Bridge over Saint Volodymyr Descent

About

Pedestrian and cycling bridge over Saint Volodymyr Descent or Volodymyrskyi Descent (Ukrainian: Пішохідно-велосипедний міст через Володимирський узвіз, romanized: Pishokhidno-velosypednyi mist cherez Volodomyrskyi uzviz), also known as Klitschko Glass Bridge (Скляний міст Кличка, Sklianyi mist Klychka), is a bridge connecting two parks in Kyiv, Ukraine—the Saint Volodymyr Hill and Khreshchatyi Park—over the street Saint Volodymyr Descent. It is used by pedal cycles and pedestrians only. Built over five months at a cost of 275 million hryvnia, the bridge was opened by Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko on 25 May 2019.

The original idea of the bridge between two parks belongs to a Ukrainian architect Vasyl Krychevsky. The bridge was supposed to be a part of Kyiv Government Center project made for architecture contest that was held in 1934, when Kyiv regained its status as the Ukrainian capital. Krychevsky designed the traffic viaduct that was planned to connect the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of People's Commissars. He was praised for the viaduct project, but his variant of Government Center was dismissed.

In the independent Ukraine, the plan of building the bridge was brought back up in 2006. At the meeting of Kyiv Architecture Department on 6 September Heorhiy Dukhovnychyi presented the project of a shopping mall with offices and apartments at Saint Volodymyr Descent. The building featured a bridge over the descent, making it similar to Kyiv's central shopping mall Globus that was built in 2002 and had a similar bridge connecting its roof with a park. The project was approved for further development, but it had never ended up anything more than a concept.

In 2013, Kyiv City State Administration decided to build a bridge between two parks and open it in 2014. The contest where Kyiv citizens had to choose the best project took place in May. The contest was international and featured participants from different countries: ipv Delft from Netherlands, Buro Happold from United Kingdom, Asadov Architectural Studio from Russia, Leuppi & Schafroth Architekten from Switzerland, RR Architectes from Spain and two projects from Ukraine, one from Soyuzdorproekt and one from Kyivdormistproekt. However, the contest failed because of the split of opinion – the citizens chose a project from the Netherlands while the contest judges couldn't decide between Spain and Switzerland.

The order to build a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge was issued by Kyiv City State Administration in February 2017, the project's architect had to be decided in a contest. In October 2018, Project Systems LTD was chosen as a winner with a project of Andriy Myrhorodskyi, it featured a 210 meters long steel bridge with glass elements. In November, SpetsAvtoBud had won the tender to build the footbridge, structural steel with ultimate tensile strength of 420 MPa for the construction was fabricated in Azovstal and Okean.

The land preparation began in December 2018. The construction of piers was started in February 2019, the descent was temporarily narrowed with fence to place the cranes. The installation of spans began in March, the final one was installed in April, Klitschko posted a video in Facebook where, following the tradition, the champagne bottle was placed between two spans to be broken during the locking. In May, the installation of glass panels began as well as repair of park space near the bridge that was cleared up for the construction.

On 25 May 2019 during the celebration of Day of Kyiv, the bridge was opened by Mayor of Kyiv Vitaly Klitschko and his brother Volodymyr, they've jumped on one of the glass panels several times to prove the safety of the structure. Vitaly stated that the construction lasted five months and was finished in time, he said that this work united all the Ukrainians as the workers from Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Lviv, Konotop, Rivne and Kyiv were involved in the construction working 24 hours a day.

On 13–14 June 2019, the bridge was closed to install the armored glass, apply the markings and clean up the bridge.

On 30 June 2019, additional security cameras had been installed on the bridge.

On 24 November 2021, in Saint Volodymyr Hill Park near the bridge, the bronze scale model of it was opened as a part of the program of popularization of tourism among the disabled people. The model has an information board in Ukrainian and English braille and a QR code for more information with sign language translation. The model has been approved by a head of All-Ukrainian Parliament of Working Disabled People Volodymyr Petrovskyi.

22 April 2025 Ukrainian household chemicals producer AFINA Group advertised their newly launced SARMIX brand by using it to clean the entire Glass Bridge.

The original idea of the bridge between two parks belongs to a Ukrainian architect Vasyl Krychevsky. The bridge was supposed to be a part of Kyiv Government Center project made for architecture contest that was held in 1934, when Kyiv regained its status as the Ukrainian capital. Krychevsky designed the traffic viaduct that was planned to connect the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of People's Commissars. He was praised for the viaduct project, but his variant of Government Center was dismissed.

In the independent Ukraine, the plan of building the bridge was brought back up in 2006. At the meeting of Kyiv Architecture Department on 6 September Heorhiy Dukhovnychyi presented the project of a shopping mall with offices and apartments at Saint Volodymyr Descent. The building featured a bridge over the descent, making it similar to Kyiv's central shopping mall Globus that was built in 2002 and had a similar bridge connecting its roof with a park. The project was approved for further development, but it had never ended up anything more than a concept.

In 2013, Kyiv City State Administration decided to build a bridge between two parks and open it in 2014. The contest where Kyiv citizens had to choose the best project took place in May. The contest was international and featured participants from different countries: ipv Delft from Netherlands, Buro Happold from United Kingdom, Asadov Architectural Studio from Russia, Leuppi & Schafroth Architekten from Switzerland, RR Architectes from Spain and two projects from Ukraine, one from Soyuzdorproekt and one from Kyivdormistproekt. However, the contest failed because of the split of opinion – the citizens chose a project from the Netherlands while the contest judges couldn't decide between Spain and Switzerland.

The order to build a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge was issued by Kyiv City State Administration in February 2017, the project's architect had to be decided in a contest. In October 2018, Project Systems LTD was chosen as a winner with a project of Andriy Myrhorodskyi, it featured a 210 meters long steel bridge with glass elements. In November, SpetsAvtoBud had won the tender to build the footbridge, structural steel with ultimate tensile strength of 420 MPa for the construction was fabricated in Azovstal and Okean.

The land preparation began in December 2018. The construction of piers was started in February 2019, the descent was temporarily narrowed with fence to place the cranes. The installation of spans began in March, the final one was installed in April, Klitschko posted a video in Facebook where, following the tradition, the champagne bottle was placed between two spans to be broken during the locking. In May, the installation of glass panels began as well as repair of park space near the bridge that was cleared up for the construction.

On 25 May 2019 during the celebration of Day of Kyiv, the bridge was opened by Mayor of Kyiv Vitaly Klitschko and his brother Volodymyr, they've jumped on one of the glass panels several times to prove the safety of the structure. Vitaly stated that the construction lasted five months and was finished in time, he said that this work united all the Ukrainians as the workers from Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Lviv, Konotop, Rivne and Kyiv were involved in the construction working 24 hours a day.

On 13–14 June 2019, the bridge was closed to install the armored glass, apply the markings and clean up the bridge.

On 30 June 2019, additional security cameras had been installed on the bridge.

On 24 November 2021, in Saint Volodymyr Hill Park near the bridge, the bronze scale model of it was opened as a part of the program of popularization of tourism among the disabled people. The model has an information board in Ukrainian and English braille and a QR code for more information with sign language translation. The model has been approved by a head of All-Ukrainian Parliament of Working Disabled People Volodymyr Petrovskyi.