The Griboyedov Canal Embankment

The Griboyedov Canal Embankment expands between the Moyka River and the Fontanka River in Central District and Admiralteysky District of St. Petersburg.

The canal has its source in the Moyka River near the Field of Mars and runs into the Fontanka River upstream to Bolshoy Kalinkin Bridge. Since the construction of the stone walls of the canal, during the reign of Catherine II, it was named the Catherine Canal. In 1923 the canal was named after Alexander Griboyedov, because there was one of his first apartments in building No.104 near Kharlamov Bridge (1816-1818). The canal banks are reinforced by the walls faced with granite.

The project of the future Griboyedov Canal with the drawings and cost estimates for materials and work required "... to cut the canal to prevent residents of the capital from the disastrous effects of the floods" was drawn up in 1764 by the engineer I.M. Golenischev-Kutuzov, the father of the field marshal M.I. Kutuzov. The works began simultaneously with the construction of the granite embankment of the Neva River and were conducted for nearly 15 years. However, later the canal embankments on different sections were finished and reconstructed.

During the construction of high stone walls in the XVIII century, the structure of retaining walls of the embankments consisted of bedding rubble plates. For the most part, the walls were the massive granite stones, fastened together with iron dowels. The pile foundation was made of wooden piles with wooden grillage.

On the section of the canal from the Moyka River to Kazansky Bridge facing differed and consisted of two various natural materials: bottom part was made of granite, and the above water level – of flaglike limestone. A small section of the wall (42 meters) on the left side downstream the Kazansky Bridge has survived to the present days, and you can still see this kind of facing there.

Repair of the walls top and the facing over a large area was made in the early ХХ century, before the First World War.

Another phase of reconstruction of destroyed walls began in the late 1930s, on the eve of the Great Patriotic War and continued after until the end of the 1950s. This was mostly repair throughout the height of the wall involving the pile foundation also.

After the 1950s the repair of the embankments walls was broken off for a long time, and it was performed only by small areas and not thoroughly.

In 1981 at the site from Podyachesky Bridge to the Bridge of Four Lions, on the left bank, the embankment wall with the length of 150 meters was repaired.

Currently, considerable area of the canal the walls having pile foundation of the XVIII century are preserved.

In 2013-2014 the repair of the 280 meter long embankment section was carried out from Kazansky Bridge to Bank Bridge.

The embankment is decorated with 18 descents: 10 pedestrian and 8 cargo ones.

The canal railings are metal gratings in the form of individual balusters fastened on top by a strengthening line with semicircular forged handrail and mounted on a granite pedestal. The sidewalks are 1.0-2.5 m wide granite slabs.

The canal embankment, in general terms, preserves the appearance of the end of the XVIII - early XIX centuries and is guarded by the Committee on State Control Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Landmarks.

On the embankment there are such outstanding monuments of architecture as the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, Kazan Cathedral, St. Nicholas Cathedral. The Griboyedov Canal is one of the main routes of river pleasure boats.