Smolenka, river

Categories / City Topography/Waterways and Currents/Rivers
Categories / City Topography/Urban Network/Embankments
SMOLENKA, a river, which branches off the Malaya Neva from the left, below Tuchkov Bridge, and flows into the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. The Smolenka separates Vasilievsky Island from Dekabristov Island. The river is 3.3 kilometres long. In the mid-18th century it was known as the Mayakusha River, then Chernaya Rechka River, Smolenskaya Rechka River (from 1864 and finally Smolenka. It used to fall into the Malaya Neva opposite former Volny Island until the mid-20th century. The banks in the upper reaches of the Smolenka were built up with industrial and residential buildings in the 18th and 19th centuries. House No. 20 at Smolenka Embankment (built in 1902-04, architect V.V. Heine) was visited by V.I. Lenin in 1905; here artist L.E. Dmitriev-Kavkazsky lived from 1908 to 1912. The middle course of the river accommodates the complex of Smolenskys cemeteries (Orthodox Cemetery, Lutheran Cemetery and Armenian Cemetery). Some length of the river channel below Nalichnaya Street was straightened in the 1960s-70s, and Novosmolenskaya Embankment was set up on the both banks of the river. An artificial island was made at the confluence of the Smolenka and the Gulf of Finland. The following bridges span the Smolenka River: Uralsky Bridge, Smolensky Bridge, Nalichny Bridge and Korablestroiteley Bridge.

References: Никитенко Г. Ю., Соболь В. Д. Василеостровский район: Энцикл. улиц С.-Петербурга. 2-е изд., испр. и доп. СПб., 2002.

G. Y. Nikitenko. Dmitriev-Kavkazsky Lev Evgrafovich
Heine Vladimir Vladimirovich
Lenin (real name Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich
Nalichnaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Smolenka River/Saint Petersburg, city
Smolenka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Никитенко Г. Ю., Соболь В. Д. Василеостровский район: Энцикл. улиц С.-Петербурга. 2-е изд., испр. и доп. СПб., 2002 Smolenskoe Cemeteries