St. Petersburg - a city on the Neva

St. Petersburg - a city on the Neva

Great, harsh, strict and at the same time incredibly interesting city with a huge number of attractions and historical monuments- Saint Petersburg. As soon as they don't call him! And “Window to Europe”, and “Northern Venice”, and Northern Palmyra, and the cradle of the revolution, and the city on the Neva... Many travelers come to see the largest metropolis in the world. The main merit of such close attention was its capital status - the city is considered a real pearl of architecture, a Mecca of world tourism. Interesting fact, the name of the city consists of three words and each has its own meaning. Saint - translated from Latin - “holy”, Peter - the name of the apostle (translated from Greek - stone), and burg - translated from German as “city”. The name of the city, as well as its symbolism, emphasizes the connection with Rome, whose patron was the Apostle Peter. The coat of arms of St. Petersburg is made in the form of two anchors that intersect - it has a striking resemblance to the coat of arms of the Vatican.

Geography

St. Petersburg is located at the mouth of the Neva River, which flows into the Baltic Sea. That's why here a large number of smaller rivers, lakes, canals - it’s not for nothing that the second capital received the name “Venice of the North”. The city is considered the most “northern” in the whole world, where more than a million people live. The Leningrad region is the largest in the country - it is located in the north-west and has an area of ​​83,908 square meters. km. This is practically the whole of Austria, the size of which barely reaches 84 thousand square meters. km. The geographical location of St. Petersburg is quite unusual - throughout the city there are different altitudes above sea level, but it is considered average. More than half of the city is located in a lowland, the level of which is slightly higher than the sea level (1-3 meters). It is in St. Petersburg that the initial (zero) mark for measuring depths and heights is located. The area of ​​the city is 1439 square meters. km. St. Petersburg has coordinates 59°57′00″ N. w. 30°19′00″ E. d., its length from north to south is 32 km in the Ring Road and outside it - 52 km, and from the north-western part to the south-east - 90 km (outside the Ring Road). The Gulf of Finland is considered the geographical center of St. Petersburg. Time zone of St. Petersburg UTC + 3 hours - time similar to Moscow.

The city is divided into 18 districts, including

• Vasileostrovsky, named after the island. Sometimes problems arise due to isolation from the city - it’s difficult to get anywhere.
• Vyborg, with a well-developed infrastructure, but an abundance of traffic jams on highways.
• Admiralteysky, the oldest district, in which most of the industrial enterprises are concentrated.
• Kirovsky is considered the “working zone” of the city; the largest port facility is located here. In this regard, road congestion and poor ecology are typical.
• Kalininsky is an industrial area, characterized by well-developed infrastructure, but an unstable environmental situation.
• Krasnogvardeisky, known for Bolshaya and Malaya Okhta. Here you can find affordable housing near the city center, but more remote neighborhoods will be difficult to get to.
• Moskovsky is considered the most developed area. It is here that an important highway passes through - Moskovsky Prospekt. Housing prices are quite high.
• Resort - due to its location along the Gulf of Finland, there are a lot of parks and forests - these are the “green lungs” of St. Petersburg.
• Krasnoselsky - well suited for settlement. The infrastructure is well developed, but there are no metro stations nearby.
• Petrogradsky - considered a prestigious area, also popular due to its location Peter and Paul Fortress.
• Nevsky - removed from the center, divided into industrial and sleeping areas.
• Petrodvortsovy is an ecologically attractive area; it is here that Peterhof and Oranienbaum, the pearls of the city, are located.
• Primorsky - modern area, which is distinguished by both good ecology and sufficient provision of new housing. The disadvantage is traffic congestion.
• Frunzensky is an industrial region, the main problem of which is transport.
• Pushkinsky - the main attractions of St. Petersburg are concentrated here - the palace and park complexes "Pavlovsk" and "Tsarskoe Selo".
• Central is the “heart” of the city; there are many architectural monuments here. It is considered the most prestigious area.
• Kronstadt - named after the island on which it is located. Here, industrial zones mainly predominate.
• Kolpinsky is an industrial area. The environmental situation is acute due to the waste disposal site located nearby.

Climate

Because of all year round There are dense air masses in the city; sunlight rarely breaks through them. Therefore, in St. Petersburg it is almost always humid and damp. The total flux of solar radiation in the city is 1.5 times less than in the south neighboring country(Ukraine), and 2 times than in Central Asia. The climate here is formed by western and northwestern winds and is considered moderate (transitioning from temperate continental to temperate maritime). Therefore, the area is not characterized by severe frosts in winter. And summer is considered quite warm. Air masses constantly replace each other, so winds constantly blow in the city and it often rains. Tourists should expect the first snow in early November; it can last until April. The first ten days of winter are characterized by fogs - this is a very common occurrence in St. Petersburg. Changes in cyclones bring with them thaws. St. Petersburg, due to frequent changes in air masses, appears to its residents and guests in either warm and mild or harsh and cold winters. Spring and autumn are accompanied by piercing winds. When thaws begin, cold air masses that form over the city’s water bodies begin to actively move. In autumn the weather is warm and sunny, with the approach of winter a sharp cooling occurs.

The season of tourist visits never ends. Due to the fact that St. Petersburg is a very rich city in all respects, it will be interesting here at any time. The city is most often attracted to during the “white nights” season, which lasts 55 days (from June 11 to July 2 - the brightest). The period of New Year and Christmas holidays is also especially popular - therefore it is better to book rooms in hotels in advance (at least 2-3 months in advance). There are slightly fewer visitors in the off-season, but a trip to St. Petersburg always remains a budget holiday option. You can visit the Cathedral Mosque and the Hermitage at any time of the year - it’s up to you to decide whether to combine it with special holidays or “white nights”. If you wanted to enjoy a walk on river bus along the Neva, see the drawbridges, then it’s definitely worth going here in the summer.

City `s history

In the 15th century, the Neva lands became part of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. After a military confrontation with the Swedes, defeat eventually followed - under the terms of the Peace of Stolbovo (1617), the territories passed into the hands of Ingermanland. After 83 years, the war, called the Northern War, broke out again - it lasted more than 20 years. The “Neva lands” were recaptured, which was stated in the Treaty of Nystadt (concluded on August 30, 1721). Hare Island became the first place where a building was erected in the new city (in 1703) - the famous Peter and Paul Fortress. Next came Kronstadt, whose main task was to stand guard and protect the maritime borders of the state. It can be stated that the Admiralty Shipyard was considered the first industrial enterprise of the new city. The year 1712 was a turning point for the city on the Neva, because it acquired the status of the capital of the Russian Empire. Intensive development was carried out - including the suburban palaces of Peterhof, Ekateringof, Oranienbaum. Soon the Mint was located in St. Petersburg (transferred from Moscow), Smolny and Foundry were built, as well as many factories and industrial facilities (trellis, gunpowder, tanning, wax, weapons, etc.). The famous St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences was founded in 1725; 3 years later, the first newspaper in Russian history, the St. Petersburg Gazette, began publishing in the capital. Everything started out so well and the rapid growth of the Northern capital was marred by floods and fires. Many structures were heavily damaged, and some were destroyed. A little later, St. Petersburg began to become famous for its educational institutions

• Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens;
• Mining School;
• Main Public School for Teacher Training;
• Imperial Academy of Arts, etc.

The year 1756 became important for the culture of the country - the first theater (State) was created. Even then, gradually formed architectural ensembles central areas of the city, its active development and settlement continued. Since 1800, active construction of industrial facilities in the city was carried out - it became a large industrial center and an important transport hub of the country. 1815 is the year when the first domestic steamship “Elizabeth” was launched. The first Railway towards Tsarskoe Selo(in 1836), then the branches expanded and were completed. The first trams began to travel around the city in 1907, although they had been in use in other cities around the country for a long time. First World War, which began in 1914, significantly influenced the fate of St. Petersburg, as well as others big cities countries. Due to anti-German sentiments and the new political structure, the city was renamed Petrograd. After the revolution in 1917, Nicholas II was overthrown from the throne, which also marked the end of the reign of monarchs. Power passed to the Bolsheviks - headed by Vladimir Lenin. The Russian Soviet Republic was formed. From March 5, 1918, Petrograd was no longer considered the capital - with the Bolsheviks moving to Moscow, the capital status also shifted. The name Leningrad was given to the city after the death of the leader of the world proletariat. Along with Moscow, Leningrad received the status of a separate administrative unit in 1931. At the same time, the first Pulkovo airport was opened. In 1935-37, the General Plan of the city was created, which provided for intensive expansion in the southern direction.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the enemy took the city under siege. Leningrad was completely cut off from land; this event went down in history as a blockade that lasted about 900 days and nights. The city did not surrender, but at the cost of heavy losses - 560 thousand inhabitants remained alive (according to calculations carried out after the enemy encirclement was removed). Since 1951, the Northern capital began to actively develop again. Squares (Kalinina, Lenina, Komsomolskaya) and avenues (Moskovsky, Stachek, Sredneokhtinsky, Engelsa, Primorsky) were built up. The year 1955 became famous for the opening of the metro, and in 1962, a 312-meter-high television tower was built (on Aptekarsky Island). The residential sector was also expanded through the construction of “Khrushchev” buildings. 1967 was marked by the construction of the Sports Palace (“Yubileiny”) and concert hall("October"). To prevent serious consequences from possible floods, a dam was built in the Gulf of Finland. On the eve of the collapse of the USSR, a referendum was held in the city, according to the results of which 54% of residents wanted to return it to its original name - St. Petersburg. The city became the “Russian Davos” in 1997; from that moment on, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was held here. Nowadays, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS countries, the Western Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, the Heraldic Council under the President of the Russian Federation, and the headquarters of the Main Command of the Navy are located in St. Petersburg.

Sights of St. Petersburg

For a very long time, the architectural appearance of St. Petersburg was determined by palaces. With their sophistication, interesting architectural variety of styles and the atmosphere of a social ball, they amaze guests. Many are attracted by the most valuable collections of the city’s museums, the architecture of the mansions on Nevsky Prospekt, drawbridges, and “white nights.” Let's look at the most beautiful places that you must visit:

• Peterhof, founded by Peter I in the 18th century. The imperial residence is also called “Russian Versailles”. Here tourists will see many parks, flower beds, pavilions and walking alleys that will immerse them in the era of imperial rule.
• Great Catherine Palace. The first royal house was built on this site in the first half of the 18th century; later, during the reign of Elizabeth, the palace was expanded and improved. It was built in the Baroque style, but the interior is decorated with predominant Rococo elements.
• The State Hermitage is one of the main attractions of St. Petersburg. This is one of the most famous and largest museums in the world - it is included in the list popular places along with the Vatican Museums, the Parisian Louvre, and the Spanish Prado. The Hermitage collection includes such works as medals, sculptures, including antique ones, various items made of ornamental and precious stones, and magnificent paintings by great artists of the past. The Hermitage began its existence as a private imperial collection; now it is a public museum.
• Museum-reserve Pavlovsk. Previously, the territory was a royal hunting ground. Under Prince Paul I, a residence was erected here, which today is represented by a beautiful complex.
• Palace Square. Considered the main one in St. Petersburg, it is almost 2 times larger than the famous Red Square in Moscow. In the middle stands the monumental Alexandria Column, erected in honor of the victory of Russian troops over Napoleon.
• The Main Admiralty building is one of the symbols of the city. It was erected on the banks of the Neva River - where the first shipyard was located.
• Mariinskii Opera House. The main opera stage in St. Petersburg - everyone who loves Russian opera comes here.

• The Alexandrinsky Theater is the first drama theater to allow public viewings of performances.
• Kunstkamera. A museum where various examples of pathologies, gene disorders, and deformities of the human body are collected. More than a million copies are collected here.
• State Russian Museum of Russian visual arts- the largest in Russia. Here you can see paintings by famous artists (Aivazovsky, Bryullov, Repin, etc.).
• House of Peter I. The first residential building in St. Petersburg, where the Tsar lived while the city itself was being built. The house contains the personal belongings of Peter I, and the wooden building itself has long been moved to another place and protected by a special stone frame.
• Peter-Pavel's Fortress. Counts historical center St. Petersburg 18th century. Previously, the fortress was a prison.
• St. Isaac's Square occupies one of 3 sites that were built up in the first years of the city's founding. The space of the square is enclosed by monumental buildings in the form of an architectural frame. It is on the square that St. Isaac's Cathedral is located. Both the cathedral and the square were named after St. Isaac of Dalmatia, who is venerated on May 30. In Russian history, this day is celebrated as the birthday of Peter the Great.
• Saint Isaac's Cathedral. The Orthodox Church is a true decoration of the city. The cathedral was built in the style late classic with minor elements of neo-Renaissance and Byzantine movements.
• Kazan Cathedral - erected under Alexander I. The building is in the Empire style, in Orthodox church The icon of the Kazan Mother of God is kept.
• St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral. A Christian shrine is kept here - the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with part of the holy relics. The cathedral regularly holds repose services in honor of fallen sailors.
• Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. The name was received in honor of the construction of the temple on the site where the reformer Tsar Alexander II was killed. Services were mainly held here only in memory of the ruler.
• The Smolny Monastery is also called the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent. At one time it was erected by order of Empress Elizabeth - it was never used for worship, but since the 90s there has been a concert hall functioning here.
• Alexander Nevsky Lavra is the most important spiritual and cultural center of Russia. Erected in honor of the victory of Alexander Nevsky over the Teutonic knights in 1240.
• The monument to Peter I or the Bronze Horseman is a unique symbol of St. Petersburg. The monument was designed by sculptor Etienne Falconet in honor of the founder of the city, commissioned by Catherine II. Located on Senate Square.

• House of the Singer company. A building in Art Nouveau style, where literature lovers gather. The name was received due to the fact that at the beginning of the 20th century this place belonged to an American company that planned to build a high-rise building here. Of the originally planned 11, only 7 floors were built, but the structure still stood out favorably against the others.
• The Neva River is one of the largest in Russia; excellent panoramas open up here, and you can watch the bridges being opened from the shore. St. Petersburg is called the city on the Neva. It was thanks to this river that St. Petersburg became a port city, and it is to it that the squares of the Northern capital face. The Neva is a transit waterway on a global scale; trade and passenger ships With Baltic Sea. On major holidays they line up the Baltic Fleet warships on the Nevsky roadstead. This tradition belongs to Peter the Great. One of the warships, the cruiser called Aurora, found an “eternal mooring” here. The Neva divided the city into parts, which are connected by metal bridges.
• The cruiser "Aurora". A famous warship that took part in battles in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Since 1948 it has been a museum exhibit.
• Nevsky Avenue. The famous street of St. Petersburg, along there are many monuments, interesting places, restaurants, shops, shopping centers.
• Arrow Vasilyevsky Island. This place is a kind of divider of the Neva River into two parts. This place is a real open-air museum.
• Kronstadt. The remains of the fortress are located in the Gulf of Finland. Over the entire period of its existence, 17 forts were built here, necessary to protect the port.
• The Palace Bridge is a symbol of the city of St. Petersburg. The drawbridge weighs 700 tons, and some structural elements are more than 100 years old.
• In St. Petersburg, the suburbs are famous for the splendor of parks - Pushkin, Petrodvorets, Gatchina, Pavlovsk, Oranienbaum. They were created as ceremonial country residences for the court nobility and Russian tsars. Now the parks are famous monuments and museums of gardening and landscape art. In St. Petersburg there are about ten largest parks and gardens with ancient history. Their age is estimated at more than one decade and even a century. For example, the Tauride Garden in the estate of Grigory Potemkin appeared at the end of the 18th century, and the Summer Garden has an earlier appearance - 1704. Also among the oldest are the Field of Mars, Mikhailovsky and Catherine Gardens.
• Summer garden. The oldest park in the city of St. Petersburg, which was planted under Peter the Great. It is considered a true example of picturesque park culture.
• Lions of St. Petersburg. There are more than 1000 lions in the city, brought from different countries and made from a variety of materials. The animal is a real symbol of the city guards who keep the peace of St. Petersburg.

Be sure to start your acquaintance with St. Petersburg with a walk along the central Nevsky Prospect, Alexander Nevsky and Vosstaniya squares. Along the way you can visit Gostiny Dvor, Kazan Cathedral, Palace Square and stop at the Hermitage. Next, proceed from the availability of free time and taste preferences - pay attention to ready-made sightseeing tours, with which you will definitely not miss important details and beautiful places of the Northern capital.

Events and festivals

Often the main events of the city become a reason to travel here for new impressions and vivid emotions. What brings hundreds and thousands of people to St. Petersburg:

• City Day of St. Petersburg - May 27 (was founded in 1703 on Hare Island in the Neva River).
• The day of lifting the blockade of the city of Leningrad - a military celebration takes place on January 27.
• Night of Museums (from 17 to 18 May). Anyone can get acquainted with interesting exhibits at an unusual time of day.
• The opening of fountains in Peterhof (occurs in May) is always accompanied by a cheerful, magnificent celebration, fireworks, songs, and shows.
• “Scarlet Sails” (city graduates day) is considered the most romantic holiday. Thanks to a bright concert, a laser show, a colorful ship with scarlet sails The celebration is popular not only in Russia, but also among residents abroad.
• Russian Navy Day is celebrated on the last Sunday of July. Warships solemnly sail along the Neva - while all the drawbridges are raised, which looks very spectacular and beautiful.
• The closing of the fountains in Peterhof in September - everything is as colorful as when they opened.
• The Christmas market in St. Petersburg is an unforgettable atmosphere, the “spirit of magic” will be provided to you and your children, as well as entertainment at the skating rink, interesting competitions, and concert programs.
• The Usadba Jazz festival is a global event in the world of music that brings together fans of blues, funk, lounge, and acid jazz. Held in mid-June.
• Sensation - festival electronic music. This is a truly grandiose show, where popular DJs from Europe and all over the world perform.

Most often people come to St. Petersburg during the “white nights”, which officially last from June 11 to July 2. On these days, it is believed that the sun does not set completely and the nights look like the usual twilight for everyone. New Year holidays- also a peak period that attracts tourists with incredible illumination - all the sights can be looked at from a new perspective.

Restaurants and cafes

In St. Petersburg there are both fast food restaurants, with an average price level, and for the elite segment. Every tourist is not just interested in a list of popular, noteworthy places to eat - they want to be guided by the attractions they plan to visit. Those who come to St. Petersburg by train begin their acquaintance with the city from the station. In the building of the Oktyabrskaya Hotel there is a fast food restaurant called “The Nutcracker”. Once you find yourself in the “heart” of St. Petersburg (Palace Square, the Hermitage, etc.), you won’t have to look for a long time for a place to eat. Nearby is the vegetarian cafe "Trinity Bridge" (breakfast is provided every day, and lunches only on weekdays). The address is Moika embankment, 30. By visiting the Kunstkamera on Universitetskaya embankment, you can also quickly find a place to refresh yourself. More a budget option for the tourist who is not picky about service - the canteen of the St. Petersburg State University (address Birzhevaya Line, 6). There is also a canteen in the building of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Birzhevaya Line, 1).

Closer to Vasilievsky Island there is also a good dining room “Dolma” (1st line of V.O., 32 - ground floor). Near the brilliant architectural monument St. Isaac's Cathedral there is a cafe-dining room “Two Peppers”. Presented here wide choose delicious dishes with a fairly humane price tag. The establishment is closed on weekends. Address - st. Malaya Morskaya, 16. On Antonenko Lane, 10 there is another canteen “Table Spoon” with home cooking, a pleasant atmosphere and affordable prices. After visiting the Peter and Paul Fortress, you can have an inexpensive and tasty meal in the cafe-dining room “Nutrition +”, located on Bolshaya Monetnaya Street, 11. The “Beautiful Green” cafe is a pleasant place on Mokhovaya, 41. Once you have refreshed yourself, you can take a walk along famous places Summer Garden, Field of Mars, Mikhailovsky Castle, famous monuments. Near the Russian Museum in the Passage shopping center (Nevsky Prospekt, 48) on the 3rd floor there is a Soviet-style canteen with affordable prices. Near the Kazan Cathedral and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood there are also several decent cafes and canteens. For example, a Finnish canteen (on Bolshaya Konyushennaya, 8), a self-service restaurant MarketPlace (Nevsky 22). Also a good place for a quick snack is the vegetarian cafe Samadeva (Kazanskaya, 10).

Shopping

Well, what would we do without buying souvenirs, gifts for loved ones and “your loved ones” Not a single popular tourist town can't do without shopping. In local shops and boutiques, anyone can find shoes and clothes of famous brands, but they cost a lot here (more expensive than in the USA and Europe). The main “shopping” streets are:

• Nevsky Avenue;
• 7th line of Vasilyevsky Island;
• Garden Street;
• Middle and Bolshoi Avenue of the Petrograd Side;
• Vladimirsky Avenue.

Popular shopping centers in St. Petersburg also attract attention (the Galereya shopping center on Ligovsky Prospekt, Bolshoi Gostiny Dvor, shopping mall“Passage”, “Grand Palace” gallery, “Nevsky Center” shopping center on Nevsky Prospekt, “Sennaya” shopping center on Efimova street). Here you can also purchase all kinds of accessories, interior items, jewelry, etc. It is possible for tourists to visit flea markets

• On Udelnaya (next to the metro with the same name). There are clothes, kitchen utensils, furniture and other small items.
• In Avtovo, it’s called “Juno” (on Marshal Kazakov Street). Everything related to electronics is presented here. Monday is a day off here.

A trip to St. Petersburg does not end without purchasing traditional souvenirs (products of the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, souvenirs from the Nochlezhka charity organization).

Frafor with a pattern "Cobalt mesh"

How to get there

St. Petersburg is amazing old City Russia, which attracts travelers from all over the country and the world. For tourists who decide to visit the Northern capital for the first time, it will be useful to know the list of airports in the city.

• Pulkovo airport terminal. Previously there were two terminals (Pulkovo-1 and Pulkovo-2), but after reconstruction they were replaced by one - Pulkovo-3. It is also called the “new terminal”.
• The Bychye Pole airfield is a privately owned airline. Located in Kronstadt.
• There are military airports in the area of ​​Pushkin and Levashov.

Passenger flights are accepted only by Pulkovo. This airport is also used by Rossiya, Aeroflot, S7, and Ural Airlines", "UTair". The air port is located outside the city (about 20 km). In addition to domestic ones, airlines from CIS countries and international flights are served here. After recent reconstruction, the airport offers passengers a comfortable wait for their flight and the following services:

• restaurants;
• rest rooms for children;
• first aid station;
• pharmacy kiosk;
• cafe;
• bars;
• the shops;
• luggage storage;
• VIP zones.

Travelers who do not like flying can be offered travel by rail. In St. Petersburg 5 railway stations. Passenger trains from Moscow, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, as well as from Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan arrive at the Moscow station. This is the third railway station in Russia in terms of passenger traffic. About 50 are served here every day commuter trains. Ladozhsky Station is one of the city's complex transport hubs. This is the youngest station in St. Petersburg, which is a transit station. It receives trains from Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Murmansk, Chelyabinsk, as well as from Kazakhstan. Transit trains Moscow-Murmansk and Moscow-Helsinki pass through it. Trains from Vyborg and Helsinki arrive at Finlyandsky Station. Suburban destinations are mainly served at the Baltic station. Trains depart to the neighboring countries from Vitebsky railway station. Travel by bus is offered by various transport companies in the country. Among the advantages are savings, but among the disadvantages is the lack of special comfort. You can get to St. Petersburg by water using river cruise. This is not just moving from one point to another, but also an entertaining excursion of sorts.

Transport

Transport links in Northern Palmyra are quite well developed. Residents and guests of the metropolis can take advantage of:

• by bus
• trolleybuses
• by trams
• metro

Most passengers use the metro. Despite the length of 113 km and 63 operating stations, the development and construction of new lines continues actively as the city grows and expands. It is planned to increase the length to 139.4 km. The metro starts early in the morning (5-6 hours, depending on the station) and ends around midnight. Many tourists use the metro not only for transportation, but also to appreciate the artistic art objects of the subway. St. Petersburg is proud of its metro, which belongs to the most beautiful places cities. The tram line of the Northern capital is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest - about 600 km. Among ordinary trams you can find the most unusual specimens. Locals They quickly get used to wonders, but engineering innovations sometimes make an unforgettable impression on tourists. During rush hour, traffic jams are common. Then trams do an excellent job of transporting passengers. Tram lines often run parallel to routes loaded with cars, buses, taxis, and trolleybuses. There are more than 40 trolleybus routes in the city. Towards more mobile public transport include buses. There are both social and commercial routes (the latter are superior in number). The city, built on the Neva, also provides water transport services. Ferry and cruise ships carry passengers and cargo.

It is comfortable to travel in St. Petersburg by your own car. Tourists and business people Those who value their time often resort to car rental services. Among the cars offered for rent, you can choose models of any class that will meet your expectations in terms of price, comfort and service. You can also rent a car with a driver.

Accommodation

For tourists who value comfort above all, St. Petersburg offers accommodation in luxury hotels. For luxury rooms in four- and five-star hotels with high service, you will have to pay a tidy sum. If you want to save a little on accommodation, you can stay in a three-star hotel. Here you will be offered more modest apartments with amenities on the floor instead of personal ones in the room. Nowadays mini-hotels are quite common. In terms of service, they are in no way inferior to their large analogues, they just have fewer rooms. Most often, such hotels are located in the city center. Apartments for daily rent are chosen by those who do not like fuss. True, you will have to cook yourself or visit local cafes to have a snack. If you rent an apartment further from the center, you can get no worse conditions for less money. As an option, you can rent a separate room. It's even cheaper. Such services are provided by local pensioners who want to earn extra money from visiting tourists. The most affordable accommodation is in a hostel. Here you will be offered a separate bed on a bunk bed in a room where there will be several other people. The bathroom and shower are for shared use. In the morning you will have the opportunity to have breakfast for free.

Connection

There are 5 cellular companies providing communication services in St. Petersburg. MTS (the most expensive brand) and Beeline (the most widespread operator around the world) have the most subscribers, followed by MegaFon and Tele2. Reliable communication is ensured even in the subway. Detailed information information about each operator can be obtained from stores offering cell phones for sale. Also, a wide range of communication services, including 4G Internet, are offered by Yota and Teletai. Tourists can use their own operators if roaming services are provided, and you can also purchase a SIM card from local companies. Available in cafes, restaurants, train stations, metro and airports wireless access to WiFi. You can use communication services by visiting an Internet cafe. In many hotels in the city you can make international calls, send and receive email.

Someone else's experience and useful tips help you avoid many unpleasant situations and snags while planning your trip. It’s good when a tourist completely immerses himself in the beauty and charm of the city, without thinking about organizing everyday problems. So, our advice

1. If you are an economical tourist, then it is better to plan your trip in winter - when there is not such an influx of visitors, many hotels provide good discount for accommodation. Please note that during the New Year and Christmas holidays there is again a “boom of attention” to St. Petersburg. Of course, in winter you won’t really be able to stroll through the parks and the embankment, but you’ll be able to see all the other attractions very well.

2. The most favorable period for walks and excursions is May - September.

3. When going to St. Petersburg, be sure to take with you an umbrella (or raincoat), comfortable shoes and warm clothes (rain and cold snap can take you by surprise).

4. The metro is a convenient way to get anywhere in the city to attractions of interest. In the summer, buses travel around St. Petersburg around the clock, repeating metro routes.

5. It is advisable to combine a trip to the country residences of Pavlovsk and Pushkin for your convenience, because the residences are located next to each other.

6. When planning your day, you should take into account rush hours, when traffic in the city is suspended (the metro is overloaded, there are traffic jams on the roads). Don’t forget about such a feature as drawbridges - traffic freezes for several hours.

7. If you are traveling with a friendly group, an apartment will be an excellent alternative to a hotel room.

8. If you are on a limited budget, consider staying in a hostel; there are also budget hotels in the city - the main thing is to know where to look for them.

9. We arrived in St. Petersburg for a short time, but would like to see more sights. Then it’s worth taking a ride on the city trams. An exciting trip is guaranteed - you will be provided with a short excursion and there will be many outstanding places to see (the routes pass through the main attractions).

10. If you are planning to take a sightseeing trip around the city, it is better to plan it on a weekend to avoid traffic jams.

11. When planning to visit museums, remember that it is better to arrive when they open, since the influx of people begins at 12 o’clock. It is worth considering that in museums you will need to purchase an additional ticket for the right to take photographs. Flash photography is also prohibited in museums.

12. Love sports You should not emphasize your affection for out-of-town, foreign teams. Fans may react aggressively to this.

13. If you are a theater lover, be sure to purchase tickets in advance. The northern capital is considered the theatrical Mecca of Russia; the widest repertoire of performances is presented here - people come to St. Petersburg from all over the country and even the world.

14. We arrived in our own transport. Plan your route correctly so as not to waste precious hours on useless driving. For example, you planned to see Gatchina, Pushkin, and then go towards Moscow. Then it’s better to visit important places in the city itself, but on the way back you can see sights of interest in the area. Then it will be easy to turn onto the Moscow Highway and continue on your way.

15. Holders of the CityCard and CITY TOUR PASS Guest Cards have certain privileges and discounts on accommodation, meals, museum visits, etc. All thanks to a well-developed international tourism service system.

16. In order not to overshadow a pleasant trip, it is better to take care of accommodation, tickets, and stock up on guidebooks and booklets in advance.

A trip to St. Petersburg is a great opportunity to try something new. All my life I have dreamed of jumping from a bridge with a safety net, or riding a wakeboard. Make your dream come true here - there will be a lot of impressions, and this will make the trip even more special.

St. Petersburg on the map, panorama

Neva- a river in Russia flowing through the territory Leningrad region and St. Petersburg. Length 74 km, area of ​​its own pool 5 thousand km². The Neva is the only river flowing from Lake Ladoga.

Not everyone knows what cities on the Neva, but this is very informative information.

What city is on the Neva?

There are four cities on the banks of the Neva: Shlisselburg, Kirovsk, Otradnoye, St. Petersburg - and several dozen other settlements
Saint Petersburg founded on May 16 (27), 1703, when a fortress called St. Petersburg was founded in honor of St. Peter, the heavenly patron of the emperor. After the construction of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in it, the fortress began to be called Peter and Paul, and its original name turned out to be extended to the city that arose under it. No special act defining the name given to the city was adopted. And those from Peter’s foreign-language circle, who spoke predominantly German, Swedish, and Dutch, as well as Russian associates who spoke these languages ​​to one degree or another, each pronounced and wrote the name “city of St. Peter” in their own way.

SHLISSELBURG(until 1612 Oreshek, 1612-1702 Noteburg, in 1944-92 Petrokrepost), a city in the Leningrad region, on the left bank of the Neva (pier), at its source from Lake Ladoga, 64 km to the East . from St. Petersburg. 12 thousand inhabitants (2003). Founded by the Novgorod prince Yuri Danilovich in 1323. Captured by the Swedes in 1612, liberated by Russian troops in 1702. Until the 20th century. The Shlisselburg fortress (located on Orekhovoy Island, at the source of the Neva) was a convict prison. Nevsky shipbuilding-shipbuilding. factory. Branch of the Museum of History of St. Petersburg. Archit. monuments of the 18th-19th centuries: Annunciation Cathedral, St. Nicholas Church, Chapel of the Kazan Mother of God, Gostiny Dvor.

Kirovsk- city (since 1953) in the Leningrad region. Located on the left high bank Neva, near Lake Ladoga (pier), 33 km east of St. Petersburg. Railroad station"Nevdubstroy". The federal highway M18 “St. Petersburg - Murmansk” passes near the city, crossing the Neva along the Ladoga Bridge. The city was founded in 1929 as the village of Nevdubstroy during the construction of a state district power station (since 1943 State District Power Plant named after S. M. Kirov, now the 8th State District Power Plant) on the left bank of the Neva, after the name of the nearest village Nevskaya Dubrovka. Since 1953 - the city of Kirovsk, named in honor of Sergei Kirov (1886-1934), whose name is associated with the initiative to build this large power plant at that time.

Otradnoe(Pella) is a city of regional subordination to the Kirovsky district of the Leningrad region. Formed in 1970 from the merger of the villages of Ust-Tosno, Ivanovskoye and Otradnoye. Population 21.6 thousand inhabitants (2005). The city is located on the left bank of the Neva, 40 km from St. Petersburg.

The Neva River originates from Lake Ladoga near the city of Shlisselburg, Kirov district, Leningrad region. It flows into the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea in St. Petersburg.

The length of the Neva River from the source to the confluence of the Bolshaya Neva into the Neva Bay at the Nevsky Gate of the St. Petersburg commercial port is 74 kilometers, the area of ​​its own drainage basin is 5 thousand km². Since the Neva is the only river flowing from Lake Ladoga, including its basin, the drainage area is 281 thousand km².

The total fall of the Neva River is 5.1 meters, the tortuosity coefficient is 1.6, the distance in a straight line from the source to the mouth is 45 kilometers, the slope is 0.07 m/km.

Settlements.

On the banks of the Neva from source to mouth there are four cities: Shlisselburg, Kirovsk, Otradnoe and St. Petersburg.

Settlements of the Kirov district of the Leningrad region, built on the Neva: Shlisselburg, Sheremetyevka, Rezvykh, Chernaya Rechka, Dubrovka, Peski, Pavlovo-on-Neva, Pavlovo, Otradnoye, Ivanovskoye, Ust-Tosno.

In the Vsevolozhsk region on the right bank of the Neva there are: Kuzminka, Ostrovki, Orangereika, Maslovo, Bolshie Porogi, the village named after Sverdlov, Krasnaya Zarya, Novosaratovka.

IN downstream Neva River is located St. Petersburg with the villages of Saperny, Pontonny, Ust-Izhora.

Driveways.

Along the entire length of the Neva in the Kirov and Vsevolozhsk regions there are roads on both banks.

Main tributaries and branches.

The Neva drainage basin is characterized by the presence of numerous lakes and reservoirs and a complex hydrological network. In the basin of the Neva and Lake Ladoga there are over 48.3 thousand rivers and about 26.3 thousand lakes. Only 26 rivers and streams flow into the Neva itself. The largest left-bank tributaries are the Novo-Ladoga and Staro-Ladoga canals (176 km), (93 km), (121 km), (76 km), Slavyanka (39 km), right-bank tributaries - (90 km), Chernaya (30 km ).

In the Neva delta within the boundaries of St. Petersburg, the river is divided into branches, which are additionally connected by a system of canals.

The main branches in the Neva delta are: the Bolshaya Nevka, which is divided into the Middle and Malaya Nevka, the Bolshaya and Malaya Neva, Moika, Fontanka, Pryazhka, Ekateringofka, Karpovka, Zhdanovka, Smolenka, Krestovka and Kronverksky Strait. In St. Petersburg, the following were created: the Sea Canal, the Griboyedov Canal, the Obvodny Canal, and the Kryukov Canal.

Description of the hydrological network.

Relief and soils.

From Lake Ladoga to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, the river carries its waters along the Neva Lowland. In this area along the coast, sandy loam on lacustrine-glacial sandy loam, sand and loam, medium-podzolic soils in combination with peat-podzolic-gley and bog peat are predominantly represented.

Vegetation.

In the upper reaches of the Neva, pine-birch and birch grass-shrub forests predominantly grow. In the middle reaches there are mainly long-moss pine and swampy sphagnum forests. There are no natural landscapes left in St. Petersburg along the Neva.

Previously, before human development, pine and spruce green moss forests grew on the territory of the Neva Lowland. As a result of commercial felling and frequent fires, their area has decreased significantly. In the upper reaches of the Neva, forest areas have decreased to 40%. Cultural and park zones were created in St. Petersburg.

In the Neva itself there is practically no aquatic vegetation. Plants are found in some areas in the form of a narrow strip stretching along the shore.

Hydrological regime.

Freeze-up on the Neva is observed along its entire length. The river freezes, as a rule, in the first ten days of December, and is cleared of ice in the first ten days of April. In the lower reaches within the boundaries of St. Petersburg, the ice thickness is 30-40 centimeters. Upstream the ice is 50-60 centimeters thick. Due to jams and ice jams, which are sometimes observed in the upper reaches of the Neva, floods occur upstream. Ice from Lake Ladoga is also carried into the river. About 5% of the 10.6 km³ of the total ice volume of Lake Ladoga falls into the Neva.

In the territory through which the Neva flows, the amount of precipitation significantly exceeds evaporation, amounting to 37.7%. The total river flow accounts for 62.3%. The flow of water from Lake Ladoga to the Neva occurs evenly throughout the year, so there is no spring flood or summer low water on the river. The average long-term annual water flow in the Neva is 2500 m³/s or 78.9 km³ per year. The maximum flow of 116 km³ was observed in 1924, the minimum 40.2 km³ was noted in 1900. The Neva, having a relatively short length of 74 kilometers, is among the top ten rivers in Europe in terms of average annual flow.

The low banks of the Neva, almost along the entire channel, are steep and fall into the water. In the middle reaches their height is on average 3-6 meters, in the lower reaches they do not exceed 2-3 meters.

The mouth of the Neva is located to the west of the source. In its upper reaches, the river has a south-southwest direction. Below the city of Otradnoye it turns sharply to the northwest. Here the Neva crosses the moraine ridge, forming the Ivanovo rapids. Before they begin, opposite Cape Svyatki, the narrowest place of the river. The distance between the banks is 210 meters.

Further, after 13 kilometers, in the area between the Nevsky Forest Park and Ust-Slavyanka, before the confluence of the Slavyanka, the river bed forms the so-called Crooked Knee. In the lower reaches, after the confluence of the Okhta near Smolny, the Neva again makes a sharp turn to the west-southwest.

The average speed of water flow in the Neva is 0.8-1.1 m/s in the river core. It flows out of Lake Ladoga at a speed of 0.3 m/s and accelerates in the middle course. Within St. Petersburg, the average speed of 0.3-0.4 m/s decreases towards the mouth to 0.1-0.2 m/s.

The average width of the Neva is 400-600 meters. The widest sections have a distance between banks of more than 1 kilometer. The first is immediately after the source opposite the city of Shlisselburg near Fabrichny Island. The next one is after the end of the Ivanovo rapids at the confluence of the Tosny River. The third is in the river delta at the Neva Gate of the Sea Trade Port at the confluence of the Bolshaya Neva branch into the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland.

The average depth of the Neva is 8-11 meters. Maximum depth 24 meters was noted in the Smolninskaya bend on the right bank of the Liteiny Bridge upstream opposite Arsenalnaya Street. The minimum depth of the river is recorded in the Ivanovo rapids and is 4-4.5 meters.

St. Petersburg, built in the Neva delta, is characterized by frequent dangerous and catastrophic floods. Water rises up to 210 centimeters are considered dangerous, up to 3 meters - especially dangerous, and above - catastrophic. The rise of water in the Neva is observed almost every year, most often in autumn time of the year.

Floods occur due to wind-driven water from the Gulf of Finland. Strong storm northwestern, western and southwestern winds have the opposite direction to the flow of the Neva. The waves driven by the winds at the mouth of the river exceed its level. The source of the Neva into the Gulf of Finland stops, the flow stops. Then the current in all branches of the Neva becomes reverse direction. After this, the water level in the river begins to rise, and the Neva overflows its banks, flooding the streets of St. Petersburg.

In August 2011, the “Complex of St. Petersburg Flood Protection Structures” was put into operation in the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. It is designed to protect the Northern capital from wind surge waters.

On December 28, 2011, the complex successfully passed its first serious tests. It was fully involved in the flood that threatened St. Petersburg at that time. According to experts, the closure of the dam made it possible to avoid the fifth worst flood. The water in the Neva could rise to 281 centimeters, as in September 1975.

Water quality.

The average mineralization of water in the Neva is 61.3 mg/l, the turbidity is average, the water is hydrocarbonate-calcium 7 mg/l. The Neva is considered a heavily polluted river. The main pollutants are copper, manganese, zinc, and nitrite nitrogen. Mga, Okhta, Slavyanka and Black River are considered the most polluted tributaries of the Neva.

St. Petersburg, which discharges sewage and waste from hundreds of industrial enterprises into the Neva, also helps pollute the river in the cities of the Leningrad region Shlisselburg, Kirovsk, Otradnoe.

Ichthyofauna.

The Neva is characterized by cold water and fast currents. There are no quiet backwaters or aquatic vegetation here. The Neva is home to such fish as pike, pike perch, catfish, silver bream, bluefish, sabrefish, asp, sculpin, tench, dace, bream, perch, roach, ruff, burbot, slingshot, white-eye, grayling, trout, three-spined stickleback. Char and sterlet are also found. Smelt, vendace, whitefish, lamprey, eel, and Baltic (Atlantic) salmon also rise into the Neva.

Tourism and rest.

The swimming season on the Neva lasts about 1.5 months in the summer, when the average water temperature is 17-20 °C.

Along the Neva in the city limits of St. Petersburg there are many gardens and parks: Spartak Garden, Zanevsky Park, Kurakina Dacha Garden, Babushkin Park of Culture and Leisure, Garden of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Malookhtinsky Square, Field of Mars, Smolny Garden, Smolny Monastery Cathedral Garden , Tauride Garden, Summer Garden, Alexander Garden, Rumyantsev Garden.

Fans of this type of recreation catch fish on the Neva both in St. Petersburg and outside the city.

Economic importance.

The Neva is navigable along its entire length. The river is part of the Volga-Baltic Waterway and the White Sea-Baltic Canal. As a result of dredging and cleaning work carried out in the seventies of the last century, a stone shoal was cut off in the area of ​​the Ivanovo rapids. As a result, the shipping lane became wider, increasing from 85 meters to 160. As a result, two-way traffic of ships was ensured.

Water from the Neva is used for water supply and technical needs. The river is also used to discharge many wastewaters into it. settlements and enterprises.

Reference Information.

Name: Neva

Length: 74 km

Basin area: 5000 km²

Area including Lake Ladoga basin: 281,000 km²

Pool: Baltic Sea

Water flow: 2500 m³/sec.

Slope: 0.07‰

Tortuosity coefficient: 1.6

Source: Petrokrepost Bay of Lake Ladoga, the city of Shlisselburg, Kirovsky district, Leningrad region

Height above sea level: 5.1 m

Coordinates:

Latitude: 59°57′24″N

Longitude: 31°02′44″E

Mouth: Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland, St. Petersburg

Height above sea level: 0 m

Coordinates:

Latitude: 59°56′41″N

Longitude: 30°18′34″E

How was the Neva formed and how old is it? Which river is more ancient - Neva or Tosna?

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the Neva River for St. Petersburg. It was she who determined the birthplace of the city and witnessed many significant pages of its life. But how much do we know about the beautiful Neva?

The history of the formation of the Neva River is complex and has not yet been fully elucidated. Here we present the theory of the origin of the Neva, the most widely spread in the scientific literature. In the territory where St. Petersburg and its surroundings are now located, after the retreat of the glacier, a periglacial lake was formed. Subsequently, as a result of geological and climatic changes, sea waters repeatedly invaded this area... About 10,000-7,500 years ago, part of the present Baltic Sea was occupied by the closed freshwater Ancylus Basin, or Ancylus Lake. It got its name from the freshwater mollusk ancilus found in its sediments. In the east, the border of Lake Ancylovo passed in the area of ​​Kotlin Island, where the fortified city of Kronstadt is now located.

The Neva River did not exist at that time. In its place, the Tosna River flowed its waters, which flowed into Lake Ancylovoye behind the island of Kotlin, and the Mga River, which was a tributary of Ladoga. Lake Ladoga had access to the Ancylus basin in the north of the Karelian Isthmus.

About 7,500 years ago, as a result of new geological changes, the waters of the North Sea poured into the Ancylus Basin and turned it into a sea. It received the name Litori-new, as it was inhabited by the mollusk Litorina.

The Littorina Sea jutted into the land as a narrow strait along the Neva Lowland. Then, due to the uplift of the earth's crust, it began to retreat and shrink in size. This led to the formation of the Ancient Baltic Sea about 4,000 years ago.

The rising land also affected Ladoga. Finding itself isolated from the sea, the lake began to overflow. Its waters, overflowing its banks and flooding part of the land, south coast and the valley of the Mga River, approached the Tosna River. A watershed breakthrough occurred here, as evidenced by the Ivanovo rapids. Ladoga water rushed along the already prepared bed of the Tosna River and reached the Gulf of Finland. This happened about 4000-4500 years ago. Consequently, the river on the banks of which our city arose is relatively young in geological terms. It is much younger than such rivers as Tosna, Mga, Slavyanka, Izhora... The Neva with its delta in outlines close to modern ones was formed approximately 2500 years ago and man witnessed its birth.

How many kilometers long is the Neva from source to mouth and what is its length within the city?

The length of the Neva is 74 kilometers. It flows out of Lake Ladoga in the area of ​​Orekhova Island, on which the Oreshek fortress was built in 1323, later known as the Shlisselburg fortress.

The bed of the Neva is a wide semicircle, the outer part of which faces south. Therefore, if a straight line is laid from the source of the Neva to its mouth, then the distance will not exceed 45 kilometers.

The length of the Neva within St. Petersburg increases along with the growth of the city. Currently, the length of the river within St. Petersburg is 32 kilometers - 2/5 of its entire length.

On which section of the Neva is its bank the greatest height?

The average height of the Neva banks is 6-9 meters. As you approach the mouth of the river, the banks gradually decrease to a level of 2-2.5 meters. The highest point is located on the left bank near the source of the river. This place, known as Preobrazhenskaya Mountain, reaches a height of 40 meters.

In what section is the Neva channel the narrowest and where does it reach its maximum width? Where is the most deep place rivers?

The narrowest point of the Neva is the Ivanovo rapids. Here its width is 210 meters. It reaches its greatest width at the Nevsky Gate - 1000-1250 meters.

The Neva has its greatest depth (24-25 meters) on the right bank, opposite Arsenalnaya Street. The predominant depth is 8-11 meters, and in the area of ​​the Ivanovo rapids it is 4-4.5 meters. On this 2-kilometer stretch of the Neva with an extensive rocky shoal, ship traffic was one-way, which created certain difficulties for the increased shipping along the Volga-Baltic waterway. But since the end of 1978, when work on extracting hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of moraine soil with boulders from the river bottom was completed, large vessels began to be piloted simultaneously in two directions.

From now on, there are no more Ivanovo rapids. They are preserved only in the name of this narrowest section of the Neva.

What is the difference in water level between the source and the mouth of the Neva?

The water level at the mouth of the Neva is lower than the level at the source by an average of 4.7 meters. This difference is not stable. It all depends on the water level in Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland. It is known that in June 1924 the difference between the lake and the mouth of the Neva reached 6.5 meters, but in November 1940 it fell to 3.4 meters.

What is the speed of the Neva flow and how much water does it carry every second? What place does the Neva rank among largest rivers Europe?

The speed of the Neva flow in its different sections is not the same. On average, it is equal to 0.9-1.2 meters per second, that is, 3.2-4.3 kilometers per hour (and on the Ivanovo rapids, near Cape Svyatki, before the river bottom was deepened, the current speed reached 12-14 kilometers per hour hour). The Neva throws an average of 2,540 cubic meters of water into the sea every second, 9 million cubic meters per hour, and 80 billion cubic meters per year, or 80 cubic kilometers of water. Throughout the year, the river’s water content fluctuates, as it is directly dependent on the level of Lake Ladoga.

The Neva carries as much water as the Dnieper and Don rivers combined. If the Neva is compared with the rivers of Europe in terms of its fullness, it ranks sixth (after the Volga, Danube, Pechora, Kama and Northern Dvina).

How long is the Neva frozen in ice? How many days does the ice break last? How long does it take for ice to travel from the source of the Neva to the Peter and Paul Fortress?

The period when the Neva is covered with ice ranges from 45 to 150-180 days.

Usually Neva after opening within 3-5 days is freed from river ice. Then for five days it remains clean. Then the ice of Lake Ladoga begins to flow and travels along the river for 8-12 days, making the journey from Ladoga to the city center, that is, to the Peter and Paul Fortress, in 16-18 hours. Thus, the spring ice-breaking period usually lasts* about three weeks. Of course, there are exceptions. Sometimes, about once every 10 years, Ladoga ice either does not enter the Neva at all, or does not reach the mouth of the river. Sometimes it lasts 30 days or more, as it was last time in 1954. It should also be taken into account that from the huge mass Ladoga ice no more than 1-2 percent are carried into the Neva and, as a rare exception, 4-5 percent. All the rest of the ice does not leave the lake and melts on the spot.

Why does it get colder when the Ladoga ice melts?

Residents of the city usually say: “If the Ladoga ice goes, it will become cold,” meaning that the invasion of huge masses of ice into the Neva causes the air to cool. Such reasoning is incorrect. There really is a connection between these two phenomena, but the connection is inverse. It is known that ice from Ladoga is driven into the Neva by strong northeastern and eastern winds, and, as a rule, these winds are cold. It is they who lower the air temperature in the city.

What kind of fish is found in the Neva?

The Neva is not very rich in its own fish food. There is almost no aquatic vegetation, which can only be seen in some places as a narrow strip near the shore. The exception is Neva Bay, where reeds, reeds, wild rice and other moisture-loving greens grow in the shallows. Feed is carried into the river by the current from Lake Ladoga. The fish that appear in the Neva most often come to spawn or travel from Lake Ladoga to the Gulf of Finland and back. These are smelt, herring, lamprey, eel, vendace, pike, perch, roach, ide, ruffe, burbot, bream, pike perch, whitefish. The most valuable species is salmon. Its spawning grounds are located in the upper part of the river, where there is a fast current and many places with a coarse pebble bottom.

What was the former name of the Gulf of Finland? What is it and what are its dimensions?

In the old days, the Gulf of Finland had a different name - Lake Kotlin. This is a relatively narrow body of water, which in the east ends at the Neva Bay, which juts deep into the land. Its area is 29,500 square kilometers.

The length of the bay from its top (the extreme eastern part) to the neck (the extreme western part), where it merges with the Baltic Sea, is 410 kilometers. When entering the Baltic, the width of the bay is 70-75 kilometers, and in the Neva Bay - 12-15 kilometers. West of the island Kotlin bay width is 18-22 kilometers. The widest part of the Gulf of Finland, exceeding 130 kilometers, is located on the meridian of Moshchny Island. The average depth of the bay is 38 meters, and in some depressions it is 100-120 meters. But the Neva Bay, the border of which runs along the line Lisiy Nos - Kronstadt - Oranienbaum, is a shallow body of water with little current. The prevailing depth here is 3-5 meters, and in the shallows - no more than 1.5-2 meters.

Several rivers flow into the Gulf of Finland. 2/3 of the water they bring comes from the Neva.

How many rivers flow into the Neva? Which ones are the largest?

26 rivers and streams flow into the Neva, including the 7 most significant: Chernaya, 30 kilometers long (flows into the Neva near Petrokrepost), Moika, 27 kilometers long (flows into the Neva above the village of Ivanovskoye), Mga, 77 kilometers long, Tosna, 118 kilometers long, Izhora is 65 kilometers long, Slavyanka is 39 kilometers long and Bolshaya Okhta is 93 kilometers long. Among the small rivers flowing into the Neva within the city, mention should be made of the Murzinka, Utka, Spartak, Volkovka and the Black River flowing into the Bolshaya Neva.

All tributaries of the Neva are relatively small and have almost no effect on its regime.

How was the Neva delta formed? What are its main natural channels?

The deltas of most rivers are formed as a result of the deposition of tiny particles of silt and sand in places where water flows into the sea, where the speed of the river flow sharply decreases. The Neva carries with it an insignificant amount of silt particles. And its delta has a different origin. Initially, the Neva flowed into the Gulf of Finland with one branch. But as a result of land uplift, the Ancient Baltic Sea retreated to the west. The shallows that were under water now began to rise and turn into islands. The surge of water from the Gulf of Finland during floods also played a significant role in their formation. Due to strong waves, silt rises from the bottom of the sea, which then settles on the shallows near the islands. This phenomenon led (and is now leading) not only to an increase in the area of ​​existing islands, but also to the birth of new ones. This, in turn, was the reason that the bed of the Neva began to diverge into branches, and a river delta was formed.

Today the main natural channels of the delta are; Bolshaya Neva, Malaya Neva, Bolshaya Nevka, Srednyaya Nevka, Malaya Nevka, Fontanka, Moika, Ekateringofka, Krestovka, Karpovka, Zhdanovka, Smolenka, Pryazhka and Kronverksky Strait.

How many islands is St. Petersburg located on?

For more than a century, it was believed that there were 101 islands in the Neva delta.

This figure can be found in encyclopedic dictionaries, guidebooks, and in many literary and reference sources.

But in last years she began to doubt it more and more often. Indeed, over the past century, many changes have occurred, in some cases under the influence of natural factors, in others as a result of human activity. When canals and natural channels were filled in, individual islands merged with larger ones. It was in this way that at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, for example, the islands of Zhadimirovsky, Kashevarov and Gonoropulo were added to Goloday Island (now Dekabristov Island). For the same reasons, the islands of Vatny, Penkovy Buyan, Wine Buyan and many others disappeared. In 1969-1970, the Vvedensky Canal was filled in, Volny Island, now connected by an artificial cofferdam with Dekabristov Island, ceased to exist.

Currently, there are 42 islands in the Neva delta.

Which of the islands of the Neva delta have names?

It must be assumed that not all islands located in the Neva delta had names, and some probably lost them over the years. Listed below are only those islands that have retained their names to this day.

On the right bank of the Neva: Petrogradsky (Berezovy), Zayachiy, Kronverksky, Aliy, Krestovsky, Kamenny, Elagin, Petrovsky "." And, Severny, Dekabristov (b. Goloday).

On the left bank of the Neva: Admiralteysky, Novo-Admiralteysky, New Holland, Minison, Kolomensky, Kazansky, Spassky, Piarovsky, Kanonersky, Gutuevsky, Bely, Monastyrsky, Grebenka Dam, Ekateringofsky.

What used to be on the site of the Griboyedov Canal? When did the canal take on its modern look?

Where the Griboyedov Canal now lies, the Deaf River once meandered, dirty, with stagnant water, with banks overgrown with tall grass and bushes. This river made a lot of zigzags on its way, so the people called it Krivusha. It originated from a swamp between what is now Konyushennaya Square and Arts Square. In 1764-1790, Krivusha was deepened, expanded, and dressed in grainite. It became a channel called the Catherine Canal. In 1923 it was renamed the Griboyedov Canal. Its length is 5 kilometers.

When and for what purpose was the Lithuanian Canal dug? When was it filled up and where can you still see its remains that have survived to this day?

When the Summer Garden was created, numerous fountains were installed on its territory. So that their jets would flow under natural pressure, as in Peterhof, it was decided to dig a canal from the Ligovka River, flowing from the Duderhof lakes. Constructed in 1718-1721 according to the design and leadership of G. G. Skornyakov-Misarev, the canal stretched from the village of Gorelovo, where the Ligovka River flowed, to the site at the corner of modern Nekrasov Street and Grechesky Avenue, where a park is now laid out. A reservoir was built here, from where water was supplied through pipes to the Summer Garden. The canal was also supposed to supply water to residents of settlements located along its route.

In 1777 the fountains were destroyed by flood. The canal gradually fell into disrepair. In the middle of the 19th century, it became a dumping ground for various sewage and wastewater from industrial enterprises.

In 1891, on the section from the pool (now defunct) to the Obvodny Canal, it was enclosed in a pipe and filled up. On the section between the Obvodny Canal and Moskovsky Prospekt, these works were completed by 1926. Beyond the territory of the Skorokhod factory and further southwest to Krasnoputilovskaya Street, the canal was filled in in 1965-1969. The waters of the preserved section of the canal are diverted into the Krasnenkaya River. On the site of the Lithuanian Canal there is now Ligovsky Prospekt.

Which of the existing boulevards is located on the site of the former canal? Why was this canal dug and when did it disappear?

From the canal that surrounded the Admiralty, towards New Holland and the Galernaya Shipyard, the so-called Admiralty Canal was dug. It was intended to store timber brought to St. Petersburg. The order of Peter I dated June 8, 1720 stated: “Ship pine forests put along the canal that is being made from the Admiralty to Holland.” The canal crossed the Kryukov Canal, which still exists today, dug in 1717-1719. The Admiralty Canal gradually became polluted with sewage; it began to grow shallow and spread a stench around. In 1842, its section up to the Kryukov Canal was covered with a brick vault and covered with earth on top. And in 1845, a young boulevard appeared on the site of the canal, which received the name Horse Guards Regiment from the nearby barracks of the Horse Guards Regiment.

If you want to make sure that there was once a water channel on the site of the boulevard, then go to the Kryukov Canal. From its eastern side, the vaulted pipe in which the Admiralty Canal was enclosed is clearly visible.

Which of the canals located within St. Petersburg is the longest? When and according to the design of which engineers was it dug?

The longest canal in St. Petersburg is Obvodny, its length is 8 kilometers.

It was dug in 1805-1834. Initially, the work on the construction of the canal was led by engineer I. K. Gerard, and then by the famous scientist and engineer P. P. Bazin

In the past, the Obvodny Canal was of great importance. According to him the shortest route from seaport in the river, then located on the banks of the Neva, near the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, ships and barges with various cargoes continuously passed through. Timber was often floated along the canal. Its appearance in the southern part of the city made it possible to build industrial enterprises here, in the vicinity of which new residential areas grew.

What channels are currently available in St. Petersburg?

Today in St. Petersburg there are 19 canals: Obvodny, Griboedova, Lebyazhy, Winter Canal, Kryukov Canal, Novo-Admiralteysky, Krushtein Canal, Bumazhny, Novy, Seltsyanoy, Morskoy, Shkipersky, Ligovsky (partially preserved), Volkovsky, Grebnoy, Salnobuyansky, Matisov, Bolshoi and Maly Canals on Kamenny Island.

The arrival of which ship marked the opening of the St. Petersburg port? What year did this happen?

There are many legends about the arrival of the first foreign ship at the mouth of the Neva. Of these, the most popular is the following.

One November day in 1703, a Dutch ship appeared near the island of Kotlin, which is located in the Gulf of Finland 30 kilometers from the mouth of the Neva. As soon as Peter I became aware of this, he immediately set off on a boat to meet his overseas guest. The tsar himself was dressed in pilot clothes, and the people accompanying him were ordered to dress up as sailors. The foreign vessel was discovered as it struggled through the shallows of the bay.

Climbing onto the deck of the ship, Peter greeted the skipper in Dutch and reported that he had arrived on the orders of the governor himself to help the ship reach the pier. Then Peter suggested that the skipper follow the boat. Enter the Neva, the Russian “pilot” showed the place where to anchor. It was not far from the shore, opposite the House of Peter I.

When the arrivals disembarked, they were met by the Governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Menshikov. He invited the guests to the dinner table, and on his orders a military guard was placed on the deck of the ship. Soon the overseas guests, to their great surprise, learned that the skillful pilot was the king himself.

Peter was unusually happy about the first ship that arrived in St. Petersburg. In honor of such a significant event, the delivered goods - Spanish salt and wine - were allowed to be sold without paying duty. Peter gave the ship's skipper 500 chervonets, and each sailor 30 efimki, and immediately announced that he would give 300 to the second ship, and 150 chervonets to the third.

The second ship came under the English flag, and the third - again under the Dutch one. But the first ship received special privileges, and for more than 50 years, each time with the advent of navigation, it could be seen in the St. Petersburg port.

What place in St. Petersburg has become the busiest and noisiest with the onset of spring for 150 years?

In the life of any sea city, the port is one of the most important places. The Spit of Vasilyevsky Island has been such a lively corner of St. Petersburg for a century and a half.

A port arose on Berezovy Island, where the first city center began to form. In 1733, it moved to the Spit of Vasilievsky Island, where it was much more convenient for ships to moor. The Exchange, Customs House, warehouses, Gostiny Dvor and other new buildings were erected here.

More than 1,000 foreign ships arrived annually at Strelka, where the port was located, since the end of the 18th century.

In the 18th century, imports were dominated by goods that were mainly consumed by the nobility and merchants, including more than 60 percent luxury goods. On this occasion, the outstanding Russian educator and writer N.I. Novikov wrote, not without irony, in his satirical magazine Truten:

“These days, ships from Rouen and Marseille arrived at the local port. They brought the following goods we needed: French swords of various types, tortoiseshell snuff boxes, paper, wax, lace, blondes, fringes, cuffs, ribbons, stockings, buckles, hats, cufflinks and all sorts of so-called haberdashery items... and from the port of St. Petersburg Our various household trinkets will be loaded onto those ships, such as: hemp, iron, yuft, lard, candles, linens, etc..”

At that time and until the beginning of the 19th century, Russia was the world supplier of metal. English ships annually carried away millions of pounds of Ural iron from the port of St. Petersburg.

The port of St. Petersburg was the first most important port in Russia, and Exchange Square on Vasilievsky Island became one of the busiest places in the city. Here one could see foreign and Russian merchants concluding trade deals. Many people from the capital also came here to watch the arriving overseas ships. And among this motley and richly dressed crowd, people dressed in sweat-soaked homespuns and long linen shirts stood out sharply. These were the so-called “seasonal workers” who unloaded and loaded ships.

Only with the onset of dusk did Strelka plunge into silence.

The port's berthing lines were located on the Malaya Neva side. But the more ships called at the port of St. Petersburg, the more crowded it became on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, the more difficult it was to carry out unloading and loading operations on a relatively small area. Later, with the advent of steamships with a deeper draft, as well as after the construction of bridges in the lower reaches of the Neva

At first pontoon, and later permanent, the movement of ships to Strelka became completely difficult.

A transshipment base was set up in Kronstadt. Vessels with deep draft approached the Kronstadt piers and were loaded into boats, which delivered overseas goods to St. Petersburg. And only after the Sea Canal was dug in 1885, the port, which was both commercial and passenger, was transferred to Gutuevsky Island. There is still a commercial port on the island.

With the arrival of which ships the navigation of the Petrograd seaport was opened for the first time after 1917? Which steamship from the commercial port of our city was the first to sail abroad?

On April 20, 1918, the first navigation was opened with the arrival of Russian transports “Ilsa” and “Eros” from Helsingfors, which delivered passengers returning to their homeland. This is how the first Soviet navigation was discovered. In July, the first foreign steamship Gute under the Swedish flag moored at the port, followed by 51 more ships. They delivered electrical equipment, mowers, reapers, plows, sickles, scythes, separators, as well as seeds, matches, paints, paper, and food.

On November 10, 1918, the port of Petrograd was especially busy. Here, the first Soviet trading ship “Federation”, which was supposed to deliver copper and brass shavings, flax and lumber to Copenhagen, was solemnly seen off on its voyage abroad. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon the mooring lines were released, and to the sounds of the orchestra and good parting words, the ship entered the Sea Canal.

During the 1918 navigation, the port handled over 160 foreign and Soviet ships. Civil War and the intervention interrupted commercial shipping, which resumed only two years later. With each new navigation, the power of the city port increased, and foreign guests visited it more and more often.

Now the sea trade port of St. Petersburg is not only the leading one in the Baltic maritime shipping company, but also the largest and first-class port in our country. Occupying Gutuevsky and row neighboring islands, it spreads over 500 hectares and is a huge and complex enterprise equipped with modern technology. With the advent of new types of merchant ships - such as container ships and ships with horizontally loadings, the processing of which takes only a few hours, the need arose for the construction of new and reconstruction of existing berths. They now provide international standard container handling and high productivity.

When did regular flights start? passenger ships along the Neva and other water channels of the city?

In 1848, the Light Neva Shipping Company was organized in St. Petersburg. Steamboats with a capacity of up to 100 people departed from the pier near the Summer Garden according to the announced schedule. In the summer of 1882, steamship traffic opened along the Catherine Canal (now the Griboedov Canal) - from the Champs of Mars to the Nikolsky Market. In 1892, residents of the capital could already take a trip by steamship along the Fontanka from the Summer Garden to the Kalinkin Bridge, as well as along the Neva from the 11th line of Vasilyevsky Island to the Finlyandsky Station.

Nowadays, despite the wide network of land urban transport, water transport has not lost its importance. With the onset of summer navigation, the blue roads of St. Petersburg come to life. They are filled with the movement of comfortable boats, high-speed cruise "Rockets" and "Meteors". Motor ships serve lines connecting the city with Petrodvorets, Kronstadt, and Petrokrepost. On special excursion boats, those interested can take walks along many rivers and canals of the Neva delta

When was the water system first created that connected the Neva with the Volga, and what was it called? When was it replaced by the Volga-Baltic Canal?

The idea of ​​​​creating a waterway that would connect the Neva with the Volga arose soon after the founding of the city. It is known that survey work was started by Peter I back in 1710. But only a hundred years later, in 1810, through traffic for ships was opened. The entire waterway from Lake Onega at the exit from the banks of the Svir River to the confluence of the Sheksna River with the Volga near Rybinsk was called the Mariinsk water system (named after Empress Maria Feodorovna).

Over the years, this waterway has been reconstructed several times. In total, the water system had 39 wooden locks capable of passing ships with a displacement of more than 800 tons. Until the 1890s, the passage of ships along the canals was carried out using a tow rope using human and horse traction.

The raw Mariinsky system, which was important for economic development Russia, existed for 150 years. Now a new one has been created on this route water complex, the basis of which was a canal with a length of 361 kilometers. It is the largest hydraulic structure. Each of the canal's seven locks is equipped with the latest automation and telemechanics equipment.

The new canal is the most important part of the Volga-Baltic waterway, the thousand-kilometer blue route of which begins in St. Petersburg and runs along the Neva, Lake Ladoga, the Svir River, Lake Onega, the Volga-Baltic Canal, and the Rybinsk Reservoir. The capacity of this waterway compared to the Mariinsky system has increased 7 times, and the time it takes for water transport to pass through it has decreased by 2.5 times.

On June 28, 1964, the Krasnogvardeets motor ship was the first passenger ship to sail along the Volga-Balt. From Ozernaya Pier in Leningrad he took a flight to Yaroslavl, thereby opening a co-tourist line for passengers.

The Volga-Balt is of great importance for the transportation of national economic goods. Now hundreds of river-sea vessels with a carrying capacity of up to 5 thousand tons make voyages between European sea ports and our inland river and lake ports. They also carry out transit transportation from the North of Europe to the Caspian and Black Seas, and the Mediterranean basin.

Every day, large vessels gather below the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge and above the Volodarsky Bridge. They are waiting for the attack late at night, when the city falls asleep and the bridges are raised to continue the journey... And so every night our beautiful Neva continues to carry out her labor watch.

Neva River this is the only river flowing from Lake Ladoga. It flows through the territory of the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg. According to some versions, the name of the river goes back to the Bronze Age and means: “New”. This name was given to the river by the Indo-European tribes of the Eastern Baltic (in later times known as the Germans and Balts), they witnessed the breakthrough of water from Lake Ladoga into the Gulf of Finland, which was the reason for such an unusual name.

Neva is not deprived of attention in her songs.

Group Leningrad: Neva River Delta, video.

Group Zero - I'm going and smoking.

Words from the song: “And the leaves are rustling in my ears, and there is fog over the Neva River.”

River length: 74 kilometers.

Drainage basin area: 281,000 km. sq. Moreover, the area of ​​its own basin is 5,000 km. sq.

Where does it occur: The source of the river is in the shallow Shlisselburg Bay of Lake Ladoga. The river is fenced off from the deep parts of Lake Ladoga by a rocky shoal in the southern part of the Shlisselburg Bay. It flows through the Neva Lowland and flows into the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. At the mouth it forms a delta on which the glorious city of St. Petersburg is built. The mouth is also separated from the Neva Bay by a sandbank called the Nevsky Bar.

The Prinevskaya Lowland itself is a wide (30-50 km) and rather deep (50-100 m) valley. The bottom of the valley is a plain of descending steps towards the Gulf of Finland and the river bed. The soils here are marshy. Among the flat terrain there are also small hills Koltushskaya, Pargolovskaya, Poklonnaya Gora and etc.

The general direction of the Neva flow is from east to west, but at the same time it describes an almost regular semicircle, convex to the south. Therefore, the distance from the source to the mouth in a straight line is 45 kilometers. There are only three sharp turns: near Otradny, Nevsky Forest Park and Smolny. Apart from the delta, there are only three islands on the Neva: Oreshek with the Shlisselburg fortress, Fabrichny and Glavryba.

By the nature of the regime There are two parts on the Neva: upper and lower, separated by the Ivanovo rapids. In the upper part, the influence of Lake Ladoga predominates on water levels, current speeds, etc., and in the lower part, respectively, the Gulf of Finland.

Freezing: the river freezes all over. Freeze-up lasts on average from early December to early April. Sometimes congestion and ice jams occur.

Tributaries: only 26 small rivers compared to the Neva. The main ones are: Mga, Tosna, Izhora, Okhta. They have almost no effect on the Neva regime.

Cities on the Neva: on its banks there are only 4 cities: Shlisselburg, Kirovsk, Otradnoye, St. Petersburg, and about 30 smaller settlements. From the source and 32 km. St. Petersburg stretches inland.

Interesting Facts:

1) The Neva, unlike other lowland rivers, does not have a floodplain. The floodplain is the coastal part of the land that is annually inundated during floods and floods. This happens due to the fact that there are no floods on the river. And this, in turn, is caused by the fact that the river receives its main nutrition from the lake, and not from precipitation and melted snow.

2) On the river there are wide shallows and spits. For most of the current, the banks of the Neva are deep and steep, this allows ships to approach them almost closely

3) With such a short length, the river has significant volumes of average annual flow and even ranks 6th in Europe by this indicator.

4) If at the end of the 19th century in the Neva delta there were 48 branches and canals forming 101 islands, then during the 20th century the number of islands was reduced to 42 due to the filling of canals during construction work.

5) Sometimes catastrophic floods occur in the lower reaches of the river caused by a surge of water from the Gulf of Finland. The most severe flood occurred in November 1824, this flood was even described by Pushkin in his famous poem “The Bronze Horseman”. Then the water rose 421 cm above normal at the Mining Institute.

Neva on the map:

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Photos and paintings, Neva River:

Timelapse Video:

PS: if you want more detailed information, I can recommend the site