Neglinnaya River

The Neglinnaya River (Неглинная in Russian), a.k.a. Neglimna, Neglinna, Neglinka (Неглимна, Неглинна, Неглинка), is a river in the central part of Moscow and a tributary of the Moscow River. Length – 7,5 km.

The Neglinnaya River in its natural state used to flow openly from the northern parts of Moscow to the south across the very center of the city. It played a significant role in the life of the citizens. In the early 16th century, the waters of the Neglinnaya used to fill the moat along the Kremlin Wall. The Muscovites constructed a number of dams, creating a chain of six interconnected ponds, which would be used for breeding fish and extinguishing fires. They built mills, smithies, banyas and workshops. There were four bridges across the Neglinnaya River: Voskresensky Bridge (its fragments found in 1994), 3-span Kuznetsky Bridge, Troitsky Bridge and Petrovsky Bridge (the latter found during the reconstruction of the Mali Theater).

In the mid-18th century, the Neglinnaya River became polluted due to the population and industry growth. They decided to drain a few of the ponds because of the awful smell.

In 1817—1819, a 3-kilometer section of the river was encapsulated in a pipe. However, the sewers got clogged on a regular basis, because they couldn't accommodate the volume of water, especially during high waters and freshets, causing the streets of Moscow to flood. In 1966, the Soviets built a second arm for the Neglinnaya River (length – 1 km, width – 4 m), which drained the waters into the Moscow River. In the 1970s, they constructed another riverbed more than 900 meters long.