Vyborg Bay (, , ) is a deep inlet running northeastward near the eastern end of Gulf of Finland in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

. The city of

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus n ...

is located near the head of the gulf. The Monrepos Park is considered a jewel of the bay and a major draw for tourists. Since the mid-19th century, the bay has been connected by the

Saimaa Canal The Saimaa Canal ( fi, Saimaan kanava; sv, Saima kanal; russian: Сайменский канал) is a transportation canal that connects lake Saimaa with the Gulf of Finland near Vyborg, Russia. The canal was built from 1845 to 1856 and opene ...

to the lake

Saimaa Saimaa ( , ; sv, Saimen) is a lake located in the Finnish Lakeland area in southeastern Finland. At approximately , it is the largest lake in Finland, and the fourth largest natural freshwater lake in Europe. The name Saimaa likely comes from a ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. In 1790 the bay was the scene of one of the largest naval battles in history, the Battle of Vyborg Bay with a total of 498 Russian and Swedish ships. The end of the bay is called Zashchitnaya Bay (, . In the Middle Ages the river

Vuoksi The Vuoksi (russian: Вуокса, historically: "Uzerva"; fi, Vuoksi; sv, Vuoksen) is a river running through the northernmost part of the Karelian Isthmus from Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland to Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia. The ri ...

had an outlet there, which however dried up little by little due to

post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound ...

and was left completely dry in 1857 when the Kiviniemi rapids in Losevo (russian: Лосево, fi, Kiviniemi),

Karelian isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (russian: Карельский перешеек, Karelsky peresheyek; fi, Karjalankannas; sv, Karelska näset) is the approximately stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern ...

were formed and the

Burnaya River The Burnaya (, ) is a young rapid river in Priozersky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, on the Karelian Isthmus, which emerged in 1818. It flows from Lake Sukhodolskoye to Lake Ladoga and is a part of Vuoksi River drainage basin. Before the Wi ...

became the main outlet of Vuoksa. Lodochnyy Island lies in the middle of the bay, between Vyborg and

Vysotsk Vysotsk (russian: Высо́цк; fi, Uuras; sv, Trångsund) is a coastal town and a seaport in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Karelian Isthmus, on the eastern shore of the Vyborg Bay, southwest of Vyborg and nor ...

See also