century, was originally made of wood and has gone through many destruction and revival. Over the past centuries, it had several names: Murovanny, Veliky, Vilensky, Chernyakhovsky bridge, Green bridge.
In 1529, the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund the Old was commissioned to build a stone bridge, but this plan began to be implemented only in 1536. The right to build a bridge and receive a toll was issued to the mayor of Vilnius Ulrich Gosius.
It was erected of wood on massive stone supports. Like many medieval bridges, it served not only as a means of communication between parts of the city, but was also a bridge-street, a bridge-market with gates on both sides. It was possible to cross the bridge only by paying a significant amount. At the gate sat collectors collecting the fare, often quarreling and often ending in a fight with the passers-by. On the bridge there were also shops covered with a chip roof, on the second floor of which there were apartments for inspectors and customs officers.
In the past, the Viliya River was quite full-flowing; during the spring floods, sandy deposits were washed up, ice and rafts undermined the structure of the bridge, which led to its almost complete replacement in 1621. Only 34 years later, during the Russian-Polish war, it was burned by Polish troops during the retreat.
In 1674 the bridge was rebuilt by the colonel of the royal service, engineer JB Fridiani. But its structure was not strong enough and the spring floods caused serious damage to it. The year 1766 was memorable for him, when the Maurach project was accepted for construction, at the same time the bridge was painted green, since then it has been called Green. Stone gates were installed along the edges of the bridge.
In the second half of the 18th century, quite often terrible fires ravaged the city, in 1791 a fire destroyed many buildings of the city and the bridge, which was rebuilt only 14 years later. The townspeople had to use the ferry for a long time.
During the war of 1812, the Green Bridge was burned down by the retreating Russian troops before the advance of the French army. Napoleon's army erected a temporary bridge on pontoons. And only in 1829 a more solid structure with arches on three stone fortifications was erected.
A more durable metal bridge was built in 1893-1894 at the expense of the city and the zemstvo. The project belonged to Professor N. A. Belelyubsky. Now it was built single-span with metal trusses, only the green color remained from the previous appearance, which has already become traditional for the bridge.
In 1944, the war again did not spare this structure; the Germans blew up the bridge during their retreat. In the post-war years in 1948-1952, when the economy was recovering rapidly, the bridge was rebuilt by the Soviet military engineering troops of the Baltic Military District. It was named after General I. D. Chernyakhovsky. Then the main theme of art, architecture was the pathos of heroic labor and propaganda, therefore the bridge was created in the spirit of that time: one-span, on the bases faced with granite, with cast-iron railings of artistic casting, it is decorated with sculptural groups.
Figures depicting students, military men, collective farmers and workers are installed on the granite feet at the corners of the bridge. The bridge is almost 103 m long, 24 m wide, and 15 m high above the water level.
The authors of the project are: architect V. Anikina, designer E. Popova, sculptors: B. Pundzius, J. Mikenas, P. Vaivad, N. Petrulis, B. Buchas, J. Kedainis, B. Vishnyauskas.
The river embankments near the Green Bridge are an original attraction of today: in the summer they "confess their love to each other." The inscriptions in Lithuanian “I love you” and “I love you” have been created from flowers. The Shores of Love project was created by the artist Gityanis Umbrasas in the spring of 2000.
Reviews
| All reviews 5 Andrey Balikhin (Moscow) 2013-29-04 17:23:07
The Green Bridge is the most valuable cultural and historical site of Vilnius. Green Bridge is one of the best engineering structures in Vilnius and the best sculptures of street monumental art. This is one of the main attractions of the city. It is decorated on four sides with sculptural compositions of outstanding Lithuanian masters - the only one in Lithuania, i.e. unique. …
