Ventos-Dubysos kanalas (; , Vindavsky channel) is an abandoned canal connecting the

Dubysa River The Dubysa, at 131 km, is the 15th List of rivers of Lithuania, longest river solely in Lithuania. It originates just a few kilometers from Lake Rėkyva near Šiauliai city in northern Lithuania. At first it flows south, before turning sout ...

near Bazilionai,

Šiauliai district Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the country's fourth largest city and the sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 2024. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County. Names Šiauliai ...

to the

Venta River The Venta (Latvian pronunciation , Lithuanian , , , Livonian ''Vǟnta joug'') is a river in north-western Lithuania and western Latvia. Its source is near Kuršėnai in the Lithuanian Šiauliai County. It flows into the Baltic Sea at Vents ...

near Tolučiai Šaukėnų, Kelmė District of

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. The canal was designed and built in the early 19th century as part of canal system to connect the

Vistula River The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra ...

at the center of the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

with the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

seaport of

Ventspils Ventspils () is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It is situated on the Venta River and ...

. The first section (the

Augustów Canal The Augustów Canal (, , ) is a cross-border canal built by the Congress Kingdom of Poland in 19th century in the Augustów Voivodeship (present-day Podlaskie Voivodeship of northeastern Poland and Grodno Region, Grodno Oblast of western Belarus ...

) was completed, but work was halted on the Windawski Canal due to the unrest caused by the

Uprising of 1831 The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 ...

against

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 ...

History

Design and construction (1821–1831)

In 1821

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

introduced repressively high customs duties for transit of Polish and Lithuanian goods through its territory, practically blocking the access to the sea for Polish traders operating outside of Prussian territory. The idea of Polish Minister of Economy,

Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki Prince Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki (. ; 4 January 1778–10 May 1846) was an important Polish people, Polish politician, freemason and diplomat of the first half of the 19th century. He served as the minister (government), minister of the ...

, was to make the new trade route independent of the Prussian seaports of Danzig (Gdańsk) on the

and Memel (Klaipėda) on the

Neman River Neman, Nemunas or Niemen is a river in Europe that rises in central Belarus and flows through Lithuania then forms Lithuania–Russia border, the northern border of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia's western exclave, which specifically follows its s ...

, and link the center of the

with the

seaport of

(). The canal was designed and built in two sections, the first being the

, located in then the

Augustów Voivodeship Augustów Voivodeship was created in 1816 from the Łomża Department. Its capital was in Łomża until 1818, when it was transferred to Suwałki. In 1837 it was transformed into Augustów Governorate. Administrative divisions It was divided into ...

of the

, providing a direct link between the

, through the Biebrza River – a tributary of the

Narew River The Narew (; ; or ) is a 499-kilometre (310 mi) river primarily in north-eastern Poland. It is a tributary of the river Vistula. The Narew is one of Europe's few braided rivers, the term relating to the twisted channels resembling braided h ...

, and the

, through its tributary – the Czarna Hancza River. The final "Windawski" section of the waterway (Windawski Canal), which was to connect the

, through its tributary – the

, with the

located in the

Kovno Governorate Kovno Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Kovno (Kaunas). It was formed on 18 December 1842 by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Nicholas I from the western part of Vilna Govern ...

of the

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 ...

. The canal was based on the Kartuva rivulet. In 1822 Duke Alexander of Württemberg became the Head of Communications Department and commenced several river channel projects in western Russia.Mikaberidze, Alexander, "The Russian officer Corps in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars 1792–1815", Savas Beatie, New York (2005), p. 448

Stanisław Kierbedź Stanisław Kierbedź (, 1810–1899) was a Polish railway engineer. He designed and supervised the construction of dozens of bridges, railway lines, ports and other objects in Central and Eastern Europe. He served in the Imperial Russian Army with ...

, a noted bridge engineer, built a bridge across the canal in 1830.

Interruption and decline (1831–1920)

Work on the canal was interrupted by unrest caused by the

against

and trade agreements with Prussia. A battle occurred during World War I along the banks of the canal.

Rebirth and abandonment (1920 – present)

The work resumed only at the beginning of the 20th century but was interrupted again by World War I. After the war there was no purpose for the canal as Lithuania gained control over the

Klaipėda Region The Klaipėda Region () or Memel Territory ( or ''Memelgebiet'') was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia, when, as Memelland, it was put under the administr ...

and lower reaches of Neman River. On 19 April 2005, the Canal was listed as engineering monument S1073 on the Republic of Lithuania's cultural heritage register.

Canal infrastructure

The canal is 15 km in length and was designed to have 20 locks.

References

External links

* *
Collegiate Dictionary FA Brockhaus and IA Efron. – St.-Petersburg: Brockhaus-Efron. 1890–1907
{{Coord, 55, 47, 40, N, 23, 08, 20, E, display=title 19th-century establishments in Lithuania Canals in Lithuania