The Bank Bridge

This guide to the Bank Bridge in Saint Petersburg opens with restorers prying open its cast-iron griffins and finding nearly two centuries of coins, banknotes and handwritten wishes stuffed inside. It traces back to 1825, when engineer Wilhelm von Traitteur strung this chain footbridge across the canal by the old State Assignation Bank, and sculptor Pavel Sokolov cast the four winged guardians to hide the anchoring ironwork. Best heard while standing close enough to see the gilding on their wings.