Kamenny Bridge, Regional cultural heritage bridge in Voronezh, Russia.
Kamenny Bridge is a brick arch bridge about ten metres long at the intersection of Karl Marx and Chernyshevsky streets in Voronezh. It carries the roadway of Karl Marx Street over Chernyshevsky Street, which descends to the Voronezh River. Its single humped arch and retaining walls were rebuilt in 1984 with concrete blocks and granite slabs, and cast-iron grilles and torcheres were added.
The brick bridge was built in August–September 1826 under governor Nikolai Krivtsov, to a design by city architect Ivan Blitsyn, as the city's first stone bridge. It carried Karl Marx Street over the ravine of Chernyshevsky Street, where the police station stood. In 1935 the worn structure was repaired; in 1983 it was listed as a regional monument, and it was restored after a retaining-wall collapse in 2023.
Locals call it the "Bridge of Lovers" and "the city's talisman." Newlyweds come on their wedding day to smash a bottle of champagne against it and hang padlocks bearing their names on the railing. The custom recalls the Alexandrinsky Institute for noble-born orphan girls that stood nearby from 1860, whose well-educated graduates chose husbands on graduation day.
The bridge carries traffic where Karl Marx and Chernyshevsky streets meet, so cross with care and use the pavement. Chernyshevsky Street drops steeply beneath the span toward the Voronezh reservoir bank. A special grille on the small square beside the bridge is meant for wedding locks. After a heavy rain in June 2023 part of the retaining wall of the Chernyshevsky passage collapsed; it was restored by May 2024.
The bridge is nicknamed "the city's talisman" and "Bridge of Lovers". The legend traces to the Alexandrinsky Institute for orphaned girls of noble families, founded by the bridge in 1860: on graduation day suitors gathered, and a graduate could choose a husband and receive the city's blessing and a dowry.
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