Lybed River

Almost all old Russian cities were built on hills, where one river merged into a larger one. Erected on the confluence of the rivers of Lybed and Trubezh, Ryazan is no exception. For several centuries, Lybed was a river of major importance for the city before it grew smaller and basically turned into a drainage ditch by the 19^th century. A commission from St Petersburg that inspected the Ryazan Governorate in 1830 described the river's condition as substandard. A river improvement plan was prepared by 1838. The plan included floodplain redevelopment, with a number of ponds to be created. Several dams were indeed put in place across the river, but the banks still remained in a poor state for a long time afterwards.

In the early 20^th century, Ryazan's Chief Sanitary Officer Nikolay Kassil wrote about the Lybed River:

"One of the main problems of Ryazan is the lack of a single sewer. The city uses the Lybed River instead, which flows across the old town and created a strong malodour. Piles of garbage on the banks grow bigger every day. Also, just about any butcher's shop or grocery store has its own cesspool, sometimes without even a lid attached. Any sanitary compliance is out of question as city dumps are piling up at an alarming rate. All attempts to put up a single place to host waste outside the city boundaries are undermined by the total lack of comprehension from residents, who prefer ditching their stinking garbage right next to their yards.

Provision of waste disposal carts fails to provide the desired effect. The Governorate's sanitary office has been attempting multiple times to raise awareness among city residents, but to no avail."

Let us stroll across downtown Ryazan, look at old photos and trace the disappearance of the Lybed River and the changes in its vicinity

On the left is the post-WW2 photo of around 1940s–1950s. View from the Astrakhan Bridge (on Lenin Street) downstream. The river has its natural banks, and kitchen gardens of the nearby houses stretch all the way down to the water. This looks almost rural. Far away on the left bank is a two-storey house that has made it until today. It is also visible on a modern photo taken from the same point. The photo on the left depicts groups of people with tools. Apparently those were not simply volunteers at a community event: shown on the picture is the start of works in the river valley. One could think that it was preparation to confine the river to a tunnel, but in fact the river was given some more time to remain in existence – and in a very fine state, too.

The same view from the Astrakhan Bridge after the redevelopment of the river valley in the early 1950s. It is when Lybed Boulevard came into being – but not as a replacement of the river but rather as its embankment. It looked like redevelopment of Soviet health resort premises during the Stalin era. The river was straightened and new footbridges with delicate tracery in the railing were erected. And, finally: this is when the famous elk-decorated fountain came into being. A 1955 guide titled The Rivers of Volga, Kama, and Don wrote, "Lenin Street then crosses Lybed – more of a creek than a river. Lybed's valley has paths, green lawns, flower beds, and sculptures, serving as a go-to place for citizens looking for a stroll. The valley is one of the many spots in Ryazan that have seen improvement over the past years, with capital expenditure into city development growing almost eight-fold."

Another photo of the last decades of the Lybed River before it was taken underground: this is a colour photo of 1967–1968, shot 15 years after the previous one. The trees had already grown big – so big the river on the left hand side is hardly seen behind them. The elk-decorated fountain had by then become an integral part of the city. It was just under a year before the next urban renewal kicked in. Unfortunately, when running through the city, Lybed continued serving as a drain for a variety of malodorous sewage effluents, resulting in the river emitting the stench. Lybed was deemed beyond salvation, with the only solution being to confine it into a pipe – and so it was done. In the late 1960s, the river was taken underground starting from the bridge at Lipetsko-Kazanskaya (Mayakovsky) Street to Kremlevsky Val. The layout of Lybed Boulevard was redesigned completely.

The stone Astrakhan Bridge was reportedly built in the second half of the 19^th century. It looked less like a bridge and more like a wide pipe running under the street.

These are views from today's Astrakhan Bridge and Lenin Street. The bridge itself is well visible on the left. It is still in place today. Both shots (above and below) were made at approximately the same time in the early 1950s, when the city started the redevelopment of the Lybed River's valley. As shown on old photos, the Astrakhan Bridge does not yet have the typical Stalin-era fencing. It was only installed during the first redevelopment of the valley that began precisely in the early 1950s.

Above, you can see a photo made in the 1960s, with the river still flowing under the bridge. Below is the way everything looks now. The Stalin-era fencing still remains, and the former path of the river is very easy to see. It is only the arch of the bridge that was completely infilled.

Nowadays, this is the most unattended area of the Lybed Boulevard and 100 years ago this place was a rather big pond. The former pond's bottom is currently occupied by the Spartak stadium. Comparing the view from the early 20^th century to today's photos, one can see that only St. Catherine's church remained in its place and barely recognise the hill slope. Everything else has changed completely.