There are so many rivers, canals and brooks that Petersburg is sometimes called the “Northern Venice“. Once there were 147 islands of Petersburg, but by the late 19th century, only 101 islands remained. Today Petersburg stands on 42 islands. Specialists say that the reduction in their number is not so much a result of the natural process of islands merging together due to flooding (although there have been such cases), but more often as a result of interference by man. During the history of Petersburg, its inhabitants often thought that there were too many islands, rivers and canals for one city - so they filled in canals and brooks.
It is impossible to imagine Petersburg without its multiple bridges across the Neva and its tributaries, canals and streams. Of the 800 varied bridges in the city today, 342 are in Petersburg itself, while the rest are in the suburbs. There are even 21 drawbridges.
The widest of the Petersburg bridges is the Siny bridge across the Moika, a part of Isakievskaya Square. It is 97.3m wide, but only 32.5m long. The longest bridge in Petersburg is the Alexander Nevsky Bridge, with a total length of 905.7m. From the Troitzky Bridge, one can see seven other bridges. Many of the Petersburg bridges are protected by the state as historical and cultural memorials, and because they are fine examples of architectural technique.
The embankments of the Neva mostly have access to water within the city boundaries (there are 300 of them). The total length of the embankments is 150km.
Construction work for strengthening the banks of the Neva started soon after the city was founded. The first embankment was built between the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Bolshava Nevka. Then the embankment between the Admiralty and the Letny Garden was constructed. First, both embankments were merely piled earth banks, and were later replaced by a wooden wall. The first granite embankment, Dvortzovaya, was constructed between 1763 and 1767. The granite embankments are a special feature of Petersburg. Granite parapets, stairs leading to the water, delicate metal rails - all these make the city especially charming.
As early as 1938 there were plans to construct a canal for rowing boat races beside Krestovsky Island according to a project by architect A. Nikolsky. The work was started in 1953, but was then suspended, and was eventually completed by the 1960s. It stretches along the northern bank of Krestovsky Island using the bed of the River Vinnovka, thus separating Krestovsky Island from Bychy Island. The Rowing Canal is approximately 1000m long and 40m wide.
Another one of the three islands, Kamenny. was less lucky. This unique park ensemble with architectural memorials of the 18th and 19th centuries was turned into an “Island of High Walls”. This was the title of a television programme on Kamenny Island. It became possible to speak openly about this only after the start of the glasnost policy in the mid-80’s. In all printed matter which came out before, it was unanimously stated that “The Island of Labourers“ (the name given to Kamenny in 1920) had become a resort for workers, and that “the October Revolution opened wide the doors of all dachas and cottages ..." This indeed was the case at the dawn of Soviet power. However, later on things changed. Kamenny Island turned into an island of enclosed private residences for the state and party elite headed by G. V. Romanov, First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the Communist Party between 1968 and 1981. This pearl of the gardening arts and architecture was expropriated from the city.
In 1989 Kamenny Island was given the status of a reserve, yet much effort still needs to be made to turn this unique ensemble into a true national treasure.
Unlike Kamenny Island, the neighboring Elagin Island has always been open to everyone. The Park, created in the 19th century by the best masters of the gardening art, became in the 1930s the Kirov Central Park for Culture and Rest.