350 years ago, Vilnius turned into not only the pearl of the Northern Baroque, but was also ready to become the "Eiffel" of Europe.
After the Swedish flood, the Vilnius city magistrate was obliged to rebuild the Green Bridge over the Neris by the resolution of the Seimas. This work was undertaken by an engineer and architect of Italian origin, artillery colonel Giovanni Battista Frediani.
Frediani was not some foreign pretender. From historical sources, we know that he participated in the creation of the Pažaislis ensemble, completed by Vilnius St. construction of the church of the apostles Peter and Paul. He also designed the Sapiegi Palace ensemble in Antakalni.
Frediani stated that he could build a wooden, single-arch bridge over the Neri. This type of bridge was equivalent to the eighth wonder of the world and Frediani knew it well. Usually, in those days, bridges of two or more arches were built over wider rivers, which required the installation of several additional supports in the riverbed.
In 1671, Frediani showed the wooden model of the bridge to the bishop of Vilnius, Aleksandars Sapiega, and the voivode of Vilnius, Mykols Kazimierus Pacus. Before the construction of the bridge was approved, a "stress type" test was also carried out. When the heaviest man stood on the model, it could not be broken. As the contemporaries of that time wrote, such an unprecedented thing captured the "hearts and minds" of everyone.
In the spring of the same year, a huge shelter was built on the banks of the Neris, under which the bridge arch was assembled. In the autumn, the masonry of impressive dimensions, even up to 30 m wide, was started.
When the ark was thrown over the Neris, crowds of people came to see it. The height of the new bridge was almost equal to the churches of Vilnius, and several crosses were even built on top of the bridge.
January 1673 began with an unexpected ice storm. The water began to rise in the river. It was demanded to dismantle the scaffolding of the unfinished bridge as soon as possible. The priests even allowed female carpenters to work on Sunday and during Epiphany. When the wedges between the arch and the scaffolding were knocked out, a crunch was heard, the bridge began to sag, and in the evening it completely collapsed.
However, despite the failure, a one-arch or one-step bridge over the Neris was built in Vilnius. This was done closer to the castles of Vilnius, in 2003 commemorating the 750th anniversary of the coronation of King Mindaugas.
Prepared by: R. Janonienė, 2015. Architect Giovanni Battista Frediani of the Sapiegi Palace in Antakalni: features of the biography. In: Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis, 77-78, 2015, p. 13-43.
Photo: Kitas krantas, from the cycle Dingęs Vilnius, 2000, Liudas Parulskis.
Information of the Vilnius Castles State Cultural Reserve
