Nozdratcheva Polina Vladimirovna “If there is magic on this planet, and sky. A very small brook runs it is contained in water.” from the woods on the eastern Loren Eiseley slope of the Central Russian Hills. There, about km from The Construction Water! Beautiful and powerful, the town of Gzhatsk, the main the key to every living person river of the Russian capital – the and creature on earth. It is the Moskva River – has its source. treasure of the earth and The brook runs out from a of Moscow without it human beings cannot marsh called “Moskvoretskaya live. All living creatures, large or Luzha” (Moskva River pool) and small, carefully collect, preserve its early kilometres are a narrow and drink each drop. winding stream taking in small on the Water Countless blue threads cover the tributaries. Its width there does earth in an intricate design. not exceed cm (: within These are the rivers of our Moscow the width of the river planet, its vital arteries where ranges from m near the water moves pulsating, as blood Kropotkinskaya Embankment does in a living body. “Rivers are to m near the Central Park). the messengers of the skies,” Running mostly through sand Homer declared in his immortal and clay, the Moskva River is works. km long, takes in City and water, human being tributaries and its basin exceeds and water are essentially , sq km. synonymous and demand unity. The city of Moscow is one of Water plays an exceptionally the largest cities in Europe and important role. As a rule, a river was founded in on the is usually the most important Moskva River. The place where natural factor that forms a city. Moscow stands now was once In the life of humans, rivers play quite wild. A thick pine forest an influential role. Thanks to murmured at the foot of the their exceptional artistic present-day Kremlin and the qualities rivers are used as the broad deep Moskva River suitable material for designing flowed beneath steep banks. city landscapes. Water reservoirs Here the fast-flowing River can be compared to unique Neglinnaya ran into it. The palettes of paints, which nature development of Moscow was gives so lavishly. largely favoured by its An overwhelming majority of advantageous geographical the world’s most populous cities location and proximity to the stand on rivers, such as: great waterways of the Eastern Moscow, St. Petersburg, Prague, European Plain, via which it Berlin, Cairo, Paris, London had access to all the outside sea and so on. One cannot count basins – the Baltic, White, them all! A river landscape with Caspian and the Black Seas. The built-up embankments, squares, city was founded in a parks and bridges becomes in strategically important place. fact the main architectural From the south the Moskva ensemble of any city. A city River served as a natural shield, silhouette from the riverside is a blocking the way for the enemy. dream woven of air, water, land The Neglinnaya River flowed to La construcción de ejemplo Moscú, San Petersburgo, The place, where Moscow stands now, Moscú junto al agua Praga, Berlín, El Cairo, París, was quite wild... Nozdratcheva Polina Londres, etc. ¡Imposible contarlas! (Scheme of M. Kudriavtsev) Vladimirovna De hecho el paisaje de un río con El lugar en el que sus orillas urbanizadas, plazas, Moscú se asienta actualmente era parques y puentes constituye el antaño un paraje “Si la magia existe en este planeta, principal conjunto arquitectónico bastante agreste... (Plan de M. está contenida en el agua”. de cualquier ciudad. La silueta de Kudriavtsev) Loren Eiseley una ciudad contemplada desde la View of the ribera de un río es un sueño tejido Moskva-River ¡El agua! Bella y poderosa, esencial de aire, agua, tierra y cielo. Imagen del río para todas las personas y seres Un arroyo diminuto se desliza Moskova vivos de la tierra. Es el mayor desde los bosques al este de las The view of Kremlin in Moscow tesoro del planeta, a los seres Tierras Altas del Centro de Rusia. Imagen del Kremlin, humanos no les sería posible vivir Allí, a unos km de la ciudad de en Moscú sin ella. Todas las criaturas Gzhatsk, nace el principal río de grandes o pequeñas recogen, la capital rusa – el río Moskova. conservan y beben hasta la última El arroyo procede de una marisma gota con sumo cuidado. llamada “Moskvoretskaya Luzha” Innumerables hilos de color azul (la charca del río Moskova), y en cubren la tierra dibujando un sus primeros km de recorrido no intrincado diseño. Son los ríos de es más que una estrecha y nuestro planeta, las arterias vitales serpenteante corriente que va a través de las cuales el agua fluye recogiendo pequeños afluentes a y late como la sangre en el cuerpo. su paso. Su anchura en ese punto Homero afirmaba en su obra no sobrepasa los cm (en el inmortal: “Los ríos son los interior de Moscú sus mensajeros de los cielos”. dimensiones oscilan entre los La ciudad y el agua – el ser m a su paso por Kropotkinskaya y humano y el agua – son lo mismo los m en el tramo próximo al en esencia y tienden a unirse. Parque Central). El río Moskova, El agua juega un papel de que discurre principalmente sobre excepcional importancia. Por regla arena y arcilla, mide km de general, el río es habitualmente el factor natural más importante en la creación de una ciudad. En la vida de los seres humanos, los ríos representan una función determinante. Gracias a sus excepcionales cualidades artísticas, los ríos se usan como material idóneo a la hora de configurar un paisaje urbano. Los embalses pueden compararse con una paleta de pintura única, un ejemplo de la generosidad de la naturaleza. Una abrumadora mayoría de las ciudades más pobladas del mundo están asentadas junto a ríos, por the west and north-west. Beginning in the eastern side of the city was protected by an artificial moat linking the Moskva River with the Neglinnaya River (today it is the centre of Moscow where the Red Square is located). Surrounded by water from all sides the Kremlin was turned into an island, accessible only by bridges. The main gates of the city also faced the Moskva River. Following the relief the blue water ribbon curves through the capital for km. Entering Moscow in the north-west, it effects three large loops in the shape of a Latin letter “S” and leaves the city in the south-east. Some curves are almost degrees. In many aspects the Moskva River determines the city’s special layout. An effective conjunction of a city with the river landscape has always been a tradition of Russian urban planning. With its curves the river forms three peninsulas: Dorogomilovo, Luzhniki and Zamoskvorechie. From time immemorial the view of Moscow was famous for its lavish silhouette with countless belfries, churches, convents and monasteries, which fixed the nodal points of the city layout. Moscow monasteries and convents (such as St. Daniel’s, St. Simon’s, Novospassky, Novodevichy and so on) formed a system of dominants subordinate to the Kremlin and locking the river bends. In the first half of the th century the upper part of the Moskva River was suitable for rafting and the lower part was navigable. The flow was not strong and the watercourse seemed to be almost motionless. The chronicles give us a full description of the life of the Moskva River, recording such extraordinary events as natural calamities due to excessive rainfall or droughts, when the springs and rivers dried up. From time to time there were also formidable and inevitable floods, which ravaged the riverside areas of the city. From ancient times records of the water level were kept in the form of marks on stone walls. By the end of the th century Moscow grew so large that from to new defence fortifications had to be laid. The walls were surrounded by a cleverly made moat from the Neglinnaya to the Yauza Gates. The moat was about m deep Moskva River. From the largo, recibe agua de afluentes Moscú – como los de San Daniel, View of . Novodevitchy and m wide and accumulated riverside the city opened up in y su cuenca sobrepasa los San Simón, Novospassky, Monastery the water of all neighbouring all its splendour, with the domes km cuadrados. Novodevichy, etc. – constituyen Imagen del Monasterio brooks. Nowadays it forms the of countless Moscow churches La ciudad de Moscú, fundada en un sistema de figuras dominantes Novodevitchy chain of the present-day looking out of the greenery of a orillas del río Moskova, es subordinadas al Kremlin y que “The General Plan boulevards. the orchards and the majestic una de las ciudades europeas más cierran las curvas del río. of 1775”: The “General Plan of Moscow” Kremlin ensemble with its grandes. El lugar en el que se En la primera mitad del siglo , 1. Moskva-River 2. Artificial moat developed in served as a domes seen from afar, towering asienta en la actualidad era antaño la parte alta del río Moskova with water linking guide for decades while different above it all. un paraje bastante agreste. Un resultaba adecuada para ir en balsa the Moskva-River with the Neglinnaya plans for urban development But studying the fluctuations of espeso bosque de pinos y la parte baja era navegable. La River in 1508 were passed. The Moskva River the water level was not the only murmuraba a los pies del actual corriente no era fuerte y el curso 3. Water Diversion Canal was to be “spread by canals”, purpose of the river studies; the Kremlin y el ancho y profundo del agua parecía encontrarse casi “El Plan General which would help save the city idea was also to study the rivers río Moskova discurría entre inmóvil.