Volga–Baltic Waterway

The Volga–Baltic Waterway, formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (Russian: Мариинская водная система), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga River with the Baltic Sea via the Neva River. Its overall length between Cherepovets and Lake Onega is 368 kilometres (229 mi).

Originally constructed in the early 19th century, the system was rebuilt for larger vessels in the 1960s, becoming a part of the Unified Deep Water System of European Russia.

The original name "Mariinsky" is the credit to Empress Maria Feodorovna, the second wife of Emperor Paul I of Russia.

After Peter the Great wrested the Gulf of Finland from Sweden, it was necessary to provide a secure means of river transport for Saint Petersburg on the Baltic with the Russian hinterland. The earliest Vyshny Volochyok canal system, completed by 1709, provided a connection of St. Petersburg on the Baltic to Lake Ladoga. However, the weather on Lake Ladoga frequently wreaked the barges leading to the ambitious project of the Ladoga Canals that followed the southern coast of Lake Ladoga.

Under Alexander I of Russia, the traditional waterway through Vychny Volochyok was complemented by the Tikhvin canal system (1811) and the Mariinsk canal system (1810), the latter becoming by far the most popular of the three.

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