Augustów Canal

It was the first summit level canal in Central Europe to provide a direct link between the two major rivers, Vistula River through the Biebrza River – a tributary of the Narew River, and the Neman River through its tributary – the Czarna Hańcza River, and it provided a link with the Black Sea to the south through the Oginski Canal, Daugava River, Berezina Canal and Dnieper River. It uses a post-glacial channel depression, forming the chain of Augustów lakes, and the river valleys of the Biebrza, the Netta, the Czarna Hańcza and the Neman, which made it possible to perfectly integrate the Canal with the surrounding elements of the natural environment.

The reasons behind the construction of the Augustów Canal were both political and economic. In 1821, Prussia introduced repressively high customs duties for the transit of Russian Empire goods through its territory, which hindered access of traders to the Baltic seaports through the Vistula River. In 1822, Congress Poland was granted measures of commercial autonomy from Russian Empire's customs area. In the years 1823–1839 a waterway was constructed, bypassing the Prussian territory, intended eventually to link, via the Windawski Canal, the center of the Russian-controlled Congress Poland with the Baltic seaport of Ventspils in the province of Kurland. This goal was relinquished due to unrest caused by the 1830–1831 November Uprising against Russia and revised trade agreements with Prussia.

The completed part of the Augustów Canal remained an inland waterway of local significance used for commercial shipping and to transport wood to and from the Vistula and Neman Rivers until rendered obsolete by the regional railway network.

History

Construction and operations (1821–1850)

The reasons behind the construction of the Augustów Canal were both political and economic. In 1821, Prussia introduced repressively high customs duties for transit of Russian Empire goods through its territory, in effect hindering access to their seaports for traders operating outside of Prussian territory. In 1822, the Kingdom of Poland was granted commercial autonomy from Russian Empire's customs area. The idea of Polish Minister of Economy, Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki, was to make the new trade route independent of the Prussian seaport of Danzig (Gdańsk).

In August 1822, Drucki-Lubecki made the order of planning a waterway from Narew and Biebrza rivers to Neman river and then to the mouth of Windau river at the Baltic Sea. The field surveys to link the basins of the Neman and Vistula were begun with the permissions of the Russian Ministry of Communications in 1823. The Russian field party was led by lieutenant-colonel Reeze from the Corps of Transport Engineers and lieutenant-colonel Ignacy Prądzyński from the General Quartermasters' Office of the Polish Army. Reeze and Pradzynski met in Grodno on 28 June 1823. Lieutenant-colonel Pradzynski and four officers from the engineering corps carried out the topographical survey on Polish territory concentrating mainly on the lakes near to Augustow and the river Chorna Gancha. At the same time, the Reeze's group worked on the Biebrza river and the smaller rivers of Lososna, Tatarka and Polilia.

In the years 1823–1839 a waterway designed by General Ignacy Prądzyński, French General and engineer Jan Chrzciciel de Grandville Malletski and General Jan Paweł Lelewel was constructed, including buildings and hydraulic engineering structures, intended to bypass Prussian territory and link the center of the Kingdom of Poland with the Baltic seaport of Ventspils (Polish: Windawa). The building of the final "windawski" section of the waterway (Windawski Canal), which was to connect the new trading route to Ventspils, was relinquished due to unrest caused by the 1830–1831 November Uprising against Russia and revised trade agreements with Prussia.

Decline and abandonment (1850–1920)

During the latter half of the 19th century the rail network, such as nearby the Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway, started to replace the canal as the primary means of transporting goods. The channel gradually began to decline, from 1852 on it floated only forest products and from the mid-1860s the canal channel was scored.

Rebirth and destruction (1920–1945)

The First World War and the Polish-Soviet War caused some damage to the canal, but it was rebuilt by the Second Polish Republic during the early 1920s. Between the World Wars, the canal became a tourist attraction for the first time. It was a picturesque tourist route providing excellent sporting opportunities for canoeists, sailors and boaters. World War II saw the destruction of a number of locks and weirs of the canal. During the Second World War, German troops blew up three locks, about a dozen bridges and eight weirs. After World War II the Polish part of the canal has been restored.

Division and reconstruction (1950–2005)

The post-war redrawing of the eastern Polish border, see Curzon Line had a significant impact upon the canal. The Border Agreement between Poland and the USSR of 16 August 1945 drew a segment of the Polish-Belorussian SSR border along the axis of the Kurzyniec Lock and further along the axis of the canal for an additional 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles). During the 1950s the People's Republic of Poland rebuilt the canal from the start on the Bezbra to Tartak Lock the remaining portion in Poland was left inactive after the damage incurred from World War II. The USSR performed no repairs on the portion of the canal within the Belorussian SSR. The Belarusian part of the canal since the partition has become a unique ecosystem, in 1970 the Sapotskinsky Biological Reserve was created to help preserve the area.

According to the decision of the Polish Minister of Culture and the Arts from 21 December 1968 the Augustów Canal on the section from Augustów to the state border with the infrastructure—locks, dams, bridges, housing banks, building maintenance services, environment, landscape and plant—was declared a monument of technology Class I. Then, on 9 Feb 1979, by the Voivode's decision the entire length of the Suwalki Augustów Canal was entered in the register of monuments.

Treasured status (2005 – present)

On 8 June 2005, based on Council of Ministers Resolution No. 125/2005 of 22 May 2005 concluded the "Agreement between the Government of the Polish Republic and the Government of the Republic of Belarus on the reconstruction of the Augustów Canal section of the border." The aim of the project was to restore the canal to operable condition for tourists, provide rational water management in the Czarna Hańcza river valley and restore the natural ecosystem of the waterway. Another event is the recognition of the Augustów Canal as a Monument of History — Regulation of the Polish President of 15 April 2007 (Dz. U. Nr 86 poz. 572). The canal is currently a conservation protection zone proposed by Poland and Belarus for inscription onto the World Heritage List of UNESCO.