Gilyarovsky Path, brick tunnel and secrets of Neglinka: how the sewer of the underground river works

Neglinnaya Street, Kuznetsky Most, Samotechnaya Street, Trubnaya Square... Walking in the center of Moscow, it is hard to imagine that just two centuries ago there was a river instead of roads here. One of the most famous rivers in Moscow, the Neglinnaya river, was the first river to be hidden underground, but its name is enshrined in the city toponymy. Why did the city authorities decide to force the river into a pipe and what is Neglinka today?

How the Neglinka was hidden

We meet on Trubnaya Square. Before descending, we put on the uniform of a Mosvodostok employee: a high-visibility jacket, fishing rubber boots up to the hips, and a hard hat. We are given a briefing, but the main message is not to be afraid. One by one, we go down along a narrow manhole reaching the bottom of the well about five meters deep with a strong safety rope fastened to our backs.

Complete darkness after bright daylight. Unlike utility tunnels, the Neglinka sewer is not equipped with a lighting system. Even powerful lanterns barely bring any light. We walk carefully and slowly cautiously stepping on the muddy bottom of the river. There may be slippery rocks that are easy to trip over.

“The first mention of this river dates back to 1156, when the Neglinka was an ordinary river flowing above the ground. An reference appeared in the chronicle of Tver: “That same summer, the great Prince Yuri Volodimerich founded the city of Moscow on the mouth of Neglinna above the Auz River,” tells mos.ru the experienced digger and Moscow historian Daniil Davydov.

More than 200 years ago, the Neglinka flowed in the city center into the Moscow River curving round the walls of the Kremlin.  And it was one of the first rivers to be captured. Today, the Neglinnaya, which is more than seven kilometers long, is almost completely hidden underground.

According to Daniil Davydov, the construction of the first sewer began in 1811. But the work was interrupted by the Patriotic War of 1812, and the river was enclosed in a brick tunnel only in 1817–1819 during the reconstruction of Moscow after the fire.

Why were they so adamant to hide the Neglinka underground?  The answer can be found in the book "Moscow and Muscovites" by Vladimir Gilyarovsky. By the way, the author even calls the river an underground sewer in the book.

“Apart from ‘legitimate’ sewer pipes laid from the streets for rain and domestic water, most wealthy homeowners laid secret underground drains to the Neglinka to drain sewage instead of taking it out in barrels, which was common in Moscow before sewerage. And all the sewage went to the Moscow River,” writes Gilyarovsky in the chapter “Secrets of the Neglinka”.

The horrible smell was the main reason the Neglinnaya was forced underground in the sewer. But now one can say that the river is quite clean: at least it no longer exudes any unpleasant smell. Unlike Paris or London, Moscow has a separate sewerage system: storm water and sewage do not intersect, Mosvodostok noted. The sewer is warm enough for winter and, naturally, it is damp: there is water suspension in the air.

Concrete instead of bricks

The first part of our route, which began in the manhole near Trubnaya Square, runs along the modern concrete part of the sewer. It stretches from Samotechnaya overpass to the end of Neglinnaya Street. The concrete sewer was built in 1974 almost parallel to the first brick channel after wayward the Neglinka once again flooded the center of Moscow. The old sewer could not always handle the large amount of water during heavy rains, so summer floods were not uncommon in the 1960s and 1970s.

 

The main function of the Neglinka sewer is water disposal. Rainwater flows in through the holes in the wall. Such pipes are installed in the concrete all the way through; their number and diameter depend, in particular, on the terrain. For example, there will be more pipes in the lowlands. Moreover, groundwater runoff from the subway can be discharged into the sewer. It is pumped up to the level of such sewers, after which the water is discharged.

At first glance, the sewer seems too big for such a small river with the water only to the ankle for the most part. But this is a misleading impression: rain or melt water can quickly turn a small stream into a full-flowing one. Experts call this a sudden discharge. Thus, the level of the Neglinka can rise by two thirds, and the height of waves in such cases can be estimated by debris remains stuck on iron pipes.

“The main work in large sewers begins in winter after a stable negative temperature is established, and the water flow is the lowest. It is the safest time to be in the sewer: heavy rainfall, discharge and rise in the water level to the middle and above are excluded. Our specialists examine and clean the river from sediments of sand, silt and household waste, and do maintenance work,” emphasizes Dmitry Ryabtsev, Chief Engineer of Operational Hydrotechnical Area No.1 of Mosvodostok State Unitary Enterprise.

Along the Gilyarovsky path

After the construction of the concrete sewer in the 1970s, the Neglinka took a new course. But parts of the brick collector of 1819 have survived to this day. For example, the reconstructed section runs under the Alexander Garden. And part of the old sewer has been preserved under Tsvetnoy Boulevard. We get off the concrete highway to a small junction and see the Gilyarovsky path in front of us.

“And on a hot day in July, we lifted the iron grate of the drain well in front of Malyushin’s house, near Samoteka, and lowered a ladder there. Nobody paid attention to our operation — everything was done very quickly: they lifted the grate, lowered the ladder. Smelly steam came off the hole. Fedya, the plumber, climbed first; the hole, damp and dirty, was narrow, the ladder stood vertically, his back shuffled against the wall. We heard a splash of water and a voice, as if from a crypt, “Climb down!” was how Vladimir Gilyarovsky, who worked as a journalist at that time, described his descent into the Neglinka sewer in the 1980s.

Going down into the Neglinka sewer, the writer was worried that he might step on a corpse. And he was worried for a reason: Trubnaya Square and Grachevka had a high crime rate at that time. But today you can only find large American cockroaches in the sewer, which were brought to Moscow in the 18th century along with sugar canes.

This brick section of the sewer is not that long, about 200 meters. Then it is interrupted by the current vestibule of the Trubnaya subway station, with a 600-meter extant section behind it — almost to the Garden Ring. “In 2003, the reconstruction of the brick sewer started, it was completely concreted. That section was handed over to Moskollector, power electric cables were laid there,” explains Daniil Davydov.

The entrance to the old tunnel is an authentic arch, its height is much lower than the modern sewer. We can touch almost 200-year-old bricks with old stamps. But the brick vault of the tunnel was reconstructed in the Soviet time and is now plastered with concrete. But the white stone at the bottom of the sewer can be considered almost original: it was laid at the end of the 19th century.

“Initially, the bed of the sewer, that is, its bottom, was unsurfaced, which caused siltation and washouts of the soil and deformation of the structures. Therefore, in the winter of 1886–1887, the engineer N.M. Levachev reconstructed it: he made a uniform slope along the entire sewer and surfaced the tray with “Tarusa marble”. In fact, it is limestone, but it so durable that can be compared to marble in terms of quality. There are also active parts of the sewer with a white stone bed. Almost 140 years have passed, and the white stone still reliably serves its function,” says Daniil Davydov, pointing at traces of manual processing of the stone.

Engineering marvel

The main goal of our underground journey is to reach a unique brick tunnel designed in 1914 by the hydraulic engineer Mikhail Shchekotov. He worked in the city administration, reconstructed the Yauza embankments, and built sewers. “Mikhail Pavlovich was instructed to remove the Neglinka sewer from under the building of the Maly Theater and the Metropol Hotel. The construction was not easy; 124 meters of the sewer were built, after which it was interrupted by WWI,” says Daniil Davydov.

But even more than a century later, this historical part of the tunnel is in excellent condition and regularly serves its functions. “This sewer has been serving without reconstruction since 1914. Although they are scarce, such pre-revolutionary buildings deliver a certain message. Engineers used to treat the construction of even underground structures the way architects treated the construction of buildings. They are all unique and different from each,” notes Daniil Davydov.

According to him, the uniqueness of the Shekotovsky tunnel is also determined by the fact that there are no other similar engineering structures Russia, both in terms of cross section and construction method. A similar sewer can only be found in Lviv, where the Poltva River has been removed.

As the employees of Mosvodostok admit, the Shekotovsky tunnel is built so well that even a century later it does not cause trouble for engineers.

“Even ground objects do not last long without maintenance and restoration, let alone underground. Therefore, we regularly carry out inspections and necessary repairs,” says Dmitry Ryabtsev.

Although this brick tunnel, which is more than five meters wide, is not considered as a monument, it is of great historical value. But not for everyone, unfortunately. Some street artists strive to decorate century-old brick vaults with their graffiti, and often succeed. Unfortunately, preventing wall painting and catching hooligans is quite problematic. But to erase traces of their creativity from an old brick without damaging it is even more difficult.

Our short one-kilometer underground journey ends at the Metropol Hotel. We managed to see the sewers of three eras at once: the first brick one in 1819, the Shchekotovsky tunnel of 1914 and the concrete section built in the 1970s. We return to the surface in the same way, and the it takes much less time.