The Neva ( , ; , ) is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in northwestern

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

flowing from

Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake located entirely in Europe, the second largest lake in Russia after Lake ...

through the western part of

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

(historical region of

Ingria Ingria (; ; ; ) is a historical region including, and adjacent to, what is now the city of Saint Petersburg in northwestern Russia. The region lies along the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian ...

) to the

Neva Bay The Neva Bay (), also known as the Gulf of Kronstadt, is the easternmost part of the Gulf of Finland between Kotlin Island and the Neva River estuary where Saint Petersburg city centre is located. It has a surface area of . The entire bay has been ...

of the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland (; ; ; ) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg—the second largest city of Russia—to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. ...

. Despite its modest length of , it is the fourth-largest river in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

in terms of average discharge (after the

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

, the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

and the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

). The Neva is the only river flowing from Lake Ladoga. It flows through the city of

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, the three smaller towns of

Shlisselburg Shlisselburg (, ; ; ; ), formerly Oreshek (Орешек) (1323–1611) and Petrokrepost (Петрокрепость) (1944–1992), is a town in Kirovsky District, Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the head of the Neva River on Lake Ladoga, ...

, Kirovsk and Otradnoye, and dozens of settlements. It is navigable throughout and is part of the

Volga–Baltic Waterway The Volga–Baltic Waterway (), formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga with the Baltic Sea via the Neva. Like the Volga–Don Canal, it is part of the Unified Deep Water ...

and

White Sea–Baltic Canal The White Sea–Baltic Canal (), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal (), is a man-made ship canal in Russia opened on 2 August 1933. It connects the White Sea, in the Arctic Ocean, with Lake Onega, which is further connected to the Baltic Sea. U ...

. It is the site of many major historical events, including the

Battle of the Neva The Battle of the Neva (; ; ) was fought between the Novgorod Republic, along with Karelians, and the Kingdom of Sweden (Middle Ages), Kingdom of Sweden, including Kingdom of Norway (872–1397), Norwegian, Finns proper, Finnish and Tavastians, ...

in 1240 which gave

Alexander Nevsky Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (; ; monastic name: ''Aleksiy''; 13 May 1221 – 14 November 1263) was Prince of Novgorod (1236–1240; 1241–1256; 1258–1259), Grand Prince of Kiev (1249–1263), and Grand Prince of Vladimir (1252–1263). ...

his name, the founding of Saint Petersburg in 1703, and the

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 t ...

by the German army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The river played a vital role in trade between

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

and

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

Etymology

The earliest people in recorded history known to have inhabited the area are the Finnic people. The word ''Neva'' is widespread in

Finnic languages The Finnic or Baltic Finnic languages constitute a branch of the Uralic language family spoken around the Baltic Sea by the Baltic Finnic peoples. There are around 7 million speakers, who live mainly in Finland and Estonia. Traditionally, ...

, having quite

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

meanings. In Finnish it means

poor fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known ...

, in Karelian: watercourse and in

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

(as ''nõva''): waterway. It has been postulated the name could derive from

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

adjective ''newā'' which means new – the river began its flow some time between 2000 BC and 1250 BC. However, the local place names with such influence coincide with Scandinavian traders and Slavs' first main settlement in the region, in the 8th century AD.

Description

History of the delta

In the

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

, 300–400 million years ago, all the delta region was covered by a sea. Modern relief, eminences, were formed by glacial scouring. Its retreat formed the

Littorina Sea Littorina Sea (also Litorina Sea) is a geological brackish water stage of the Baltic Sea, which existed around 8500–4000 Before Present, BP and followed the Mastogloia Sea (initial Littorina Sea), a transitional stage from the Ancylus Lake. ...

, the level of which was higher than its successor the Baltic Sea. Then, the Tosna was flowing in the modern lower half of the Neva as today, into the Litorinal Sea. In the north of the

Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (; ; ) is the approximately stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva. Its northwestern boundary is a line from the Bay of Vyborg to the we ...

, the sea was united by a wide strait with

. The

Mga Mga () is an types of inhabited localities in Russia, urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Kirovsky District, Leningrad Oblast, Kirovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. Population: The name is almost certainly derived from the iden ...

then flowed to the east, into Lake Ladoga, near the modern source of the Neva. Thus the Mga then was separate from the Tosna/lower-Neva basin. Near the modern Lake Ladoga, by

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 a ...

land rose faster, and an endorheic lake briefly formed. This overspilled, eventually the whole Mga valley and thus broke into the western valley (the valley of the Tosna/lower-Neva). The Ivanovo

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep stream gradient, gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Flow, gradient, constriction, and obstacles are four factors that are needed for a rapid t ...

of the modern Neva were created at the breakthrough. According to early books, the breakthrough may have been about 2000 BC, but according to more recent research, this happened at 1410–1250 BC, making the river rather young. The valley is lined with glacial and post-glacial sediments and has changed little over 2,500 years. The delta was formed at that time, technically a pseudodelta, as not from accumulation of river material but by scouring past sediments.St. Petersburg: Encyclopedia. – Moscow: Russian Political Encyclopedia. 2006;

Topography and hydrography

The Neva flows out of Lake Ladoga near

, flows through Neva's lowlands and discharges into the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

in the

. It has a length of , and the shortest distance from the source to the mouth is . The river banks are low and steep, on average about and at the mouth. There are three sharp turns: the Ivanovskye rapids, at Nevsky Forest Park of the Ust-Slavyanka region (the so-called "Crooked Knee"), and near the

Smolny Institute The Smolny Institute () is a Palladian edifice in Saint Petersburg that has played a major part in the history of Russia, notably as a center of women's education, and the headquarters of the Bolsheviks during the early stages of the October Re ...

, below the mouth of the river

Okhta The Okhta () is a river in Vsevolozhsky District of Leningrad Oblast and the eastern part of the city of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest right tributary of the river Neva. It joins the Neva upstream of the Neva's mouth, within the c ...

. The river declines in elevation between source and mouth. At one point the river crosses a

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and Rock (geology), rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a gla ...

ridge and forms the Ivanovskye rapids. There, at the beginning of the rapids, is the narrowest part of the river: . The average flow rate in the rapids is about . The average width along the river is . The widest places, at , are in the delta, near the gates of the marine trading port, at the end of the Ivanovskye rapids near the confluence of the river Tosna, and near the island Fabrinchny near the source. The average depth is ; the maximum of is reached above the

Liteyny Bridge The Liteyny Bridge () is the second permanent bridge across the Neva river in Saint Petersburg, Russia.Novikov (1991), p. 300 It connects Liteyny Prospekt with Vyborgsky district. The bridge's length is 396 meters, the width is 34 meters. At the ...

, and the minimum of is in Ivanovskye rapids. In the Neva basin, rainfall greatly exceeds evaporation; the latter accounts for only 37.7 percent of the water consumption from the Neva and the remaining 62.3 percent is water runoff. Since 1859, the largest volume of was observed in 1924 and the lowest in 1900 at . The average annual discharge is or on average. Due to the uniform water flow from Lake Ladoga to the Neva over the whole year, there are almost no floods and corresponding water rise in the spring. The Neva freezes throughout from early December to early April. The ice thickness is within Saint Petersburg and in other areas. Ice congestion may form in winter in the upper reaches of the river, this sometimes causes upstream floods. Of the total ice volume of Lake Ladoga, , less than 5 percent enters the Neva. The average summer water temperature is , and the swimming season lasts only about 1.5 months. The water is fresh, with medium turbidity; the average salinity is 61.3 mg/L and the

calcium bicarbonate Calcium bicarbonate, also called calcium hydrogencarbonate, has the chemical formula Ca(HCO3)2. The term does not refer to a known solid compound; it exists only in aqueous solution containing calcium (Ca2+), bicarbonate (), and carbonate () io ...

content is 7 mg/L.

Basin, tributaries and distributaries

The basin area of Neva is 5,000 km², including the pools of Lake Ladoga and Onega (281,000 km²). The basin contains 26,300 lakes and has a complex hydrological network of more than 48,300 rivers, however only 26 flow directly into Neva. The main tributaries are

, Tosna,

Izhora The Izhora (, ), also known as the Inger, is a left tributary of the Neva on its run through Ingria in northwestern Russia from Lake Ladoga to the Gulf of Finland. The Izhora flows through Gatchinsky and Tosnensky Districts of Leningrad Oblast ...

, Slavyanka and Murzinka on the left, and

and Chyornaya Rechka on the right side of Neva. The hydrological network had been altered by the development of Saint Petersburg through its entire history. When it was founded in 1703, the area was low and swampy and required construction of canals and ponds for drainage. The earth excavated during their construction was used to raise the city. At the end of the 19th century, the delta of Neva consisted of 48 rivers and canals and 101 islands. The most significant distributaries of the delta are listed in the table. Before construction of the

Obvodny Canal Obvodny Canal (, lit. Bypass Canal) is the longest canal in Saint Petersburg, Russia, which in the 19th century served as the southern limit of the city. It is long and flows from the Neva River near Alexander Nevsky Lavra to the Yekaterinh ...

, the left tributary of that area was the Volkovka; its part at the confluence is now called Monastyrka. The

Ladoga Canal The Ladoga Canal () is a historical water transport route, now situated in Leningrad Oblast, linking the Neva River, Neva and the Svir River so as to bypass the stormy waters of Lake Ladoga which lies immediately to the northwest. It is about ...

starts at the root of Neva and connects it along the southern coast of Lake Ladoga with the

Volkhov Volkhov () is an industrial types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Volkhovsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the river Volkhov (river), Volkhov east of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersbu ...

. Some canals of the delta were filled over time, so that only 42 islands remained by 1972, all within the city limits of St. Petersburg. The largest islands are Vasilyevsky at , Petrogradsky at , Krestovsky at , and Dekabristov at ; others include Zayachy, Yelagin and

Kamenny Island Kamenny Islands (, ''Kamenny Ostrova'', meaning 'Stony Islands') are a group of three islands in the Neva delta, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Geography The three islands are flat. They are divided by channels and have bridges connecting each oth ...

s. At the source of the Neva, near Shlisselburg, there are the two small islands of Orekhovy and Fabrichny. Island Glavryba lies up the river, above the town of Otradnoye.

Flora and fauna

There is almost no aquatic vegetation in Neva. The river banks mostly consist of sand,

podsol Podzols, also known as podosols, spodosols, or espodossolos, are the typical soils of coniferous or Taiga, boreal forests and also the typical soils of eucalypt forests and heathlands in southern Australia. In Western Europe, podzols develop on he ...

gleysols A gleysol or gley soil is a hydric soil that unless drained is saturated with groundwater for long enough to develop a characteristic colour pattern. The pattern is essentially made up of reddish, brownish, or yellowish colours at surfaces of so ...

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

, and boggy peat soils. Several centuries ago, the whole territory of the Neva lowland was covered by

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

and

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

y forests. They were gradually reduced by the fires and cutting for technical needs. Extensive damage was caused during

: in Saint Petersburg, the forests were reduced completely, and in the upper reaches down to 40 to 50 percent.Darinskii, A. V. (1975
''Ленинградская область (Leningrad oblast)''
. Lenizdat, pp. 48–49 Forest were replanted after the war with spruce, pine,

cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae * Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona ...

Siberian larch ''Larix sibirica'', the Siberian larch or Russian larch, is a frost-hardy tree native to western Russia, from close to the Finnish border east to the Yenisei valley in central Siberia, where it hybridises with the Dahurian larch ''L. gmelinii ...

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

Norway maple ''Acer platanoides'', commonly known as the Norway maple, is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and western Asia, from Spain east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran. It was introduced to ...

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

, America, ash,

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

tree,

mountain ash Mountain ash may refer to: * ''Eucalyptus regnans'', the tallest of all flowering plants, native to Australia * Mountain-ashes or rowans, varieties of trees and shrubs in the genus ''Sorbus'' See also

* Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf, a town ...

and other species. The shrubs include

barberry ''Berberis'' (), commonly known as barberry, is a large genus of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from tall, found throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world (apart from Australia). Species diversity is greatest in South America a ...

lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely and commonly ...

jasmine Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wid ...

hazel Hazels are plants of the genus ''Corylus'' of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family, Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K ...

honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or Vine#Twining vines, twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae. The genus includes 158 species native to northern latitudes in North America, Eurasia, and North Africa. Widely kno ...

, hawthorn,

rose hip The rose hip or rosehip, also called rose haw and rose hep, is the accessory fruit of the various species of rose plant. It is typically red to orange, but ranges from dark purple to black in some species. Rose hips begin to form after pollina ...

viburnum ''Viburnum'' is a genus of about 150–175 species of flowering plants in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny. It was previously included in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. The memb ...

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

, elder, shadbush and many others. Betula pendula Finland

Nowadays, the upper regions of the river are dominated by

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

and pine-birch grass-shrub forests and in the middle regions there are swampy pine forests. In St. Petersburg, along the Neva, there are many gardens and parks, including the

Summer Garden The Summer Garden () is a historic public garden that occupies an eponymous island between the Neva, Fontanka, Moika, and the Swan Canal in downtown Saint Petersburg, Russia and shares its name with the adjacent Summer Palace of Peter th ...

Field of Mars The term Field of Mars () goes back to antiquity, and designates an area, inside or near a city, used as a parade or exercise ground by the military. Notable examples of places which were used for these purposes include: * Campus Martius, an area i ...

, Rumyantsev,

Smolny Smolny is a place name in central Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is a compound of historically interrelated buildings erected in 18th and 19th centuries. As the most widely known of the buildings, the Smolny Institute, has been used as the seat of ...

Alexander Garden Alexander Gardens () was one of the first urban public parks in Moscow, Russia. The park comprises three separate gardens, which stretch along all the length of the western Kremlin wall for between the building of the Moscow Manege and the Kr ...

s, Garden of the

Alexander Nevsky Lavra Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, in the belief that this was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Alexa ...

and many others.''Историко-географический атлас "Ленинград"'' istorical atlas "Leningrad" Moscow: GUGK CM USSR, 1977 Because of the rapid flow, cold water and lack of quiet pools and aquatic vegetation the diversity of fish species in Neva is small. Permanent residents include such undemanding to environment species as

perch Perch is a common name for freshwater fish from the genus ''Perca'', which belongs to the family Percidae of the large order Perciformes. The name comes from , meaning the type species of this genus, the European perch (''P. fluviatilis'') ...

ruffe The ruffe (''Gymnocephalus cernua''), also known as the Eurasian ruffe or pope, is a freshwater fish found in temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia. It has been introduced into the Great Lakes of North America as an invasive species ...

and roaches. Many fish species are transitory, of which commercial value have

smelt Smelt may refer to: * Smelting, chemical process * The common name of various fish: ** Smelt (fish), a family of small fish, Osmeridae ** Australian smelt in the family Retropinnidae and species ''Retropinna semoni'' ** Big-scale sand smelt ''At ...

, vendace and partly

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

.Все о реке Неве: мосты, притоки, наводнения...
(All of the Neva River: bridges, tributaries, flooding ..., in Russian). nevariver.ru. Accessed 29 November 2022.

Floods

Floods in St. Petersburg are usually caused by the overflow of the delta of Neva and by surging water in the eastern part of

. They are registered when the water rises above with respect to a gauge at the Mining Institute. More than 300 floods occurred after the city was founded in 1703. Three of them were catastrophic: on 7 November 1824, when water rose to ; on 23 September 1924 when it reached , and 10 September 1777 when it rose to . However, a much larger flood of was described in 1691.ПОЛНЫЙ ХРОНОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ СПИСОК НАВОДНЕНИЙ В САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГЕ (ПЕТРОГРАДЕ, ЛЕНИНГРАДЕ)
– a list of floods in St. Petersburg (in Russian). nevariver.ru Besides flooding as a result of tidal waves, in 1903, 1921 and 1956 floods were caused by the melting of snow.

Ecological condition

The Federal Service for

Hydrometeorology Hydrometeorology is a branch of meteorology and hydrology that studies the transfer of water and energy between the land surface and the lower atmosphere for academic research, commercial gain or operational forecasting purposes. Whilst tradition ...

and Environmental Monitoring of Russia classifies the Neva as a "heavily polluted" river. The main pollutants include

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

nitrite The nitrite polyatomic ion, ion has the chemical formula . Nitrite (mostly sodium nitrite) is widely used throughout chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The nitrite anion is a pervasive intermediate in the nitrogen cycle in nature. The name ...

s and

nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...

. The dirtiest tributaries of the Neva are the Mga, Slavyanka, Ohta, and Chernaya. Hundreds of factories pour wastewater into the Neva within St. Petersburg, and

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

is regularly transported along the river. The annual influx of pollutants is 80,000 tonnes, and the heaviest polluters are Power-and-heating Plant 2 (), "Plastpolymer" and "

Obukhov State Plant Obukhov State Plant (also known Obukhovski Plant, ) is a major Russian metallurgy and heavy machine-building Factory, plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. Predecessors In 1854, the mining engineer P.M. Obukhov invented a new procedure to make ...

". The biggest polluters in the Leningrad Oblast are the cities of Shlisselburg, Kirovsk and Otradnoye, as well as the Kirov

thermal power station A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...

. More than 40 oil spills are registered on the river every year. In 2008, the Federal Service of St. Petersburg announced that no beach of the Neva was fit for swimming. Cleaning of wastewater in Saint Petersburg started in 1979; by 1997, about 74% was purified. This rose to 85% in 2005, to 91.7% by 2008, and Feliks Karamzinov expected it to reach almost 100% by 2011 with the completion of the expansion of the main sewerage plant.

History

Before 1700

Many sites of ancient people, up to nine thousand years old, were found within the territory of the Neva basin. It is believed that around twelve thousand years BC, Finnic people ( Votes and

Izhorians The Izhorians (; ; ; ) are a Finnic indigenous people native to Ingria. Small numbers can still be found in the western part of Ingria, between the Narva and Neva rivers in northwestern Russia. They are also referred to as Ingrians, although the ...

) moved to this area from the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

.Sharymov, Alexande
'' History of St. Petersburg. 1703. Book studies''
. Journal Neva, 2004; In the 8th and 9th centuries AD, the area was inhabited by the

East Slavs The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor.John Channon & Robert Huds ...

who were mainly engaged in

slash and burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. T ...

agriculture, hunting and fishing. From the 8th to 13th centuries, Neva provided a waterway from Scandinavia to the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

. In the 9th century, the area belonged to

Veliky Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the ...

.Ezhov, V. A. (1986
''Ленинградская область: исторический очерк''
. (Leningrad Oblast: a historical sketch, in Russian), Lenizdat. The Neva was already mentioned in the ''

Life of Alexander Nevsky The ''Life of Alexander Nevsky'' is an Old East Slavic hagiography about Alexander Nevsky, composed and edited in stages between the late 13th century and the mid-15th century. In most manuscript copies, its full title is ''Tale about the  ...

'' (13th century).Electronic publication of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House), RAS
. Lib.pushkinskijdom.ru. Retrieved 13 July 2013. At that time, Veliky Novgorod was engaged in nearly constant wars with Sweden. A major battle occurred on 15 July 1240 at the confluence of the Izhora and Neva Rivers. The Russian army, led by the 20-year-old Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, aimed to stop the planned Swedish invasion. The Swedish army was defeated; the prince showed personal courage in combat and received the honorary name of "Nevsky". As a result of the Russian defeat in the

Ingrian War The Ingrian War () was a conflict fought between the Swedish Empire and the Tsardom of Russia which lasted between 1610 and 1617. It can be seen as part of Russia's Time of Troubles, and is mainly remembered for the attempt to put a Swedish duk ...

of 1610–17 and the concomitant

Treaty of Stolbovo The Treaty of Stolbovo (; ) was a peace treaty that ended the Ingrian War (), which had been fought between the Swedish Empire and the Russian Tsardom between 1610 and 1617. History After nearly two months of negotiations, representatives from ...

, the area of the Neva River became part of

Swedish Ingria Swedish Ingria (, ‘land of Ingrians’) was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1583 to 1595 and then again from 1617 to 1721 in what is now the territory of Russia. At the latter date, it was ceded to the Russian Empire in the Treaty of Ny ...

. Beginning in 1642, the capital of Ingria was Nyen, a city near the

Nyenschantz Nyenschantz (; ; ) was a Swedish fortress at the confluence of the Neva River and Okhta River, the site of present-day Saint Petersburg, Russia. Nyenschantz was built in 1611 to establish Swedish rule in Ingria, which had been annexed from the T ...

fortress. Because of financial and religious oppression, much of the

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

population left the Neva region, emptying 60 percent of the villages by 1620. The abandoned areas became populated by people from the

and Savonia.

Russian period

As a result of the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

of 1700–21, the valley of Neva River became part of

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. On 16 May 1703, the city of St. Petersburg was founded in the mouth of Neva and became capital of Russia in 1712. Neva became the central part of the city. It was cleaned, intersected with canals and enclosed with embankments. In 1715, construction began of the first wooden embankment between the Admiralty building and the

. In the early 1760s works started to cover it in

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

and to build bridges across Neva and its canals and tributaries, such as the

Hermitage Bridge The Hermitage Bridge () is a bridge across the Winter Canal along Palace Embankment in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The bridge constitutes part of the Hermitage Museum, Hermitage and Winter Palace ensemble. Location The bridge is between the Her ...

. From 1727 to 1916, the temporary Isaakievsky pontoon bridge was early constructed between the modern

Saint Isaac's Square Saint Isaac's Square or Isaakiyevskaya Ploshchad (), known as Vorovsky Square () between 1923 and 1944, in Saint Petersburg, Russia is a major city square sprawling between the Mariinsky Palace and Saint Isaac's Cathedral, which separates it fr ...

and

Vasilievsky Island Vasilyevsky Island (, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south and northeast, and by Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finl ...

. A similar, but much longer Trinity pontoon bridge, which spanned , was brought from the Summer Garden to

Petrogradsky Island Petrogradsky Island or Petrograd Island (Russian: Петроградский остров) is the third-largest island in the Neva River delta in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Along with Zayachy Island, Aptekarsky Island, and Petrovsky Island, it c ...

. The first permanent bridge across Neva,

Blagoveshchensky Bridge The Annunciation Bridge ( - ''Blagoveshchensky most''; from 1855 to 1918 Nikolaevsky Bridge, ; from 1918 to 2007 called Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge, ) is the first permanent bridge built across the Neva River in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It connec ...

, was opened in 1850, and the second,

, came into operation in 1879. In 1858, a "Joint-stock company St. Petersburg water supply" was established, which built the first water supply network in the city. A two-stage water purification station was constructed in 1911. The development of the sewerage system began only in 1920, after the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, and by 1941, the sewerage network was long. Every winter from 1895 to 1910, electric

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

ways were laid on the ice of the river, connecting the Senate Square,

Vasilievsky island Vasilyevsky Island (, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south and northeast, and by Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finl ...

Palace Embankment The Palace Embankment or Palace Quay (Russian: Дворцовая набережная, Dvortsovaya naberezhnaya) is a street along the Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg which contains the complex of the Hermitage Museum buildings (includin ...

and other parts of the city. The power was supplied through the rails and a top cable supported by wooden piles frozen into the ice. The service was highly successful and ran without major accidents except for a few failures in the top electrical wires. The trams ran at the speed of and could carry 20 passengers per carriage. The carriages were converted from the used

horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is a tram or streetcar pulled by a horse. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public transport, public rail transport, ...

s. About 900,000 passengers were transported over a regular season between 20 January and 21 March. The sparking of contacts at the top wires amused spectators in the night.

Soviet and modern periods

The first concrete bridge across Neva, the

Volodarsky Bridge The Volodarsky Bridge () is a Moveable bridge, moveable bridge across the Neva River in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The bridge connects Narodnaya and Ivanovskaya streets (Nevsky District, Nevsky district). It is named after V. Volodarsky, a revolu ...

, was built in 1936. During World War II, from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944, Leningrad was in the devastating German Siege. On 30 August 1941, the German army captured Mga and came to Neva. On 8 September Germans captured Shlisselburg and cut all land communications and waterways to St. Petersburg (then Leningrad). The siege was partly relieved in January 1943, and ended on 27 January 1944. A river station was built above the Volodarsky Bridge in 1970 which could accept 10 large ships at a time. Wastewater treatment plants were built in Krasnoselsk in 1978, on the Belyi Island in 1979–83, and in

Olgino Olgino () is a historical area in Lakhta-Olgino Municipal Okrug of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russia, located south-west of the area of Lakhta, Saint Petersburg, Lakhta and east of Lisy Nos. This part of the Neva Bay coast was owned i ...

in 1987–94. The South-West Wastewater Treatment Plant was constructed in 2003–05.

Commercial use

Neva has very few shoals and its banks are steep, making the river suited for navigation. Utkino Backwaters were constructed in the late 19th century to park unused ships. Neva is part of the major

and

White Sea – Baltic Canal White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wavelen ...

, however it has relatively low transport capacity because of its width, depth and bridges. Neva is available for vessels with capacity below 5,000 tonnes. Major transported goods include timber from

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...

and

Vologda Vologda (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda (river), Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population: The city serves as ...

;

apatite Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of Hydroxide, OH−, Fluoride, F− and Chloride, Cl− ion, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of ...

and

diabase Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-gra ...

from

Kola Peninsula The Kola Peninsula (; ) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely inside the Arctic Circle and is border ...

;

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

and

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

from

Cherepovets Cherepovets ( rus, Череповец, p=tɕɪrʲɪpɐˈvʲets) is a city in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located in the west of the oblast on the banks of the Sheksna River (a tributary of the Volga River) and on the shores of the Rybinsk Reservoir. ...

; coal from

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

and

Kuznetsk Kuznetsk ( rus, Кузне́цк, p=kʊzʲˈnʲetsk) is a town in Penza Oblast, Russia, located in the foothills of the Volga Upland, mainly on the left bank of the . Population: Administrative and municipal status Within Russia's framework ...

;

pyrite The mineral pyrite ( ), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue ...

from Ural;

potassium chloride Potassium chloride (KCl, or potassium salt) is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. It is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance. The solid dissolves readily in water, and its solutions have a sa ...

from

Solikamsk Solikamsk (, , also Соликамскӧй, ''Sovkamsköy'') is a town in Perm Krai, Russia. Modern Solikamsk is the third-largest town in the krai, with a population of History The earliest surviving recorded mention of Solikamsk, initially a ...

; oil from

region. There are also many passenger routes to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

Rostov Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places * Perm, Russia, a city in Russia **Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 ** Perm Governorate, an administr ...

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

Valaam Valaam (; ) is an archipelago in the northern portion of Lake Ladoga, lying within the Republic of Karelia, Russia. The total area of its more than 50 islands is 36 km2. The largest island is also called Valaam. Other named islands are: Ski ...

and other destinations. Navigation season on the Neva River runs from late April to November. To the west of Shlisselburg, an oil pipeline runs under the river. The pipeline is part of the

Baltic Pipeline System The Baltic Pipeline System (BPS) is a Russian oil transport system operated by the oil pipeline company Transneft. The BPS transports oil from the Timan-Pechora region, West Siberia and Urals-Volga regions to Primorsk oil terminal at the easte ...

, which provides oil from Timan-Pechora plate,

West Siberia Western Siberia or West Siberia ( rus, Западная Сибирь, p=ˈzapədnəjə sʲɪˈbʲirʲ; , ) is a region in North Asia. It is part of the wider region of Siberia that is mostly located in the Russian Federation, with a Southern par ...

, Ural,

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

and

Primorsk Primorsk may refer to: * Primorsk, Leningrad Oblast, a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, formerly Koivisto or Björkö * Primorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, an urban-type settlement in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, formerly Fischhausen * Primorsk, Krasno ...

to the Gulf of Finland. The long pipeline lies below the river bottom and delivers about 42 million tonnes of oil a year. Near the

Ladozhsky Bridge Ladozhsky Bridge () is uppermost bridge across the Neva River. It is located in Leningrad Oblast, near Kirovsk, Leningrad Oblast, Kirovsk. It is a part of Murmansk Highway (M18 highway (Russia), M18 highway). The bridge was built between 1978 an ...

there is an underwater tunnel to host a gas

pipeline A pipeline is a system of Pipe (fluid conveyance), pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries ...

Nord Stream 1 Nord Stream (Denglisch, German–English mixed expression for "North Stream 1"; ) is a pair of offshore natural gas pipeline transport, pipelines in Europe that run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. It consists of the Nord Stream 1 ( ...

. The tunnel has a diameter of and a length of and is laid at a maximum depth of . Neva is the main source of water (96 percent) of St. Petersburg and its suburbs. From 26 June 2009, St. Petersburg started processing the drinking water with ultraviolet light, abandoning the use of chlorine for disinfection. The Neva also has developed fishery, both commercial and recreational.

Bridges

: *

– built in 1981 as a movable multi-span metal bridge on stone piers. * Kuzminsky Railway Bridge – built in 1940 as a movable three-segment railway bridge. St. Petersburg: *

Big Obukhovsky Bridge The Great Obukhovo Bridge (, ''Bolshoy Obukhovsky most'') is the newest (not taking into account the Blagoveshchensky Bridge rebuilt in 2007) bridge across the Neva River in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the only bridge across the Neva which ...

– built in 2004 as a

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...

connecting Obukhovsky Defense avenue with Oktyabrskaya Embankment. *

– built in 1936 as a movable concrete bridge connecting Narodnaya and Ivanovo streets. *

Finland Railway Bridge The Finland Railway Bridge () is a pair of parallel rail bridges across the Neva River in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The movable bridges connect the Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg Railway and other railway networks in the north of St Petersburg w ...

– built in 1912 as a movable, metallic, double-segment railway bridge. St. Petersburg, Neva delta *

Alexander Nevsky Bridge The Alexander Nevsky Bridge (, ''Most Aleksandra Nevskogo'') in St Petersburg, Russia is named after the legendary Russian military commander and politician Alexander Nevsky. The bridge connects Alexander Nevsky Square and Zanevsky prospect ...

– built in 1965 as a movable concrete bridge connecting Alexander Nevsky Square and Zanevsky Avenue. *

Peter the Great Bridge Bolsheokhtinsky Bridge (, before 1917 - Peter the Great Bridge, , ''Most Petra Velikogo''; from 1917 to 1956 - Bolsheokhtensky Bridge, ; also known as Okhtinsky Bridge, ) is a bridge across the Neva River in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The bridge ...

– built in 1911 as a movable, three-segment, metal bridge connecting the historic center of St. Petersburg with the Malaya Ohta district. *

(formerly the bridge of Alexander II) – built in 1879 as a movable, six-segment, arch bridge connecting

Liteyny Prospekt Liteyny Avenue (, ''Liteyny prospekt'') is a wide avenue in the Tsentralny District, Saint Petersburg, Central District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The avenue runs from Liteyny Bridge to Nevsky Avenue. The avenue originated in 1738 when the fo ...

with Academician Lebedev Str. and

Vyborg Vyborg (; , ; , ; , ) is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, northwest of St. Petersburg, east of the Finnish capital H ...

. * Trinity Bridge (formerly the Kirov bridge) – built in 1903 as a five-segment movable metal bridge connecting Suvorov Square, Trinity Square and

Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt Kammennoostrovsky Prospekt () is one of the main streets of Petrogradsky District of Saint Petersburg. It runs from Trinity Bridge and Trinity Square across Petrogradsky Island, the Karpovka River, Aptekarsky Island, the Malaya Nevka and Ka ...

. *

Palace Bridge Palace Bridge (, ''Dvortsoviy Most''), a road- and foot-traffic bascule bridge, spans the Neva River in Saint Petersburg between Palace Square and Vasilievsky Island. Like every other Neva bridge (except for Big Obukhovsky Bridge), it is dr ...

– built in 1916 as a movable, five-segment, iron bridge. Its opened central span is one of the city symbols. Connects

Nevsky Prospekt Nevsky Prospect ( rus, Не́вский проспе́кт, r=Nevsky Prospekt, p=ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt) is a main street ( high street) located in the federal city of St. Petersburg in Russia. Its name comes from the Alexander Nevs ...

with the Exchange Square and

. *

(formerly the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge) – built in 1850 as a movable seven-segment iron bridge connecting Labour Square with the 7th Line of Vasilievsky Island. Construction of the

Novo-Admiralteisky Bridge The Novo-Admiralteysky Bridge () is the planned bridge over the Bolshaya Neva River in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The bridge left-hand side leans against the New-Admiralty island ( Admiralteysky District). In this place the quay of the Moyka River ...

, a movable

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable b ...

across the river, has been approved, but will not commence before 2011.

Attractions

Whereas most tourist attractions of Neva are located within St. Petersburg, there are several historical places upstream, in the Leningrad Oblast. They include the fortress Oreshek, which was built in 1323 on the Orekhovy Island at the source of Neva River, south-west of the Petrokrepost Bay, near the city of

. The waterfront of Schlisselburg has a monument of Peter I.Староладожский и Новоладожский каналы
. infoflot.ru (in Russian) In the city, there are Blagoveshchensky Cathedral (1764–95) and a still functioning Orthodox church of St. Nicholas, built in 1739. On the river bank stands the Church of the Intercession. Raised in 2007, it is a wooden replica of a historical church which stood on the southern shore of Lake Onega. That church was constructed in 1708 and it burned down in 1963. It is believed to be the forerunner of the famous

Kizhi Pogost Kizhi Pogost () is a historical site dating from the 17th century on Kizhi island. The island is located on Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia (Medvezhyegorsky District), Russia. The pogost is the area inside a fence which includes two large wo ...

.Ethnographic and open-air museums
, UNESCO, pp. 170–173 Old Ladoga Canal, built in the first half of the 18th century, is a water transport route along the shore of Lake Ladoga which is connecting the River Volkhov and Neva. Some of its historical structures are preserved, such as a four-chamber granite sluice (1836) and a bridge (1832). File:Bolshaya Neva.jpg, The Neva River in a nineteenth-century painting File:Sunset over Neva river.jpg, Sunset over an ice-covered Neva River

Notable incidents

On 21 August 1963, a Soviet twinjet Tu-124 airliner performed an emergency

water landing In aviation, a water landing is, in the broadest sense, an aircraft landing on a body of water. Seaplanes, such as floatplanes and flying boats, land on water as a normal operation. Ditching is a controlled emergency landing on the water su ...

on the Neva near the

. The plane took off from

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

-Ülemiste Airport ( TLL) at 08:55 on 21 August 1963 with 45 passengers and seven crew on board and was scheduled to land at

-Vnukovo ( VKO). After liftoff, the crew noticed that the nose gear undercarriage did not retract, and the ground control diverted the flight to

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

(

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

) because of

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus and is heavily influenc ...

at Tallinn. While circling above St. Petersburg at the altitude of , under unclear circumstances (lack of fuel was one of the factors), both engines stalled. The crew performed an emergency landing on the Neva River, barely missing some of its bridges and an 1898-built steam

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

. The tugboat rushed to the plane and towed it to the shore. The plane's pilot was at first fired from his job but was later reinstated and awarded the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

References

External links

* *
Neva River
* {{Authority control Ingria Karelian Isthmus Rivers of Saint Petersburg Rivers of Leningrad Oblast