Beautiful Sunday. Blue Bridge Garden

The Blue Bridge is the widest bridge in our city. If any resident or tourist unfamiliar with this fact were asked to name the widest bridge, he or she would not be able to answer the question correctly. That person would begin to recall bridges over the Neva River, it seems to me. Indeed, the main river in our city is the wide and full-flowing Neva River, and there are several large bridges across the Neva. But the widest bridge is the bridge over a small river called Moika.

Originally the Blue Bridge was a very small bridge, it was similar to other city bridges over small rivers and canals. But in the middle of the 19th century, the Mariinsky Palace was built on the bank of the Moika River. This palace was built as a wedding present for Emperor Nicholas I's daughter Maria. Opposite the palace, on the opposite bank of the river was located St Isaac's Square. To create a more harmonious architectural landscape, the bridge was significantly expanded. Now it looks like a part of the square.

Road traffic is concentrated in the left and right parts of this bridge, and the central part was first left free, and then became an area for parking. Parking is a necessity, but it is not an ornament to the city. Therefore, the city government last year significantly reduced parking spaces on the Blue Bridge, and a summer garden was organised on the vacated space.

This is a seasonal garden: all the trees and flowerbeds in this garden are planted in special pots. In autumn, the trees are transplanted into the open ground, and the following year young saplings take their place. In winter, a garden of New Year decorations was built on this place. I photographed the winter garden on one of my walks, and told you about it about six months ago.

When I was preparing this post, I tried to sort the photos and arrange them in such a way that the different angles would be logically connected, but it didn't work. I looked in different directions during the walk, and photographed everything in a row - that's exactly what my photo story looks like. One photo shows a piece of St Isaac's Cathedral, the next shows a building on the left bank of the Moika, then close-up flowers, then St Isaac's again... No logic, but everything is as I saw it in real life.

Some of the photos show easels. Some of these easels were used by artists who came to this garden for plein air. Other easels were used to organise a temporary exhibition of works by children from the art school.