One of the three suspension bridges, extant in St. Petersburg, is a bank bridge connecting Kazan and Spassky island across the channel Griboyedov. This pedestrian crossing was built to go through the Catherine Canal to the entrance of Assignation Bank in 1825. Because of the "neighborhood" with the nearby bridge bank was renamed Banking.

Engineers VA Hristianovich and VK Tretter become sponsors of the project, carried away, like many St. Petersburg city planners, the creation of so-called chain suspension bridge over water hold metal chains. Applied in the construction of the bridge circuit Banking deeply embedded in the mouths cast iron griffins work PP Sokolova, as if the last sitting in the corners of the crossing, trying to keep the bridge.

Griffin is a mythical monster with the body of a lion, the head of a lion or an eagle, white wings and sharp claws. Architectural transcript of a griffin - a very symbolic: because he is portrayed with the body of a lion, an eagle's head and paws clawed eagle, the symbol of this combination of a compound sharp wit and uncommon strength. That's why griffins symbolically represent Petersburg. On the Bank Bridge Griffins established not by chance: the ancient Greek myths tell that they are reputed to be reliable guardians of the treasure, the best guardians of gold. Therefore, it is griffins were chosen as the main elements of the decorative finish of the bridge in front of the bank.

Besides beautiful griffins Bank Bridge "flaunted" beautiful openwork lattice with a pattern of open fan and palm leaves. As a result, Bank Bridge was known as the most ornate and original construction on the site: the surrounding houses on the banks of the Griboyedov Canal, looked a lot easier. His original architectural design of the bridge, "famous", even far beyond the city. However, the bridge blend in with the surrounding environment: the rich decor of the bridge "offset" its compact size (just over 25 meters in length and about 2 meters in width).

Wings griffins holding the Bank Bridge, were made of gilded copper. This attracted the bridge lovers easy prey, trying to scrape the gilt off the grid and with sculptures. But to capitalize on this "mining" it was impossible - gold coated with a thin layer so that you could only scrape the smallest gold dust. But the "miners" are not confused, and in the end, griffins and grill Bank Bridge came into complete disrepair - were badly scratched or broken off all their gold items. At the end of the XIX century grille has been removed from the bridge to the restoration, after which her trail disappeared. For a long time the bridge parapet Banking were ordinary railing, replacing the lost art fence.

In 1949, a wooden bridge painting was repaired. In 1952, the project AL Rotach and GF Perlin iron fence was restored, along with it - and the lights above the heads of griffins.

In 1994, the second restored wooden flooring canvases bridge. In 1997 we produced the repair and restoration of the sculptures of griffins railing lattice. In 2009, with the wings of the recently restored griffins, as in former times, scraped gold leaf. In 2010, two griffins more than three months have been closed with protective caps due to the strengthening of the embankment collapsed channel. Turning a channel, you can now enjoy the Bank Bridge, this unique epitome of romantic tendencies in Russian art of the beginning of XIX century classicism.