It is one of the oldest stone bridges in the city and carries Palace Embankment across the Swan Canal.

The Upper Swan Bridge is in Dvortsovy Municipal Okrug, part of the Tsentralny District of the city.

The Upper Swan Bridge began as a wooden construction across the Lebedinka, a shallow watercourse, at the point it enters the Neva.

[2][3] The abutments were fitted with gas lanterns, but these were removed at some point, presumably by the late nineteenth century.

Proposals were drawn up for a reconstruction of the bridge in 1847, which envisaged its replacement with a brick arch raised a metre above the river level.

[4] The bridge finally underwent repairs between 1927 and 1928, with the fitting of monolithic reinforced concrete by engineer L. A. Krushelnitsky, and the restoration of its granite cladding in 1931.

[2] The bridge has been described as uniting Palace Embankment and the fence of the Summer Garden into a single architectural ensemble, and has been designated an object of historical and cultural heritage of federal significance.