Lavr Proskuryakov

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Lavr Dmitrievich Proskuryakov (August 18, 1858 — September 14, 1926) was a leading bridge builder of Imperial Russia.

Proskuryakov was responsible for many bridges constructed along the Trans-Siberian Railway, including the one crossing the Kotorosl River in Yaroslavl (1896), another spanning the Yenisey near Krasnoyarsk (1898) and the Khabarovsk Bridge across the Amur River (1916). His project for the Yenisey Bridge was awarded the Gold Medal at the Exposition Universelle (1900) and was approved by the UNESCO for inclusion in the World Heritage List. In Moscow, he designed Andreyevsky Bridge and Krasnoluzhsky Bridge.

Proskuryakov was also known as a brilliant teacher. His textbook on construction engineering (in 2 volumes) went through six editions during his lifetime. Yevhen Paton compared Proskuryakov's bridges to Pushkin's poems, and the Proskuryakov Gold Medal was awarded for the best bridge designs since 1912.