- Moika River
The Moika River ( _ru. Мойка) is a small (5 km long, 40 m wide) river which encircles the
Saint Petersburg downtown, effectively making it anisland . The river, originally known as Mya, derives its name from the Finnish word for "slush, mire".The river flows from the
Fontanka River near theSummer Garden past the Field of Mars, crossesNevsky Prospekt and theKryukov Canal before entering theNeva 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 theFontanka 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's Castle , and the last accommodation and museum ofAlexander Pushkin .In
1798 , work started to construct a stately embankment faced with redgranite and adorned with ornate railings. After construction works were completed in1811 , 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 ("Zelenyi most", 1806-08, by
William Heste );
*Red Bridge ("Krasnyi most", 1808-14, by William Heste);
*Potseluev Bridge ("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).References
*Канн П. Я. Прогулки по Петербургу: Вдоль Мойки, Фонтанки, Садовой. St. Petersburg, 1994.
*commonscat-inline|Moika River
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