This article is INFORMATIONAL. All excursions are presented at this link.
The river is a witch, a recluse river, as they call it, the Neglinka, which flows in the very center of Moscow, although no one sees it. During the time of Ivan Kalita, the walls of the Kremlin were washed by the Moscow River on one side and the Neglinka River on the other. The purest water that they drank, in which they caught omul, and swam. And now she's gone. What happened? Why was Neglinka driven underground, made like a river - invisible?
It originates at Maryina Roshcha and flows to the Kremlin. Its bed lies:
- under Streletskaya streets,
- Novosuschevskaya,
- Tsvetnoy Boulevard,
- Pipe area,
- Neglinnaya,
- Theater Square,
- Alexander Garden and
- runs near the Kremlin wall.
The street names remind us that there was a RIVER here. Neglinka's map shows her route. Rivers play a huge role in the life of any city. History flows on their banks. They are full participants in this process. Why was the once crystal clear Neglinka expelled from this very story?
origin of name
The river in the center of Moscow has changed several names over its long history: Neglimna, Neglinnna, Samotek. Neglinnaya River - the name, on the one hand, is very familiar and familiar, on the other hand, the word “neglinnaya” sounds somehow inorganic for the Russian language. There are several speculations about its meaning.
Version 1. There is an assumption that the toponym “Neglinnaya” comes from the word “neglinok”, meaning a small swamp with gushing springs.
Version 2. G.P. Smolitskaya hypothesized that the name of the river comes from the phrase “not clayey.” The Neglinka river bed is sandy, and this is what the name indicates, according to the researcher. Many linguists say that such word formation is not typical for the Russian language and do not believe in this hypothesis.
Version 3. There is an assumption that the name came from the word “megla”, which was also pronounced “negla”, “negla” and meant “larch”. In ancient times, the banks of the river were covered with such trees, and supposedly this is where the name of the river originated.
Version 4. Philologist V.V. Toporov, having analyzed ancient languages, stated that the name comes from the phrase “ne glim in” from the Baltic dialect, meaning “shallow river”.
None of the versions found sufficient confirmation or refutation. The second name of the river, Samotek, has an easier explanation. It means a river that flows from somewhere, in this case from a pond, under its own power.
The myth of white cockroaches
Interest in Neglinka has not subsided over the years, and not the least role in this was played by the famous Russian journalist and writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky, who described the underground catacombs in detail in his famous novel “Moscow and Muscovites”. Many townspeople, interested in Neglinka, went down to the sewer to follow the writer’s route. He himself noted only stench, uncleanness, corpses of various animals and complete dirt here. If Gilyarovsky had gone down into the sewer these days, he would not have noticed any large debris in Neglinka.
“All large-sized debris and sludge are collected and transported to inspection chambers, from where they can be removed. Then it is loaded into special containers, bags and, with the help of cranes, lifted to the surface, loaded into dump trucks and taken to waste sites, depending on the type of waste,” said Nikolai Krepak, head of the first expeditionary district of the State Unitary Enterprise Mosvodostok.
The garbage that flows into the collector from the surface of Moscow is mostly small-sized. As Krepak said, the most interesting thing is that they find old bank cards or empty wallets. “Unfortunately, we didn’t find any more remarkable valuables, gold or silver,” he jokes.
Geographical position
The connection between Moscow and Neglinka is very close. In ancient times, peoples always settled near water, choosing places between two rivers whenever possible. Neglinnaya is a right tributary of the Moscow River, its confluence formed a very favorable territory, protected on both sides by water, which has been inhabited by people since ancient times. The river originates in the Maryina Roshcha area; today the old bed can be identified by the natural lowlands in the area of Streletskaya and Novosuschevskaya streets, as well as in the adjacent lanes. In the area of Streletsky Lane, Neglinka merged with the Naprudnaya River. In total, the river had 17 tributaries. Several ponds are formed along the Neglinka path: Miussky, Sushchevsky, Antropov pits. They fill the river, making it full of water. Further along its path, several artificial reservoirs were created, the largest of which was Nizhny Samotechny. In total there are 10 ponds formed on it.
The modern Neglinka flows under Ekaterininsky and Samotechny squares, under Samotechnaya, Trubnaya and Teatralnaya squares, under Neglinnaya Street, along the Kremlin, where it flows into the Moscow River.
Fever
The river called Likhoborka is the longest underground river in Moscow. Its entire length is 16 kilometers. About 12 of them flow through the territory of Moscow. Most of the river is hidden underground. Only occasionally does it appear on the surface, only to run away again into the brick sewer after a few tens of meters.
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This river originates from a swamp, which is located between the Novodachnaya platform and Dmitrovskoe highway. Crossing the Moscow Ring Road at the entrance to Korovinskoye Highway, she hides in an underground sewer. Coming to the surface on the Likhoborskaya embankment, the river crosses the Oktyabrskoye and Savelovskoye directions of the Moscow Railway, as well as the Dmitrovskoye Highway. In Otradny, Likhoborka flows along the surface - you can admire it in Otrada Park. Further along the collector it follows the depot of the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya metro line.
Likhoborka flows into the Yauza near the Botanical Garden metro station, running a little along the northeastern edge of the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Likhoborka River near the intersection with Onezhskaya Street. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org/ Anatolich1
Beginning of observations
The Neglinka River was first mentioned in ancient Russian chronicles from the 14th century under the name Neglimna. The river was then an important transport and defensive resource. Goods were rafted along it, fish were caught in it, and it served as a barrier against attacks on the Kremlin. Then the river flowed through the city and suburbs without any restrictions, giving names to streets, alleys and squares, providing the population with water. She carried her waters past the grand-ducal settlement of Sushchevo, next to the grand-ducal village of Naprudnoye. In those days, Moscow adapted to the flow of the Neglinka, bridges were built across it, and it played an important role in the life of Muscovites.
Shchekotovsky tunnel
In 1910-1914. According to the design of engineer M. Shchekotov, a section of the Neglinka collector, located under Teatralnaya Square, was built. This tunnel, exactly 117 meters long, runs next to the Metropol Hotel and the Maly Theater. Now it is called in honor of its creator - “Shchekotovsky Tunnel”, and illegal excursions along the Neglinka are usually held here.
Neglinka's life before the 17th century
In the 15th century, Moscow residents began to transform the river to suit their needs. Part of it was enclosed in a stone pipe, so Trubnaya Square appeared on the map of the capital. Four bridges were thrown across it: Kuznetsky, Troitsky, Petrovsky, Voskresensky. In the 16th century, the Neglinnaya River filled a ditch near the Kremlin with its waters, and several artificial dams were created on it. A note has been preserved in which the Moscow prince gives orders to Aleviz Fryazin to decorate the banks of the river with stone and make a dam. Several mill wheels were installed on the river, and the Neglinka waters were also used in the work of the mint and cannon yard. The river often became a source of problems for Muscovites; it often overflowed its banks, and this caused harm to the residents of the capital.
Khapilovka
The last underground river on our list of Moscow does not stand out for its length - only 2.8 kilometers. But Khapilovka is a river with the largest basin among underground rivers in Moscow - 75 square kilometers.
It is formed by the confluence of the Sosenka and Serebryanka rivers and flows west along the southern edge of the Preobrazhenskoye district.
The approximate direction of the current can be guessed from the single-track railway, which ends on the territory of the old Electric Plant. The collector in which Khapilovka is now hidden is located just along the rails. The mouth of Khapilovka, which flows in the collector between the buildings of the Moscow Electric Lamp Plant. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org/ NVO
New life of Neglinka in the 18th century
During the Northern War, the Neglinnaya River played an important role. By order of Peter the Great, defensive structures were erected on it - bollards; also, a little to the west, a channel was diverted and the Swan Pond was lowered. The Swedes were unable to reach Moscow, and the defensive structures were later dismantled. In the last quarter of the 18th century, it was decided to make a modern stone embankment on Neglinnaya. The project was created by architect-engineer Gerard Ivan Kondratievich. Muscovites liked the embankment and became a popular place for walking. In those days, the environmental situation was quite favorable and the waters of Neglinka and Samotechny ponds were suitable places for fishing. Special employees of the police department monitored the cleanliness of the water. They forbade bathing horses in the river and washing clothes. The ponds were rented out to entrepreneurs for fish farming, and in winter they served as a source of ice for city glaciers - refrigerators. But still, in places where the dams were dammed, the standing water bloomed and smelled bad, which caused discontent among local residents. In general, the river in these years was an integral part of city life.
First major overhaul
Half a century later, the Neglinnaya collector stopped coping with the flow of water. During heavy floods and heavy rains, the river made its way to the surface. The situation was complicated by home owners who set up makeshift taps through which they dumped sewage into the river. And 1886-87. under the leadership of engineer N. Levachev, a major overhaul of the underground canal was carried out. The tunnel was divided into three sections.
River in captivity
In the 19th century, the river began to increasingly interfere with the life of the city; it overflowed, no longer smelled very good and took up too much space. Then the idea arose to enclose it within the city in a stone pipe. Egor Gerasimovich Cheliev, a military engineer, inventor, surveyor, was entrusted with developing a project for a suitable structure. While working on the project, Cheliev invented a special type of cement that hardens under water. A stone pipe was created into which the river waters were directed. Neglinnaya Street became a roadway, which greatly facilitated traffic in the city. However, the construction of the pipe was not perfect; the river periodically broke out of captivity, especially during the flood period. In addition, cleaning the pipe was a troublesome task and was constantly forgotten, which led to blockages and overflowing of the river. At the end of the 19th century, a second sewer was built to reduce the load on the structures and prevent river floods.
Pipe construction
However, the open canal, which smelled of sewage along its entire length, did not contribute to improving the atmosphere in the capital, so it was decided to fill it up, having previously covered it with arches. Military engineer E. Cheliev took up the construction of the underground bed, and under his leadership, by 1819, part of Neglinnaya from Samotechnaya Street to the mouth was enclosed in a pipe, which was a three-kilometer brick vault. And the banks of the former canal turned into Neglinnaya Street.
Difficult 20th century
In the twentieth century, city authorities had no time to improve the river; there were too many other pressing problems. However, the fact that Neglinnaya Street, Tsvetnoy Boulevard and even Teatralnaya Square with the Alexander Garden were often flooded with the foul-smelling waters of the broken Neginka forced the city authorities to think about taming the river. In 1970, a new, modern collector was built, which partly solved the problems. In 1997, during a large-scale reconstruction of Manezhnaya Square, an imitation of a free-flowing river was created. However, this is an illusion; water is released from a fountain here, since the condition of the river does not allow it to be displayed for public inspection.
Flood problem
Despite the construction of more and more new collectors, the flooding did not stop - in the mid-60s of the last century, the Neglinka again burst to the surface and flooded some streets so much that they had to be navigated by boats. When the sewer from Trubnaya Square to the Metropol Hotel was updated and significantly expanded in the early 70s, the flooding finally stopped.
And if you don't like it
It’s happened to everyone: you already want to click on the treasured “add to cart” button to give an excursion to Neglinka, but the mouse in your sweaty hand is trembling: what if the recipient of the certificate doesn’t like it? We don’t have a full-time oracle yet, but we can offer ways to make the gift more universal:
- Give a ready-made Digger set. Everything related to the subway is here: Neglinka, Ochakovka, Presnya.
- Give a ready-made “Real Man” set. This is a more expensive set: it includes riding a BMP-1 with machine gun fire, controlling an airplane and underground excursions. The recipient will be able to choose one service he likes.
- Make a set yourself - from any services. To order such a set, write to the manager.
- Order a certificate for the denomination.
By the way, if you are considering purchasing a certificate from different companies, we recommend that you read our article, where we talk about the risks when purchasing certificates and ways to avoid them.
How do gift certificates work?
1. You purchase a certificate in electronic or physical form. Payment online or in cash upon delivery.
2. The recipient activates the certificate online or in chat. Activation period is 6 months. The event itself may take place later, subject to availability of a date.
3. The recipient selects the date of the event. The event may take place after the activation period has expired. If transferred for reasons beyond the control of the client, the certificate is renewed free of charge.
4. The recipient arrives and enjoys himself! It is not necessary to bring a certificate with you - just provide the control information. Don't forget to leave a review! We are waiting for you again.
