Neglinnaya River in the center of Moscow: description, origin of the name

Mysterious, invisible Neglinnaya River - the subject of the creation of myths and legends, a place of adventure and the object of research. The existence of the river is spoken by the names of streets and geographical objects, but very few people have seen it. A visitor may be asked: "Where is the Neglinnaya River?". And the mocking Muscovites can explain to him for a long time how to find it. But the life of the river was not always so sad as it is today. There were also happy free times in her biography.

origin of name

The river in the center of Moscow for its long history was replaced by several names: Neglimna, Neglinna, Samoteka. Neglinnaya river - the name, on the one hand, very familiar and native, on the other hand, the word "neglinnaya" sounds somehow inorganic for the Russian language. Regarding its meaning, there are several conjectures.

Version 1. There is a suggestion that the toponym "Neglinnaya" originated from the word "non-clay", meaning a small swamp with beating keys.

Version 2. G.P. Smolitskaya put forward the hypothesis that the name of the river comes from the phrase "not clayey". The bed of Neglinka 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 does not believe in this hypothesis.

Version 3. There is a suggestion that the name came from the word "megla", which was also pronounced "neglah", "negla" and meant "larch". The banks of the river in ancient times were covered with such trees, and the name of the river supposedly originated from here.

Version 4. Philologist V.V. Топоров, having analyzed ancient languages, has declared, that the name occurs from a word-combination "not глим ин" from the Baltic adverb meaning "a shallow river".

None of the versions found sufficient evidence or refutation. The second name of the river - Samoteka has a lighter explanation. It means a river that flows from somewhere, in this case from the pond, through its own motion.

Geographical position

Communication Moscow - Neglinka is very cramped. In ancient times, people settled near the water, whenever possible choosing places between the two rivers. Neglinnaya - the right tributary of the Moscow River, the place of the confluence formed a very successful territory, protected from both sides by water, which from ancient times people were inhabited. The river takes its beginning in the area of Maryina Grove, the old canal today can be identified by natural lowlands in the streets of Streletskaya and Novosuschevskaya streets, as well as in the adjacent lanes. In the area of Streletsky Lane Neglinka merged with the river Naprudnaya. In total, the river had 17 tributaries. On the way Neglinka several ponds are formed: Miussky, Suschevsky, Antropovy pits. They fill the river, making it full. Further on its way, several artificial reservoirs were created, the largest of which is Lower Samotechny. In total, it is formed 10 ponds.

Modern Neglinka flows under the Catherine and Graveyard squares, under the Samotechny, Trubnaya and Theater squares, under Neglinnaya Street, along the Kremlin, where it flows into the Moscow River.

Beginning of observations

For the first time, the Neglink River is mentioned in ancient Russian chronicles from the 14th century under the name of Neglimn. The river was then an important transport and defensive resource. It floated on the goods, caught fish in it, it served as a screen against attacks on the Kremlin. Then the river flowed through the city and the suburbs without any restrictions, giving names to streets, lanes and squares, providing the population with water. She carried her water past the great settlement of Sushchevo, next to the Grand-Ducal village of Naprudnoe. In those days, Moscow was adapting to the Neglinka, bridges were built through it, it played an important role in the lives of Muscovites.

Life of Neglinka before the 17th century

In the 15th century, the inhabitants of Moscow began to transform the river into their own needs. Part of it was enclosed in a stone pipe, so on the map of the capital appeared Trubnaya Square. Four bridges were transferred through it: Kuznetsk, Troitsky, Petrovsky, Voskresensky. In the 16th century, the Neglinnaya River filled its moat with the moat near the Kremlin, and several artificial dams were built on it. There is a note in which the Moscow prince orders Aleviz Fryazin to trim the banks of the river with a stone and make a dam. Several mill wheels were installed on the river, and the Neglinka waters were used in the work of the mint and the cannon yard. Often the river became a source of problems for Muscovites, it often left the banks, and this harmed the inhabitants of the capital.

New life of the Neglinka in the 18th century

During the Northern War, the Neglinnaya River played an important role. On it, on the orders of Peter the Great, defensive structures were built-bolverki, and a channel to the west and the Swan's pond were lowered. The Swedes did not 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 the architect-engineer Gerard Ivan Kondratievich. The embankment suited the Muscovites and became a popular place for walking. At that time, the ecological situation was quite favorable, and the waters of Neglinka and Gravity Ponds were a suitable place for fishing. Specialists of the police department followed the cleanliness of the water. They forbade bathing in the river of horses and washing clothes. Ponds were surrendered to entrepreneurs for breeding fish, and in winter they served as a source of ice for city glaciers - refrigerators. But still in the places of the dam the standing water bloomed and smelled bad, which caused discontent of the local inhabitants. In general, the river in those years was an integral part of city life.

The river in captivity

In the 19th century, the river began to interfere more and more with the life of the city, it spilled, it did not smell so good and it occupied too much space. Then there was an idea to conclude it in the city in a stone pipe. Yegor Gerasimovich Chelyev, a military engineer, inventor, geodesist, was commissioned to develop a design of a suitable structure. Cheliev in the course of work on the project invented a special type of cement, which solidifies underwater. A stone pipe was created, into which the waters of the river 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 escaped from captivity, especially during the flood period. In addition, the cleaning of the pipe was a troublesome business and was forgotten all the time, leading to clogging and flooding of the river. At the end of the 19th century a second collector was built to reduce the load on the structures and prevent flooding of the river.

Difficult 20th century

In the twentieth century, the city authorities were not up to the arrangement of 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 filled with the foul-smelling waters of the escaped Neginki, forcing the city authorities to think about taming the river. In 1970, a new, modern collector was built, which partly solved the problem. In 1997, during the large-scale reconstruction of Manezhnaya Square , an imitation of a freely flowing river was created. However, this is an illusion, here the water from the fountain is launched, because the state of the river does not allow it to be taken out for general inspection.

Today's Day

In the late 20th and early 21st century, the Neglinka River became the object of research of diggers, who tell horrible stories about it and drive excursions underground. The ecological state of the river today leaves much to be desired, it smells very bad and represents a constant risk of infecting Muscovites with any diseases. Pollution of water is very high, it contains many different impurities that are potentially dangerous for humans.