Rostokino Aqueduct, also known as Millionny Bridge, is a stone aqueduct

Aqueduct

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

 over Yauza river in Rostokino District

Rostokino District

Rostokino District is an administrative district of North-Eastern Administrative Okrug, and one of the 125 raions of Moscow, Russia....

 of Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, built in 1780-1804. It is the only remaining aqueduct in Moscow, once a part of Mytishchi

Mytishchi

Mytishchi is a city and the administrative center of Mytishchinsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, which lies to the northeast of Russia's capital Moscow, on the Yauza River and the Moscow–Yaroslavl railroad. The city is the oblast's largest center for industry and education...

 Water Supply, Moscow's first centralized water utility.

History

The aqueduct was commissioned by Catherine II of Russia

Catherine II of Russia

Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...

 to engineer Friedrich Wilhelm Bauer. Catherine authorized 1.1 million rouble expenditure and 400 soldiers. Builders used second-hand stone left by demolition of Bely Gorod

Bely Gorod

Bely Gorod is the central core area of Moscow, Russia. The name comes from the color of its defensive wall, which was erected in 1585-1593 at the behest of tsar Feodor I and Boris Godunov by architect Fyodor Kon...

 fortifications. Construction, frequently interrupted, dragged for 25 years, as the soldier engineers were summoned to the war with Turkey (1787-1792) and various other jobs. In the process, both Catherine and Bauer died. Colonel Ivan Gerard lead the project after Bauer's death in 1783. Catherine's son, Paul I

Paul I of Russia

Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...

, had to issue 400,000 roubles financing; Alexander I

Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....

 added 200,000 roubles. Finally, the aqueduct was completed at an unprecedented cost of 2 million roubles , thus the name Millionny Bridge.

Specifications

The total length is 356 metres (1,168 ft), the height over Yauza river level is 19 metres (62.3 ft). There are 21 arches, each spans 8.5 metres (27.9 ft). Original masonry water canal 0.9 metres (3 ft) wide and 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) high was replaced with iron pipe in 1850s.

Water flowed naturally through a 20-kilometre masonry canal to a system of fountain taps; in 1892, the system was uprated with construction of pumps and water reservoires in the city. Mytishchi Water Supply was closed in 1937, when a superior water supply, a part of Moscow Canal

Moscow Canal

The Moscow Canal , named the Moscow-Volga Canal until the year 1947, is a canal that connects the Moskva River with the main transportation artery of European Russia, the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Moscow Oblast...

 project, was completed.

Ichka Aqueduct (demolished)

A smaller, single-span aqueduct over Ichka river was built during the 1888-1892 modernization of Mytishchi system. It was destroyed in 1997 to make way for MKAD

MKAD

MKAD is a ring road encircling the City of Moscow.The acronym is a transliteration of the Russian МКАД, for Московская Кольцевая Автомобильная Дорога .The growth of traffic in and around Moscow in the 1950s made the city planners realise Russia's largest metropolis...

highway.