Voskresensky Bridge

Brief information

Voskresensky Bridge is important not for its view from above, but because it ended up beneath modern Manezhnaya Square. It was Moscow’s first stone bridge across the Neglinnaya: in 1601–1603 it replaced a wooden crossing and connected the Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod with the White City, where the road to Tver began.

After the fire of 1812, the area near the Kremlin was rebuilt, the Neglinnaya was covered with vaults, and the bridge was buried under earth. So today it is not an ordinary bridge over water, but a structure found by archaeologists: in 1995–1997 it was uncovered again on Manezhnaya Square, and the restored structures became the central part of the exhibition at the Museum of Archaeology of Moscow.

What to notice first

It makes sense to look at the bridge as a structure that changed its form several times together with the river. In its early appearance, the important features are the crenellations resembling the Kremlin wall and the absence of arched side walls: the bridge was connected with defensive architecture, not only with crossing the river.

You can compare two support layouts. Initially, the bridge probably stood on seven stone arches. After the 18th-century reconstruction, five high arches remained, with only one letting water through, while the others were blocked by a dam. The top also changed: a wall with arches appeared instead of railings, and the bridge itself became covered. These details explain why what visitors see is not simply a fragment of old masonry, but a trace of a river, a dam, trade, and later urban redevelopment that hid the bridge underground.