The Embankment of the Narva River

Today, a memorial plaque was solemnly unveiled on the embankment of the Narva River commemorating the first concrete structure in Estonia - the Narva Road Bridge. Built between 1822 and 1829, the bridge, which can be seen in many pre-war paintings and photographs, was blown up by the Red Army in 1941. It was temporarily repaired but again destroyed in 1944, only to be reconstructed in 1945.

After the construction of the "Friendship" Bridge was completed, the old bridge was finally demolished, but remnants of its granite icebreakers can still be seen today. In 1997, divers from the "Aquanaut" club retrieved about a dozen fragments of the Narva Bridge railing from the Narva River and handed them over to the museum.

At the end of this year, we will open an exhibition at the museum featuring preserved architectural details of pre-war Narva. The exhibition will showcase items that will be displayed to the public for the first time as they have been under conservation. Among them are details of the railing from the first concrete bridge in Estonia.

Öine Narva sild. Voldemar Noormägi. 1940. NLM https://opendata.muis.ee/object/1369444

Narva sild ja vanalinn. 1930–1940. NLM https://opendata.muis.ee/object/2460817

Narva silla piirdeaia fragment. 1829. NLM https://opendata.muis.ee/object/2686350

Mälestustahvel. Foto: Narva Muuseum. Zurab Jänes.

Mälestustahvel. Foto: Narva Muuseum. Zurab Jänes.