From where and where the Neva flows. What city on the Neva? Various islands and tributaries

And several dozen others settlements... It is navigable along its entire length, it is part of the Volga-Baltic waterway and the White Sea-Baltic canal.

Etymology

There are several versions of the origin of the name:

• from the ancient Finnish name Lake Ladoga Nevo (Finn.nevo - sea);
• from the Finnish word “neva” (Fin. Nevajoki, Nevajärvi, from Fin. neva - swamp);
• from the Swedish word "nu" (Swedish ny - New (river)).

The modern names of the branches of the Neva delta were formed by the end of the 18th century, before that they were used rather arbitrarily.

Story

According to modern concepts, about 10,000-7,500 years ago, on the site of the present Baltic Sea, there was a closed freshwater Ancylovo basin (Lake Ancylovo). The reservoir occupied only a part of the Baltic Sea, its eastern coast was in the Kronstadt region. The level in Lake Ancylovo was lower than in the ocean, and 3-4 m lower than in the present-day Baltic Sea. The Neva River did not exist then. In its place flowed the Tosna River, which flowed along the present Sea Canal into Lake Ancylovoe beyond Kronstadt, and the Mga River, directing its waters towards Praladoga. Praladoga itself was a separate lake and had an outlet to the Ancylovo basin in the north of the Karelian Isthmus along the Priozersk-Vyborg line.

Approximately 7,500 years ago, as a result of the sinking of the land, the Jutland Peninsula separated from southern Sweden and the straits were formed: the Great Belt and the Little Belt. The waters of the North Sea poured through the straits into the Ancylus basin, turning it into a sea. This sea received the name Litorinovoy after the name of the mollusk that inhabited it - an inhabitant of the coastal areas of the sea, strongly desalinated by river waters.

The Litorina Sea occupied a larger area than the present Baltic Sea, and jutted into the land in a narrow strait along the Neva lowland; the water level in it was 7-9 m higher than the current one. Lake Ladoga was then the gulf of the sea and was connected with. him across a wide strait in the north of the Karelian Isthmus. During the existence of the Litorina Sea, two important processes took place - the rise of the land of Fenno-Scandia and the cooling of the global climate. Due to the cooling of the climate, part of the precipitation that fell in the high-mountainous regions and circumpolar continental regions ceased to return to the ocean, and went to replenish the eternal snow and ice. The flow of water into the ocean decreased, and the level in it began to fall.

As a result of the rise in land and the lowering of the ocean level, the Litorina Sea began to shrink, retreat, forming as a result of this regression about 4000 years ago the Ancient Baltic Sea. The water level in this sea was 4-6 m higher than in the modern Baltic. The coast of the Ancient Baltic Sea can be traced in St. Petersburg in the form of a low, gently sloping ledge, bordering an arc of the island part of the city.

Land uplift was uneven. The northern part of Lake Ladoga was in the area of ​​more rapid uplift of the earth's crust than the southern part. As a result of this, the channel in the north of the Karelian Isthmus gradually died out. Ladoga turned into a separate lake and began to overflow. The waters of the lake covered large tracts of land on the southern coast, flooding peatlands, woody vegetation and prehistoric man's sites. The filling of the lake continued until its waters flooded the entire valley of the Mga River and came to a narrow isthmus separating the Mgu and Tosna rivers. Finally, the waters of the lake, having risen by more than 12 m and exceeding the sea level by 17-18 m, gushed through the watershed. As a result of this breakthrough, about 4000-4500 years ago, the Neva River was formed. In the place of the breakthrough, the Ivanovskie rapids remained. Prehistoric man undoubtedly witnessed this event. The descent of the waters of Lake Ladoga after the breakthrough lasted, obviously, for a long time: it took time to develop the channel of the Neva. The waters of Lake Ladoga approached the place of the breakthrough along the valley of the Mga River, and after the breakthrough, they used the already finished valley of the Tosna River. Thus, the valley of the Neva River is not worked out by itself, but is made up of two valleys of the Mga and Tosna rivers that are alien to each other.

Initially, the Neva flowed into the Gulf of Finland of the retreating Litorin and then the Old Baltic Sea with one branch. But the sea continued to recede, and islands that had previously been shallow rose out of the water. The Neva waters rushed into the hollows between the islands. Thus, several branches appeared. Later, the water rapidly falling after the floods, carrying away soil particles, formed new branches and deepened the existing one. The flowing water has finished - the job. As a result, several dozen branches and channels appeared, of which the modern delta of the Neva River consists.

Usually islands and shoals of large river deltas owe their origin to the deposition of river silt. The delta of the Neva River is an exception. There is very little silt in the Neva water, and its subsidence could not lead to the formation of islands. The main role in the emergence of the islands of the Neva delta belongs to the work of the sea and river flow.

The Neva and its delta, in outlines close to modern ones, were formed relatively recently - about 2500 years ago, when the current ratio between the water levels of Lake Ladoga and the Baltic Sea was finally established. Thus, the Neva is a young river.

The described theory of the formation of the Neva River is not the only one in the scientific literature. Some authors take different points of view.

The delta of the Neva River and the surrounding area, where St. Petersburg now stands, is an example of those striking changes that man makes to nature. It is not easy to imagine what the area looked like in the past. But the Novgorod scribal books, Swedish maps, plans drawn up after the founding of the city, and other materials that have come down to us make it possible to trace how the landscape has changed and the history of its waters.

The territory of modern St. Petersburg has long been inhabited. Already in the IX century. it belonged to Novgorod and was called Vodskaya pyatina, the area on the right along the Neva was called Karelian land, on the left - Izhora land. In the XIV-XV centuries. quite large population for that time lived here. So, according to the Novgorodian descriptive books of 1471-1478. on Fomin Island (Petrogradsky Island) there were 30 courtyards, on Vasilievsky Island - 24 courtyards, at the mouth of the Okhta River - 50 courtyards, etc. According to the descriptive books of 1500, on the territory of the present city there were more than 1000 households with a population of 5500 people of both sexes. Finally, according to the Swedish plan in 1676, there were about 40 small villages on this territory. Some villages had Swedish names, others - Finnish, others - Russian. Of the villages with a Russian name, we note Pervushino on the site of the Summer Garden, Spasskoye near Smolny, Palenikh and Sebrino near Liteiny Bridge, Usaditsa and Kalina on the banks of the Fontanka. The villages were scattered among forests and swamps. Their inhabitants were engaged in hunting, fishing, as well as trade, which Novgorod and then the Swedes were actively engaged in with the peoples of Europe. Minor plots of land were used for vegetable gardens and arable land.

It was a swampy area, almost entirely covered with dense forest. Wolves, bears, lynxes, moose were found in the forests. The nature of the area at that time is given an idea of ​​the Swedish names of land plots on the plans of the 17th century: "Land mixed with manure", "Solid earth", etc. Petrogradsky island was called Berezov, Vasilievsky - Losin, Aptekarsky - Dikim, Dekabristov island - Ivov ... Such names of bogs and natural boundaries as Chertovoe, Mokhovoe, Sukhoe, Mokroe, mentioned in various written sources of the early 18th century, also speak of the appearance of the area. Whole area along the right bank of the Malaya Neva at the Tuchkov Bridge and along the Zhdanovka River (former Bolotny Channel) at the beginning of the 18th century. on the maps was listed under the name Mokrushi. A deep and swampy swamp was in the area Mikhailovsky Garden and Engineering Street. Impenetrable, the swamp was near Gostiny Dvor between Dumskaya Street and Apraksin Lane, as well as on the site of the Technological Institute. In 1705, about 1/5 of the territory of present-day St. Petersburg was occupied by swamps. Finally, the still-preserved names of streets remind of the nature of the area: Borovaya, Glukhoozernaya, Bolotnaya, Torfyanaya, Polevaya, Lesnaya, Glinyanaya.

Before the foundation of the city, there were significantly more rivers on its territory than now. Rivers and streams crossed the area in different directions, forming many islands and peninsulas among the marshes. Thus, in the census book of 1500 it is mentioned White Island in the area of ​​the current Finlyandsky railway station, Bolshoy and Maly Galgeyevy islands near Murzinka. The names of many villages mentioned in the same book are also characteristic: Ostrov, Ostrovki, Black Island, Spruce Island.

The rivers were deeper than they are now. This is evidenced by the facts: a fairly large population once lived on the banks of the Slavyanka River - apparently, the river was navigable; the mouth of the Okhta River during the existence of the Swedish fortress Nyenskans on the site of Petrozavod was accessible for deep-seated ships; there were berths on the left bank of the Okhta.

Such was the area and its river network before the founding of St. Petersburg. After the founding of St. Petersburg - on May 16 (27), 1703 - by order of Peter I, first of all, the laying of clearings in the forest and the construction of roads were started. These works, as well as the creation of military and port facilities, were mainly engaged in the first 5-7 years. Then they began to reorganize the waterways of the city - Peter I dreamed of creating a port city, cut by numerous rivers and canals, convenient for navigation of ships and movement of residents.

The first was dug the Fortress Canal along the entire length of the Hare Island to supply the garrison with water. Peter and Paul Fortress in case of a siege and for the transportation of building materials (the canal is filled up). In 1706, a canal-ditch was dug, now called the Kronverksky channel. By the end of 1711, the Lebyazhy Canal appeared on the site of the Lebedinka River. A few years later, the Moika was deepened and connected to the Fontanka near the Summer Garden. By 1718, besides Lebyazhy, two more canals from the Neva to the Moika were dug: Red (filled up in 1765) and Zimnyaya Kanavka. In 1717, a fourth canal was laid from the Neva to the Moika, which was named Kryukov after the contractor Semyon Kryukov. By 1720-1725 the Lithuanian and Admiralty canals were built, the Rowing port on Vasilievsky Island was almost built, etc.

After the death of Peter I, the construction of canals and the clearing of rivers almost ceased, and those that existed fell into decay. Construction work resumed only after 1740.

Fontanka River until 1712-1714 was called Eric or Nameless Eric. It was a swampy river that formed islands and backwaters in its course. In 1743-1752 the river was cleared. In 1780-1789 it was cleared and deepened a second time, and the banks were dressed in granite. The new name - Fountain River - it received from the fountains arranged in the Summer Garden. The fountains were fed with water through a pipe drawn from the pool pond, located at the corner of the present Grechesky Prospekt and Nekrasov Street (now there is a square), where water was fed by gravity through the Ligovsky Canal.

In 1764-1790. the Catherine Canal was built (now the Griboyedov Canal). On the site of the canal, a Gluhaya river with almost stagnant, muddy water used to flow. For the bends and turns, the Deaf River was also called Krivusha. In the upper reaches, it had two branches - the Deaf channels, which originated between the present Konushennaya Square and the Arts Square. In the high water, the Gluhaya river through its channels communicated with the Moika and the Fontanka.

In the 70s of the XVIII century. work was carried out to clear marshes and deepen the lakes on Elagin Island. The excavated land was used to fill embankments and dams along the coast, protecting the adjacent area from flooding when the water rises in the Neva. The dams have survived to this day. In 1782-1787. The Kryukov Canal was extended southward to the Fontanka River (originally this part of the canal was called the Nikolsky Canal). Subsequently, part of Kryukov dripped between the Neva and Blagoveshchenskaya Square (now Labor Square) was enclosed in a pipe and backfilled in connection with the commissioning of the current Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge and the improvement of the square.

In 1769, they began laying a canal from the side of the Yekateringofka River to the east, in the direction of the Neva River, along the route of the City Moat (later the Obvodny Canal). The main work on the construction of the Obvodny Canal - the largest in the city - was carried out much later, in 1805-1834, mainly under the leadership of a prominent scientist and engineer P.P. Bazin. The canal has played an extremely important role in industrial and residential construction southern regions the city, which then took on a wide scale. In the 50-60s of the last century, continuous lines of ships and barges with various cargoes went along the Obvodny Canal. In winter, the ice cover was often broken by hand, with ice picks. To ease the load on the intracity waterways, the Vvedensky Canal was built at about the same time, connecting the Fontanka River with Bypass channel(filled up in 1967), and opposite the Aleksapdro-Nevskaya Lavra, a branch was drawn from the Obvodny Canal to the basin for anchorage of ships.

At the end of the 18th century. the Moika river was cleaned and deepened, its banks were clad in granite. By 1804, the Pryazhka River was connected to the Neva by the short Salnobuyan canal.

During the construction of the Commercial Sea Port (1874-1885), very large-scale hydraulic engineering works were carried out to lay canals and clear rivers in the southwestern part of the Neva delta.

Special mention should be made of the construction of the Sea Canal. This artificial underwater cut, 30 km long, 80-120 m wide and about 9 m deep, crosses the Neva Bay from east to west. The channel connects the mouth of the Neva River with open part The Gulf of Finland and is extremely important for maritime navigation. Before its creation, large merchant ships were unloaded in Kronstadt. Warships under construction in the city's shipyards were put out to sea without equipment, and only in Kronstadt they were finally armed. To prevent siltation, which is inevitable in shallow waters during strong waves, part of the canal was enclosed in dams.

Among the significant works of the post-revolutionary period, one can point to the construction of the Grebnoy Canal on Krestovsky Island, the laying of new channels for the Smoleniya and Volkovka rivers, the construction of deep ponds in the Moscow and Primorsky Victory Parks, the reclamation of the White Shore Island, the construction of an approach channel to the Marine Passenger Terminal on the western arrow Vasilievsky Island and, finally, washing out a wide shallow strait between the Decembrists Island and Volny Island and transforming these islands into a single massif.

In the city in different time work was carried out on the construction and clearing of many other rivers and canals, which were not mentioned above. But at the same time, some canals were filled up, and the rivers disappeared. If in the XVIII and XIX centuries. the number of streams increased continuously, then in the XX century. their number began to decrease.

At the very beginning, some canals were created as temporary ones, only to drain the area. For example, the Oblique Canal (it started from the Neva, near the Liteiny Bridge, and went to the Fontanka), the Church Canal, laid along Malaya Sadovaya Street, the Cross Canal in the Summer Garden.

Other canals, originally built as permanent, have lost their significance over time and have been filled up.

To supply the city with clean drinking water, the Lithuanian Canal was built in 1718-1725. It began near the village of Gorelovo from the Dudergofka river flowing from the Duderhof lakes. Water flowed by gravity through the canal into the already mentioned pool-pond at the intersection of the current Grechesky Prospekt and Nekrasov Street, and then to the fountains of the Summer Garden. Within the city limits, the Ligovsky Canal was about 10 km long, and its total length was 20 km. In the middle of the XIX century. the canal turned out to be badly neglected and turned into a dump of sewage. On the section from Nekrasov Street to Obvodny Canal, it was enclosed in a cast-iron pipe and backfilled by 1891, and on the section between Obvodny Canal and Zabalkansky (now Moskovsky) Avenue - by 1910. Now the open section is preserved beyond the Krasnenkaya River to the west of Avtovo.

To protect against fires and in case of enemy attacks in 1715-1720. the Admiralty Canal was dug (around the Admiralty and further along the present-day Profsoyuzov Boulevard, then it crossed the Kryukov Canal in what is now Truda Square and flowed into the Moika River). The canal was completely filled up by the middle of the 19th century. Only a small section between the Kryukov Canal and the Moika has survived under the name of the Krustein Canal. In the 70s of the XVIII century. the canals leading from the Neva to the courtyard of the Admiralty were filled up. For security reasons, the Mikhailovsky (Engineering) castle was surrounded by deep canal ditches. Along the castle, parallel to the Fontanka, there was the Church Canal (filled up in 1829), along the Moika - the Resurrection Canal (enclosed in a pipe and filled up in 1879). Now a small fragment of one of the canals of the Mikhailovsky Castle has been restored.

The history of the canals on Vasilievsky Island is remarkable. According to the idea of ​​Peter I, which was the basis for the projects of D. Trezipe and A. Leblond (1715-1717), Vasilievsky Island was to become the center of the city. The island was cut into rectangles by channels. The main channels crossed the island in length and were supposed to serve for the passage of ships from the seaside to the eastern arrow. The construction of these canals began during the reign of Peter I, but it was carried out with a deviation from the plan and with errors, which ruined the initiative. Due to the lack of bridges, frequent floods settled on the island reluctantly. The construction of new canals was soon discontinued. The canals that were dug subsequently found it expedient to fill up, because, as stated in the decree of Catherine II in 1762, “from them there is only dirt and a harmful spirit comes. health ". The canals were finally filled up by 1705-1770. The current lines and avenues of Vasilyevsky Island are the places of former canals or canal routes that were planned for construction.

Finally, some canals were filled up due to the high cost of building embankments or for the purpose of landscaping. Among such canals, completely or partially filled up at a later time, we indicate the Vvedensky canal near the Vitebsk railway station, the Mezhevoy and Turukhtanny canals in the area Seaport, Shkipersky Channel on Vasilievsky Island, part of the Kryukov Canal between the Bolshaya Neva River and Truda Square.

Due to the drainage of the area and the construction of sewerage systems, the supply of a number of natural watercourses has decreased. Rivers turned into rivers, rivers into streams, and streams enclosed in pipes ceased to exist altogether. For example, the Malnaya River, flowing near the Main Post Office, the Tentelevka River, which flowed into the Tarakanovka River, and the Chernyavka River, the right tributary of the Okhta River, disappeared. Compared to 1700, there are now several dozen fewer rivers in the city.

The number of reservoirs (lakes, ponds) has sharply decreased. Small lakes made planning difficult and interfered with construction. At various times, the Deaf Lake near the Aleksaidro-Nevsky Monastery, a group of ponds on the islets of Rezvy, Gutuevsky and Aptekarsky, a dock inside the Admiralty, a pool-pond behind the Anichkov Palace were completely filled up.

In total, during the existence of the city, more than 50 rivers, streams, streams and channels and about 200 lakes and ponds were filled up or enclosed in pipes.

Maintaining the rivers and canals of the city in good condition was not easy. The banks often collapsed. The water was polluted with impurities. The bottom was littered with debris and cluttered with sunken ships and forest. Initially, the responsibility for strengthening river banks and canals with piles, planks or fascines was assigned to homeowners. It was strictly forbidden to throw garbage into rivers and canals, and ships were not allowed to come close to the shore. But all the measures did not reach the goal. Over time, the care of maintaining the rivers passed to the authorities. But fundamentally things changed for the better only after the construction of capital embankments and the reconstruction of the entire sewage system.

Outstanding architects who built the city correctly estimated the importance of the Neva River as a city-forming factor. The Neva was to become the main architectural axis of the city.

Simultaneously with the construction of canals, clearing and deepening of rivers, the construction of embankments was carried out. In some places, driving piles into the water and filling the banks with earth led to a reduction in the width of rivers and canals. In other places, on the contrary, the land was taken out, and the width of the watercourse increased. Thus, the banks of the rivers were leveled and straightened. For the most part, the modern bank has moved towards the river: at the Summer Garden, for example, by 50 m, at Winter Palace by 90 m, on the spit of Vasilievsky Island by almost 120 m, and in the area of ​​Pirogovskaya embankment by 150-200 m.

The construction of expensive canals and embankments, the clearing and deepening of rivers were dictated primarily not by considerations of decorating the city. In the past, waterways were the most convenient, especially in swampy areas. In terms of the abundance of waters, St. Petersburg occupies one of the first places in the world. Almost a fifth of its territory - about 110 km2 - is occupied by water.

Islands

To the west of Shlisselburg, under the Neva, a main oil pipeline has been laid, which is part of the Baltic pipeline system, which transports oil from the Timan-Pechora oil province, Western Siberia, the Ural-Volga region and Kazakhstan through the port of Primorsk on the Gulf of Finland. The 774-meter underground pipeline lies 7 to 9 meters below the river bed. Up to 42 million tons of oil are pumped through it per year.

An underwater tunnel for the Nord Stream gas pipeline has been laid near the Ladoga Bridge. The diameter of the tunnel is 2 meters, the length is 750 meters, and the maximum depth is 25 meters. A pipe with a diameter of almost one and a half meters has been laid inside the tunnel.

The main source of water supply for St. Petersburg and its suburbs is the Neva River. More than 96% of water is taken from it, which is processed at the 5 largest waterworks: Main Waterworks, Northern Waterworks, South Waterworks, Volkovskaya Waterworks, Water treatment plants in Kolpino. Since June 26, 2009, St. Petersburg has become the first metropolis in which all drinking water is treated with ultraviolet light and which has completely abandoned the use of liquid chlorine for water disinfection.

The amazing river, on which Peter I built the Northern capital, is fraught with many mysteries. The ZagraNitsa portal invites you to travel along the Neva and learn a lot interesting facts

The Neva is one of the deepest rivers in the European part of Russia. In terms of the average annual flow (about 80 cubic kilometers), it is second only to the Volga, Danube, Kama and Pechora.

The greatest width of the river within the city limits is in front of the Troitsky Bridge and is 600 meters, and the smallest, 340 meters, is between the Palace Bridge and the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge.

Photo: Sergey Degtyarev 3

The Neva is a relatively young river: scientists say that it is no more than two thousand years old. For comparison, one of the first mentions of the Dnieper dates back to the 5th century BC. e.

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The source of the Neva is located in Lake Ladoga. More than thirty rivers flow into this body of water, filling it with their waters, but only the Neva flows out of it.

In the spring, two large-scale ice drifts pass along the Neva: one in April, which directly carries local ice to the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland, and a couple of weeks later - one that sailed from Lake Ladoga.

Photo: Eduard Gordeev 7

The Neva changes throughout the day: during the day the waters are lead-colored, in the evening they are ash-gray, and at dawn they are filled with pink and light yellow shades.

The most famous fish of the Neva is smelt. During the existence of St. Petersburg, this small fish with a cucumber smell has become a real brand of the Northern capital - the city regularly organizes festivals dedicated to it.

Photo: the-village.ru 9

Despite its short length - only 74 km - the river flows an area comparable in area to Italy. At the same time, the Neva delta includes the Ladoga, Onega, Saima, Ilmen lakes, as well as the Svir, Volkhov and Vuoksa rivers.

The water level in the river is constant and depends only on the change in this indicator in Lake Ladoga. The Neva is unusual in that it never grows shallow and does not overflow in spring.

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But in the fall, floods occur on the Neva, and each time all indicators are recorded in the history book of the city. The most tragic of these was the flood that occurred in the fall of 1824: the water rose above the standard level, by 410 cm. It flooded the city, destroyed houses, and many people died.

Scientists still have no consensus on the origin of the name of the river. There is a version that the word "neva" comes from the Swedish "well" or "nu" - "new", or from the word "neva" - "swamp", "bog".

Fishing fans can be seen on the Neva all year round. Rumor has it that each part of the river corresponds to a certain fish. For example, smelt is caught only from the mouth of the Neva to the Crooked Kolene, vendace - to the Ivanovskie rapids, and lamprey - in the urban part of the river. And upstream you can even stumble upon salmon spawning grounds! There are all conditions for this fish: places with a fast current and a bottom with large pebbles.

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For many years, the Neva served as the main route to Europe, helping enterprising Novgorodians develop trade relations with the Baltic states. And later, already under Peter I, the river became the sea gate of the Russian Empire.

The total length of the granite embankments is over 100 km. The first was Palace Embankment, then - English and Kutuzov embankment. The embankments are being built to this day, and most of them are outstanding architectural monuments, which are under state protection.

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There are 8 drawbridges across the Bolshaya Neva in St. Petersburg. Excursion boats run along the river, which provide an opportunity to make interesting journey to the source where Oreshek is located - an ancient Russian fortress.

Within the city limits, the Neva flows for 30 km, and at the mouth it forms a delta, where there are 40 islands. The largest of them are Krestovsky, Petrogradsky and Vasilievsky.

Photo: firma-uspeh.ru

The Neva River is one of the most beautiful and full-flowing rivers in Europe. 32 rivers flow into Lake Ladoga, and the Neva is the only one flowing out of it. Free and wayward, she emphasizes the beauty of St. Petersburg. Poems and songs are dedicated to her, she is as loved as the majestic Petersburg itself:

Neva, Neva, we won't get tired of admiring you!
We sing with all our hearts about our own, about the dear wonderful city above the Neva!

(The song "Neva, Neva, Leningraders love you for a reason!"

Neva river - brief information

• Length - 74 km, of which 32 km - on the territory of St. Petersburg
• Average width - 200-400 meters, the widest part - 1000-1250 m - in the delta at the Nevsky Gate of the Commercial Sea Port, the narrowest 210 m - opposite Cape Svyatka at the beginning of the Ivanovskie rapids
• Depth - from 4 m at the Ivanovskie rapids to 24 meters at the Liteiny bridge
• The shores are not steep, but immediately go inland, which makes it possible for ships to come close to the shores
• The Neva River has a basin with an area of ​​281,000 sq. Km, on the territory of which there are 50,000 lakes, the largest of them are Ladoga and Onega, and 60,000 rivers flow, the total length of which is 160,000 km. There is only one more similar system in the world - the Great Lakes in North America.

The source of the Neva River is located at the Shlisselburg Bay, where on the Oreshek Island in 1323 Prince Yuri Danilovich, the grandson of Alexander Nevsky, founded the Shlisselburg Fortress, unique in its architecture. Having passed 74 km from Lake Ladoga to the Gulf of Finland, forming a vast delta, the Neva flows into the Gulf of Finland. At the mouth of the river is St. Petersburg, which is often called the Venice of the North and an open-air museum.

The largest branches, rivers and canals of the Neva delta

Bridges across the Neva

Almost all bridges on the Neva are drawbridges. Bridges are raised at night to allow ships to pass.

In total, there are 13 drawbridges in the northern capital, 10 of which are raised daily, which is one of the most popular sights for tourists. In details:

In 2004, the longest and only non-adjustable cable-stayed Bolshoy Obukhovsky bridge with a length of 2824 meters was opened. In the Leningrad Region, the Kuzminsky railway and Ladoga drawbridges were built across the Neva.

Fishing on the Neva

The most popular Neva fish is smelt from the herring order, which rises to spawn from the Gulf of Finland in spring, and salmon is caught in the upper part of the river. Favorite fishing spots for amateurs are Kutuzov Embankment, where eel and arctic char, asp and trout can be found. On the Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment, they catch brook trout and sterlet, salmon and grayling, bream and pike, catfish and burbot. Fishing sites near the Peter and Paul Fortress and Pirogovskaya embankments are also popular. It happens that large prey is also caught - pike up to 15 kg and pike perch 7-8 kg.

Floods on the Neva

The Neva is sometimes called the most volatile river in the world. Indeed, throughout the entire course, almost every half a kilometer, it changes its width and depth. Because of these vibrations, it is difficult for her to withstand the force of the headwind. The terrible flood of 1824 is described by A.S. Pushkin in the poem The Bronze Horseman:

The weather was more ferocious
The Neva swelled and roared,
A cauldron bubbling and swirling,
And suddenly, like a furious beast,
She rushed to the city.

Eyewitnesses say that the water in the Neva was boiling like a boiler and turned the current backwards, barges and ships were thrown like chips, and sailboats were carried to the embankment. The palace square was flooded with water and it, together with the Neva, was a huge lake, and under the rubble on the 9th line of Vasilievsky Island, the corpses of people and livestock accumulated. Distraught people clung to lamp posts and climbed trees. A resident of one of the houses on the Vyborgskaya side rescued the baby, who ended up in a box, which he carried to the porch of his house. Amusing cases also happened. Husband and wife managed to survive, floating on the door torn off by the storm. The husband had a chicken in his hands, and the wife had a dog.

Floods are also typical for the Neva, as are white nights, rains and fogs for St. Petersburg. In those years when the city was just being built, Peter's opponents believed that the flooding of St. Petersburg was God's punishment and retribution. But the chronicle says that as early as 1691, the water rose by 25 feet - 7.62 meters.

For a long time, the cause of this disaster could not be explained. At first, it was believed that the westerly wind drives water from the Gulf of Finland and raises the level of the river. Under Peter the Great, they began to build canals so that the water would go into these channels and the water level in the Neva would decrease. The excavated soil was used to raise the foundations of the buildings. After the flood of 1777, the canals began to be built more actively and the Obvodny and Ekaterininsky, Kryukov and other channels appeared. But the built canals did not affect the water level and served only as transport arteries. Only at the end of the 19th century, scientists determined that the cause of flooding was the long waves that arise in the Baltic Sea in the fall, running through the bay in 7-9 hours and raising the level of the Neva by 2-2.5 meters in the absence of wind. With the wind, the waters rose even higher - to a catastrophic level of 3 - 4 meters.

For reference: a flood is a rise in the water level by more than 160 cm above the ordinary. The rise of water up to 210 cm is considered dangerous, up to 299 cm - especially dangerous and more than 300 cm - catastrophic. Since 1703, there have been more than 300 floods, the largest of them in 1824, when the water level rose 421 cm above ordinary. In 1924, the water rose to 380 cm, in 1777 - to 321 cm, and in 1955 - to 293 cm.

To protect St. Petersburg from floods in 1979, construction began on a unique complex of protective structures - a dam connecting the shores of the Gulf of Finland and passing through Kronstadt. Since the mid-90s, due to a lack of financial resources, the construction of the dam was frozen and resumed only in 2006. The facility was commissioned in August 2011. This unique hydrotechnical structure prevents catastrophic floods with a rise of water up to 5 meters. In addition to its main task, the dam is part of

The Neva River flows through the territory of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. The only river flowing from Lake Ladoga connects this reservoir with the Neva Bay, located in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. The length of the Neva is 74 kilometers. Four cities are freely spread on its banks: St. Petersburg, Kirovsk, Shlisselburg and Otradnoe, as well as smaller settlements.

The birth of the Neva

The river is an important part of the White Sea-Baltic Canal and the Volga-Baltic waterway. Several thousand years ago, the Tosna River flowed on the site of the Neva. After Lake Ladoga turned into a closed body of water, the lake waters, exceeding the watershed level, flooded the Mga valley, the river flowing into the lake, and also broke into the Tosna valley. At this place, rapids were formed, which exist now, called Ivanovsky. This emerged strait became the valley of the Neva, and the rivers Mga and Tosna are now its tributaries. There are several versions of the origin of the name of the Neva. According to the first version, the river is named after ancient name Lake Ladoga (Nevo, which means "sea" in Finnish). The second option is the Finnish word "Neva", which means "swamp". And, finally, it is assumed that the name came from the Swedish language, from the word "nu" meaning "new" (in this context - New river).

Islands and tributaries

There are more than 40 islands in the Neva delta. The most significant of them are Vasilievsky, Petrogradsky, Dekabristov Island and Krestovsky. Zayachiy, Elaginsky and Kamenny islands occupy a smaller area, but are also widely known.

26 rivers of various sizes flow into the Neva. The main tributaries are Tosna, Mga, Izhora, Murzinka, Slavyanka (left), Chernaya Rechka and Okhta (right).

The Neva is a navigable river. Throughout its entire length, the traffic is quite lively. The river is an important part of the White Sea-Baltic Canal and the Volga-Baltic waterway.

Bridges

Many bridges have been built across the Neva. There are different bridges - pedestrian, road and rail; metal and reinforced concrete, old and modern. One of the symbols of St. Petersburg is the Palace Bridge, built in 1916. At the five-span cast-iron bridge, the two-winged central span is a drawbridge. Some of oldest bridges are the Annunciation Bridge (formerly called the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge, erected in 1850) and the Liteiny Bridge, built in 1879.

Attractions on the Neva in the Leningrad region

The oldest attraction located on the Nevsky bank is the Oreshek fortress,
built in 1323 at the source of the Neva on Orekhovy Island near the city. Also preserved is the water transport route - the Staroladozhsky Canal, created in the first half of the 18th century. It runs along the shores of Lake Ladoga and connects the Neva with the Volkhov River. Some unique buildings have also survived since that time - a pillared bridge built in 1832 and a granite four-chamber sluice (1836). There are also many churches and temples, memorial monuments dedicated to various events and monuments on the banks of the Neva in the Leningrad Region.

Attractions in St. Petersburg

In the Northern capital, on the embankments of the Neva, there are a huge number of beautiful, interesting, extraordinary places that are historical and cultural monuments that have become symbols of St. Petersburg and all of Russia. This is Smolny, and, and, and Summer garden, and Alexander Nevsky square, and, and the fountain on the Neva, and. It is simply impossible to list all the beauties of this beautiful city. You need to see them with your own eyes.

The history of the Neva, which appeared several thousand years ago, dates back to the end of the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago. During the Ice Age, an ice sheet more than a kilometer thick lay in northern Europe. Naturally, there were no well-known rivers, Finnish lakes, or the Baltic.

Ancient Baltic, about 10,000 years ago

The Neva River flows through the center of the northern capital of Russia, through St. Petersburg. It is thanks to the vastness of the Neva River that St. Petersburg (aka Leningrad, Petrograd or simply St. Petersburg) is the most majestic and, probably, the most beautiful city Europe, and possibly the whole World. If you are a resident of St. Petersburg, then you may have heard about the history of your home region. Very interesting, but not everyone knows, is the fact that the Neva River is a very young river. Moreover, by geological standards, the Neva River appeared just yesterday, namely several thousand years ago. How this happened, you will learn from our article and from our video transmission, where, with the help of animations, we showed the geological process of the formation of the river itself.
The Neva River is a very full-flowing river. In terms of water consumption, the Neva is inferior to the largest river in Europe, the Volga, only 3 times. The Neva is equal in water flow to the Dnieper and Don combined. Neva - the only river flowing from Ladoga, while about 30 rivers flow into Ladoga. The Neva carries the waters of all these rivers to the Baltic. Moreover, the length of the Neva is only 74 km! You probably know that the usual length of rivers is usually calculated in hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. So the Neva is an exception. And the exclusivity of the Neva is inextricably linked with the history of its appearance.
The history of the Neva, which appeared several thousand years ago, dates back to the end of the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago. During the Ice Age, an ice sheet more than a kilometer thick lay in northern Europe. Naturally, there were no well-known rivers, Finnish lakes, or the Baltic.
With the melting of the glacier, a freshwater glacial lake was formed on the site of the modern Baltic. The glacier was melting, the lake gradually changed its shape, it had a runoff in Atlantic Ocean... In its 10,000-year history, the Baltic has gone through the phases of the Baltic glacial lake, Ioldian Sea, Lake Ancylovo, Litorinovy ​​Sea, and finally took the current form of the well-known Baltic.
In the picture below, you can see the appearance of the Baltic about 10,000 years ago. After some time, when the level of the lake increased due to the melted waters of the glacier, the lake had a runoff to the Atlantic in the area of ​​the Danish straits, and the Baltic became the sea.

Ladoga becomes a lake

As soon as Ladoga became isolated, the water level in Ladoga began to rise. As we said, about 30 rivers flow into Ladoga and also such big rivers like Svir and Volkhov. At that time, the Mga River also flowed into Ladoga approximately along the current channel of the Neva, and the Tosna River, again along the current channel of the Neva, flowed into the Baltic. Between the rivers there was a small isthmus in the area of ​​the village of Otradnoye, where the Nevsky Porogi are now located. The level of Ladoga rose by 12 meters and Ladoga was torn into the Baltic at this very place, near the village of Otradnoye. This is how the Neva River was formed and therefore the Neva Porogi are located in this place of the river. How this happened can be seen in the picture below.

Ladoga burst into the Baltic

It happened quite recently, several thousand years ago. People still remember this catastrophic event. The average annual discharge of the Neva River is about 80 cubic meters. km. in year. Based on the fact that the volume of Lake Ladoga is approximately 900 cubic meters. km., the average depth of the lake is 50 m, and the level increased by 12 meters, it can be assumed that the volume of the lake, while it was closed, increased by about 100-200 cubic meters. km. Thus, the outflow of excess water from Ladoga, apparently, took only 1-2 years. Therefore, this event can really be considered catastrophic. The catastrophic nature of this event is possibly reflected in the name of the river.
The etymology or origin of the name of the Neva River has two most likely explanations:
Explanation based on the Finno-Ugric languages, where the word "neva" means a swamp. For example, in Finnish the name "swamp" still coincides with the name of the Neva River.
Explanation based on Indo-European languages, where the word "neva" is close to the Indo-European root "new". In most European languages, such as Russian, English, Swedish, Lithuanian, the word "new" has the same ancient root with the letters "nu", "but", "not". For example, in English "new" is "new", in Swedish "ny"
The explanation based on the word "new" looks very plausible, since the river is really new and was formed in the memory of people living in northwest Europe. Such a catastrophic event as the formation of such a full-flowing river as the Neva overnight could not fail to pass unnoticed. It is not for nothing that people have long been composing legends about floods and deluges.
On the other hand, the Finno-Ugric explanation has no less weight. Firstly, the area around the river is really very swampy and this completely coincides with the Finno-Ugric root "neva" meaning swamp. In addition, in the north-west of Russia, many names of rivers and lakes can be explained from the standpoint of the Finno-Ugric languages. There are a lot of such names. Starting from the name of the river "Msta", which means "Black" in Finnish, and ending with such names as Ladoga, Seliger and even Moscow.
It is difficult, if not impossible, now to say unequivocally where the name of the Neva River came from. But from both explanations it is obvious that the name of the river is very ancient and, most likely, not a thousand years old. In our opinion, it is not important who named the Neva, but what is important is that people of different nations have lived in these places since ancient times. Moreover, they lived relatively peacefully, as they took over the names of rivers, lakes, hills from each other. In the event of a war or mass destruction of peoples, the ancient names would most likely be lost, and the Msta or Neva rivers would be called differently. People, most likely, lived in these places together, traded, exchanged experiences, adopted new words, knowledge and concepts from each other. It is important for us not to pay attention to attempts to embroil our peoples, but to continue to live according to the precepts of our ancestors - amicably and with respect to each other.