Moscow Canal
Posted by: 
NevaP
N 55° 51.062 E 037° 27.705
37U E 403698 N 6190570
The Moscow Canal, until 1947 known as the Moscow-Volga Canal, connects the Moscow River with the Volga River.
Waymark Code: WM2X6J
Location: Russia
Date Posted: 01/03/2008
Views: 92
This 128 kilometer waterway was constructed over a four year, eight month period between 1932 and 1937 using slave labor from the Stalin era Gulags. Most of the excavation was done by hand with shovels, pickaxes in winter and wheelbarrows. Only in recent years has the human cost of this massive engineering project become known.
It is a very impressive hydro-technical enterprise, providing not only a transportation route but also hydroelectric power and water supply to Moscow and other settlements along its route. The channel of the canal between the Volga River and the Northern River Port in Moscow is at least 90 feet wide and a depth of 18 feet is maintained allowing large river ships to reach Moscow.
Between the Northern River Port and the Volga there are six locks which raise/lower vessels a total of 160 feet. The waterway is not a continuous canal. It consists of sections of man-made canal faced with cement or stone running between flooded valleys and reservoirs. The locks, dams, hydro plants and associated structures all have unique architecture, usually in the Stalinist-Gothic style of the 1930s.
The reservoir areas now provide recreational facilities and numerous tourist cruise ships follow the route on Moscow-St Petersburg tours.
The posted coordinates were taken opposite the Northern Passenger Terminal building in Moscow. The northern part of the canal, the 119 Kms with full navigation depth, runs from here to about N 56 43.511
E 37 07.382. Photos in the gallery were taken at various points along the canal.
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