Vodootvodny Canal

Next to the Kremlin, following the bend of the Moskva River, runs an artificial channel about four kilometres long — the Vodootvodny Canal. It separates from Zamoskvorechye a narrow strip of land that Muscovites call by various names: Balchug, Sadovniki, Bolotny, or simply Bezymyanny (Nameless) Island — it never received an official name. The canal’s width ranges from thirty to fifty metres, and twelve bridges cross its channel, including six pedestrian ones.

The idea of digging a canal along the marshy old riverbed of the Moskva first appeared in a 1775 plan drawn up by engineers Pyotr Kozhin and Nicolas Legrand. The impetus for its realization came from the flood of April 1783, which destroyed the piers of the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge along with the shops standing on it — Moscow’s commander-in-chief, Count Chernyshev, reported the incident to Catherine II. To rebuild the bridge, the river was temporarily diverted into a new channel, and in 1783–1786 the canal was finally dug, draining the marshy area and forming an island.

At first the territory remained a wasteland with taverns and trading rows, but by the late 18th century a military warehouse — the Kriegskommissariat — was built here. In the 19th century, textile factories and workshops sprang up along the canal, along with the Einem confectionery factory, which later grew into “Red October.” Thanks to the collapsible Babyegorodskaya dam, the canal became navigable for several months a year; the Krasnokholmsky lock was built at its confluence with the river to regulate water levels.

In the 20th century, after the reconstruction of the Moscow water management system and the building of new dams on the river itself, the canal’s drainage function lost its significance, and the old locks were dismantled. In the 1930s the dilapidated bridges were replaced, the old channel along the Garden Ring was filled in, and new crossings were added to the canal — the Shlyuzovoy Bridge of 1965 and the pedestrian Sadovnichesky and Luzhkov bridges. In 1995, Moscow’s first floating fountains appeared right here — at the time these were makeshift pontoons fitted with pumps.

Today the canal’s embankments are clad in granite, fountains operate in its channel, and since 2008 sightseeing boats have plied the water. In 2004 the pedestrian Patriarshy Bridge connected the island to the opposite bank, and in 2024 another crossing was completed nearby, leading to the island’s spit, where a monument to Peter I stands. From an industrial outskirt, the island has turned into one of Moscow’s trendiest cultural areas — home to the GES-2 House of Culture contemporary art centre and the Strelka Institute.

The scenic embankments of the Vodootvodny Canal, with views of the Kremlin and the towers of the business district, have become one of the favourite walking routes in central Moscow, linking the historic industrial fabric of Zamoskvorechye with new public spaces on the water.