Svir River

Svir River

Svir (Russian: Свирь, Finnish: Syväri, Estonian: Sviri) is a river in the north-east of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It flows from Lake Onega west to Lake Ladoga, thus connecting the two largest lakes of Europe. It is the largest river flowing into Lake Ladoga.

After Peter the Great connected the Svir with the Neva River by the Ladoga Canal, the river has been part of the Volga-Baltic Waterway. There are two hydroelectric power plants on the Svir.

The river flows past the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery, which used to house Svirlag (one of the most infamous gulags). The area around the river saw heavy fighting during the Continuation War 1941–1944.

The right bank of the lower Svir is occupied by the Nizhnesvirsky Nature Reserve, established in 1980.

There are two dams with hydroelectric power plants on the river. The Lower Svir Hydroelectric Station sits 81 km from the river's mouth while the Upper Svir Hydroelectric Station, located in Podporozhye, is 128 km away.