Nicholas Chain Bridge

Nicholas Chain Bridge Николаевский цепной мост
Coordinates	50°26′32″N 30°33′52.30″E
Crosses	Dnieper
Locale	Kyiv, Ukraine
Characteristics
Design	Suspension bridge
Longest span	776 metres (2,546 ft)
History
Construction start	1848
Construction end	1853
Closed	1920 (destroyed)
Location

The Nicholas Chain Bridge (or Nikolaevsky Chain Bridge; Ukrainian: Миколаївський ланцюговий міст; Russian: Николаевский цепной мост) was a chain bridge over the Dnieper that existed from 1855 to 1920 in Kyiv.

History

An 1879 map of Kyiv, showing the railway bridge and the Nicholas Bridge, then the only permanent structures across the Dnieper

The British engineer Charles Blacker Vignoles directed the bridge's construction, and Fox, Henderson and Company supplied the ironwork. In 1851 a silver model of the bridge was presented at The Great Exhibition in London. Building started in 1848 and was completed in 1853. The 776-metre-long (2,546 ft) bridge was the largest at that time in Europe.

In 1920, during the Polish-Soviet War, retreating Polish troops blew up the bridge. It was restored based on old drawings by Evgeny Paton, and opened again in 1925 under the name Yevgenia Bosch Bridge. Paton significantly changed its structure and raised it by several metres, so that the Yevgenia Bosch Bridge may be considered as a new bridge.

On 19 September 1941, retreating Soviet troops demolished the Yevgenia Bosch Bridge. It was not restored after the war. In 1965 in place of the former chain bridge a new Kyiv Metro Bridge was built.

See also

• Bridges in Kyiv

Bibliography

• Rolt, LTC (1970). Victorian Engineering. London: Allen Lane. SBN 7139-0104-7.

External links

Media related to Nicholas Chain Bridge at Wikimedia Commons

• "chainbridge over the River Dnieper". Kiev History Site.
• "Цветное изображение моста" (in Ukrainian).
• "Мосты для большого города". Газета по-киевски (in Ukrainian).
• "Мосты длиною в сотни лет". Киевский телеграф (in Ukrainian).