The Fontanka River is a small water stream, which is one of the channels of the Neva Delta in St. Petersburg. It branches off on the left side of the Neva River next to the Summer Garden and flows into the Big Neva River south of the former Galerny Island and north of Gutuevsky Island, at the very beginning of the Gulf of Finland. It crosses in an arc the central part of the city in a southwest direction and serves as the southern boundary of the delta. The length of the reservoir is 6.7 km, the width varies from 35 to 70 m, the depth - from 2.6 to 3.5 m. These are the indicators of the Fontanka River. Why it is so named and what is its history can be found in this article.
The water system of the river, one of the five that form the Neva Delta, has 12 watercourses. The water flow at the source averages 34 cubic meters. m / s, downstream, after the branch of the Sink - 24 cubic meters. m / s, and in the southern part, between the connection with the Kryukov Canal and the confluence of the Griboedov Canal - 22 cubic meters. m / s The flow velocity on the rod from the source to the Anichkov bridge is on average 0.3-0.4 m / s, and lower - 0.2-0.25 m / s.
The name of the Fontanka River
The original name of the river is Eric. When the construction of the fountains began, a special path was built to supply them, passing through this stream. First, the hydronym was transformed into the Fontanna, and later into the Fontanka.
The beginning of the history of the Fontanka
Until 1714, the marshy river, which formed small islands in its course, was called the Nameless Eric or simply Eric. Before the foundation of St. Petersburg, the Russian village of Usaditsa was on its shore, and closer to the mouth there was an Izhora settlement with the Finnish name Kalyula, later renamed Kalinkina village. During the construction of the city, by 1711, the Moika River was connected to the Fontanka River, which before that was a swampy channel used to wash clothes.
Construction, reconstruction and demolition on the Fontanka
During the construction of the first wooden bridge, the maximum width of such a water stream as the Fontanka River reached 200 meters, but after the death of Peter I, construction work in the city ceased, the watercourse again began to be flooded with earth from washed out embankments, which greatly complicated navigation. In 1743-1752, the embankment was cleared and strengthened. The river got its current name during the reign of Empress Anna Ivanovna, thanks to the fountains installed on its right bank in the Summer Garden. They fed on the water that came through the Lithuanian Canal into a pond pool (now a square), dug at the corner of Grechesky Prospekt and modern Nekrasov Street, and from there headed to the park through a pipe. The fountains themselves were destroyed by a severe flood of 1777 and, by decision of Catherine II, were not subject to restoration. They reopened only after a major renovation in 2012.
Border
Until the middle of the 18th century, the Fontanka River was considered as the southern border of the city, beyond which the country estates of the rich nobles began. The course was straightened, and part of the watercourses was filled up, including the dirty river Tarakanovka. Then the border of St. Petersburg was moved to the Obvodny Canal, but the Fontanka line for several decades remained the extreme feature of the main building. Between the currents of the Fontanka and the Moika, behind the Kryukov Canal, in the 18th-19th centuries there was an outskirts of the capital, called Kolomna.
Work on the river
In the years 1780-1789, the Fontanka was again cleared and the fairway deepened, and, according to a project developed by the architect A.V. Kvasov, they built embankments lined with granite, porches and river slopes. In the middle of the 19th century, a river in the area of the present Vitebsk railway station was connected to the Obvodny Canal using the Vvedensky Canal, which was designed to redirect part of the freight traffic and was filled in from 1967-1969. In 1892, passenger ships began to walk along the Fontanka. Currently, the river is a two-way traffic of small boats , mainly tourist boats. In winter, in pre-revolutionary times, public ice rinks were organized on ice at the expense of the City Council.
Drinking water
Drinking water for the surrounding population was carried out over two centuries. Water was transported in green barrels, in contrast to the Neva, spilling into white, and due to severe pollution, it repeatedly caused epidemics of gastrointestinal diseases. The large-scale construction of treatment facilities and the redirection of sewage into the Neva Bay improved the environmental situation, and in the 1970s, fish returned to the river.
Flora and fauna
There is no large flora, as well as on the Neva as a whole, there are no coastal plants either, since the water edge is lined with stone. The Fontanka River (photo below) has a poor fauna. There is a fish that lives in the lower reaches of the Neva and the delta, including vendace, crucian carp and lamprey. Before the revolution, many cages with live fish brought for sale from the upper Neva and Lake Ladoga were kept in the river. Currently, in connection with the improvement of the quality of water purification, there are more and more fish in the Neva Delta, and recreational fishing is practiced on the banks of the Fontanka, although experts do not recommend eating bleak and rattan caught in it. Fishing from bridges is strictly prohibited. The avifauna is represented by the usual waterfowl species in St. Petersburg - ducks and gulls.
Bridges
The banks of such a water stream as the Fontanka River are connected by 15 bridges, which are its main attractions. The most famous among them are: Laundry, one of the first stone crossings built in St. Petersburg, Anichkov, famous for equestrian sculptural groups by Klodt, and the Egyptian bridge, decorated with two cast-iron sphinxes and four lantern obelisks. The latter hit the ice of the river on January 20, 1905 due to the resonance that arose during the passage of the squadron of the Horse-Grenadier Regiment, and was finally restored only in 1955-1956. In the XVIII century, seven similar chain bridges with wooden spans were erected. Of these, Lomonosovsky (formerly Chernyshev) and Staro-Kalinkin are preserved to date, as architectural monuments, but their central parts have been replaced by cast-iron and steel.
sights
Particular shipyard was located near the Summer Garden in 1715-1722, where until 1762 small civilian vessels were built. At the end of the 18th century, wine and salt warehouses were built in its place, which is why the area was called the Salt Town. From this architectural complex the building of the church of St. Panteleimon has been preserved. The space on the left bank below Anichkov Bridge was built up in the second half of the 19th century. The School of Jurisprudence is located there, further - the Sheremetyevsky Palace (Fountain House) with the Anna Akhmatova Museum, and the former Catherine Institute. At the intersection with Nevsky Prospect is the palace of the Princes Beloselsky-Belozersky, then the former Izmailovsky Garden and the estate of the poet Derzhavin.
On the right bank of the reservoir called the Fontanka River in St. Petersburg, at the Moika branch and opposite the Summer Garden, there is the Mikhailovsky Castle, built as the residence of Paul I, and now it is a branch of the Russian Museum. Next are the Shuvalov Palace, where the private Faberge Museum, Anichkov Palace, the ensemble of Lomonosov Square with the building of the former Ministry of the Interior, built in 1830 by Carlo Rossi, are located. Here is the building of the St. Petersburg State Circus, the Bolshoi Drama Theater, the Yusupov Palace, and near the mouth - the building of the Admiralty Shipyards. In 1994, a monument to the folklore Chizhik-Pyzhik, one of the smallest in St. Petersburg, was erected on the embankment near Mikhailovsky Castle. Such is the Fontanka River, the history of which is very informative and important for the state.