Moika River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Moika River is a small (5 km long, 40 m wide) river which encircles the Saint Petersburg downtown, effectively making it an island. The river, originally known as Mya, derives its name from the Finnish word for "slush, mire".
The river flows from the Fontanka River near the Summer Garden past the Field of Mars, crosses Nevsky Prospekt and the Kryukov Canal before entering the Neva River. It is also connected with the Neva by the Swan Channel and the Winter Channel.
In 1711, Peter the Great ordered the banks of the river to be consolidated. After the Kryukov Canal linked it with the Fontanka River four years later, the Moika became so much clearer that its name was changed from Mya to Moika, associated with the Russian verb "to wash".
In 1736, the first Moika quay was constructed in wood. Four bridges originally spanned the river: the Blue, the Green, the Yellow, and the Red. The 99-meter-wide Blue Bridge, now hardly visible underneath St Isaac's Square, remains the widest bridge in the whole city.
Among the magnificent 18th-century edifices lining the Moika quay are Stroganov Palace, Razumovsky Palace, Yusupov Palace, New Holland Arch, Circular Market, St Michael Castle, and the last accommodation and museum of Alexander Pushkin.
In 1798, work started to construct a stately embankment faced with red granite and adorned with ornate railings. After construction works were completed in 1811, it was discovered that the water of the river became so muddy that its use for cooking has been officially forbidden ever since.
Currently, there are fifteen bridges crossing the Moika. Most of these are of historical and artistic interest:
- Green Bridge (Narodnyi most, 1806-08, by William Heste);
- Red Bridge (Krasnyi most, 1808-14, by William Heste);
- Bridge of Kisses (Potseluev most, 1808-16, by William Heste);
- Blue Bridge (Siny most, 1818, 1842-43, by William Heste and George Adam);
- Postoffice Bridge (Pochtamtsky most, 1823-24, by Wilhelm von Traitteur);
- Big Stables Bridge (Bolshoi Konyushennyi most, 1828, by George Adam);
- Tripartite Bridge (Malo-Konyushennyi most, 1829-31, by George Adam and Wilhelm von Traitteur);
- First Engineers Bridge (Pervyi Inzhenernyi most, 1824-25, by George Adam and Wilhelm von Traitteur);
- First Sadovyi Bridge (Pervyi Sadovyi most, 1835-36, by Pierre Dominique Bazaine);
- Yellow Bridge (Pevchesky most, 1839-40, by George Adam).
