Alexie Venetsianov/Tretyakov galleryThe emperor wanted St. Petersburg to become the largest seaport in Europe and believed that its inhabitants should travel by boat, as in Amsterdam. In winter, when the Neva River was covered with ice and it was possible to travel on it in a sleigh or on foot, the court jester was the first to descend onto the frozen river. And, in spring, Peter I opened navigation: first they fired three cannon salvos, then the emperor crossed the river by boat. Vasily SadovnikovIn 1727, two years after the death of Peter the Great, the first floating bridge appeared in St. Petersburg - St. Isaac's Bridge, which allowed one to cross to Vasilievsky Island. And, in 1850, the first permanent bridge appeared in St. Petersburg between Admiralty and Vasilievsky islands - the Blagoveshchensky Bridge.