The Siberian Marble Gallery between Swan Islands — an artificial archipelago of seven islets in the landscape park of Tsarskoe Selo — spans a rivulet flowing between several ponds. The bridge was modelled after the Palladian Bridge (1736) in the park of Wilton House and served as a showcase for the Ural marbles. All the details of the bridge — including the granite Ionic colonnade — were produced in Yekaterinburg, transported to Tsarskoe Selo and then assembled in the workshop of Vincenzo Tortori in 1774. Probably called Siberian due to its construction of Urals kinds of marble.
Has been repeatedly vandalised (on a small-scale) despite the fact that after renovation in late XXc. it was fenced off from public access and equipped with burglar alarm.
Famous quotes containing the words marble and/or bridge:
“See how the sacred old flamingoes come,
Painting with shadow all the marble steps:
Aged and wise, they seek their wonted perches
Within the temple, devious walking, made
To wander by their melancholy minds.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“A circle swoop, and a quick parabola under the bridge arches
Where light pushes through;
A sudden turning upon itself of a thing in the air.
A dip to the water.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)