Water diversion channel

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Water diversion channel
The Moscow River and the Canal on a city map from 1853
Fountain in the water diversion channel

The water diversion channel ( Russian Водоотводный канал , transcription: Wodootwodny channel ) is a scale in the years 1783 to 1786 canal in the historic center of Moscow . It runs parallel to the Moscow River near the Kremlin , where the river has a slightly curved course. The canal, 30 to 50 meters wide and around two meters deep, branches off from the Moskva River near Gorky Park and flows back into the river four kilometers to the east. Together with the Moskva River, it forms an artificial island , the development of which is part of the historical Samoskvorechye district .

Emergence

The early emergence of the Moscow water diversion canal can be traced back to frequent floods , which hit the quarter "behind the Moskva" (which also means Samoskvorechye), which has been inhabited by people since the 14th century. The main reason for this was the very flat location of the area, which led to the level of the Moskva rising during persistent heavy rainfall and the first to flood the area within its arch. According to written records, there were six strong floods in Samoskvorechye in the 18th century alone. To solve this problem, plans began in the 1770s for a bypass canal for the Moskva, which would divert part of the river's water masses and thus lower its regular water level.

Originally a canal system based on the St. Petersburg model with one longitudinal and several transverse canals was planned, but the plan was simplified a little later. From 1783 to 1786, based on a design by the French architect Nicolas Legrand, who lived in exile in Russia, a main canal was built parallel to the Moscow Arch and a cross canal in its central area, which was abandoned and built over in the 1870s. After the canal was completed, the island formed with it was largely safe from flooding from then on; the swamps that formed on the island in the course of the many floods were dried up, which meant that a lot of additional building land could be gained.

The easternmost section of the canal originally ran parallel to the garden ring , but was diverted to a new bed in the mid-19th century, so that the old bed formed a new transverse canal. This was only closed in the 1930s. Shipping on the water diversion canal ceased after the construction of new dams on the Moskva River in the 1930s. Since summer 2008, however, smaller excursion boats have been using the water diversion canal again.

Today ten bridges span the canal, four of which are pedestrian bridges. As with the Moskva in the city center, the banks of the canal are fortified with quay walls. Fountains were built into the canal bed in several places . The banks of the canal and their surroundings are considered a tourist attraction due to the large number of old buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries that have been preserved to this day.

At the beginning of the canal, the monument to Peter I was erected on an artificial island in 1997 . With a height of around 95 meters, it is one of the tallest statues in the world .

Web links

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