[1] Because its builder Ulrich Hosius wanted to recoup the cost by collecting tolls, Grand Duke Sigismund the Old granted him a privilege prohibiting others from building any other bridges across Neris between Kernavė and Bystrytsa [be] (now in Belarus) or to offer other crossing services between Verkiai and Paneriai.

[1] The bridge was burned by retreating Lithuanian Army commanded by Janusz Radziwiłł after the Battle of Vilnius (1655).

[3] During the Soviet occupation, in 1952, the bridge was decorated with four sets of cast iron sculptures of Soviet realism ("Mokslo jaunimas" ("Student Youth"), "Taikos sargyboje" ("On the Guard of Peace"), "Žemės ūkis" ("Agricultrure), "Pramonė ir statyba" ("Industry and Construction)).

After the restoration of independence, the sculptures were a subject of heated public debate whether they represent a form of art or Soviet propaganda which should be removed.

In 2013, Artūras Zuokas, then mayor of Vilnius, announced a plan to refurbish the statues without removing them from the bridge, and to add a commemorative plaque about Soviet repressions below the sculptures as a compromise.

Members of the council expressed hope, however, that the statues would end up in a museum where they can be preserved and presented in the appropriate context.

[8][9] In August 2016, a Lithuanian official sharply criticized a newly issued Russian commemorative coin depicting one of the banished statues – "Guarding Peace" – in connection with the Soviet liberation of Vilnius in 1944.

Rolandas Kacinskas, director of the Foreign Ministry's Political Department, said: "We have no doubts about the role and place of the Red Army in the history of Lithuania.