Neglinnaya River

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, banyass 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.